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Which Minimum Indicator Set of Sustainability May Be Utilized in Urban Assessments? Meta-Evidence Gained Through a Systematic Literature Review

Sustainability 2025 Score: 48 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.
Maria Rosaria Guarini, Giulia Ghiani, Francesco Sica, Francesco Tajani

Summary

Researchers conducted a systematic literature review of sustainability indicators used in urban assessments from 2013 to 2022 to identify a minimum indicator set aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goal 11. Cluster analysis revealed common patterns across studies, enabling the proposal of a core set of urban sustainability metrics relevant to policymakers and planners.

The aim of this study is to provide a thorough assessment of the sustainability indicators employed to support the changes related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 11, which seeks to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable. A selection of scientific articles published from 2013 to 2022 has been meticulously examined, concentrating on those pertinent to the primary study issues. The utilization of assessment methodologies that draw upon the concepts of divergence (systematic literature review) and convergence (cluster analysis) between diverse information sets is paramount. A dataset of critical indicators for measuring urban sustainability has been gathered. The results show the possibility to identify common patterns among the sustainability assessment indicators, driving towards the construction of a Minimum Indicator Set (MIS), that could be a useful support for, e.g., policymakers and urban planners in realizing sustainable transformative solutions through a common and aligned valuation source.

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