Beyond Sustainability Assessment Systems: Upgrading Topics by Enlarging The Scale of Assessment

The increasing attention to sustainability worldwide asks for sustainable practices in every sector. In this scenario, the construction sector has often been indicated as a leading protagonist of sustainable development. However, sustainable buildings are still rare and requests to push a sustainable transition of the construction sector are common. Meanwhile, studies and policies are discussing what a sustainable building is and how to measure sustainability in the built environment. The sustainability assessment of buildings has been diffusing thanks to the multi-criteria rating systems. The paper discusses some limits of these systems. Then, it looks at trends in sustainability assessment. Given the integrity and complexity of sustainability in urban systems, assessments at larger scales are increasingly required. Sustainable neighbourhoods and cities are diffusing worldwide, whereas experiences of sustainability assessment at city level have started. These experiences show that the dynamism of cities ...