A conceptual re-visualization of the adoption and utilization of the Pillars of Sustainability in the development of Neighbourhood Sustainability Assessment Tools

Market-driven industry frameworks such as Neighbourhood Sustainability Assessment Tools serve as important guidelines in the design and implementation of sustainability initiatives in communities, neighbourhoods etc. Currently, most developing nations have no be-spoke tool for their sustainable urban development. The need for such a tool is to sustainably address issues of climate change and the effects that rapid urbanization has on these nations. To address this issue, the development of Neighbourhood Sustainability Assessment Tools for these countries or regions is imperative but this must be done with a detailed understanding of the effects, dynamics and context that sustainability initiatives will have on the selected country. Hence, this paper develops a relational model called the Sustainability Pathway Model which categories and investigates the successes and shortcomings of already developed Neighbourhood Sustainability Assessment Tools such as CASBEE-UD, BREEAM Communities, IGBC and GBI, in order to implement optimal Neighbourhood Sustainability Assessment Tools that exploits the successes of these tools, whilst avoiding their pitfalls. This model is thus able to give a detailed illustration of how the Pillars of Sustainability are reflected in various indicators adopted by different Neighbourhood Sustainability Assessment Tools. The use of the Sustainability Pathway Model as a starting point in the development of Neighbourhood Sustainability Assessment Tools in Sub-Saharan Africa is also highlighted.