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Environmental Sustainability Assessment of Spatial Entities with Anthropogenic Activities-Evaluation of Existing Methods

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  • Despoina Aktsoglou

    (Laboratory of Environmental Management and Industrial Ecology, Department of Production Engineering and Management, Democritus University of Thrace, 67100 Xanthi, Greece)

  • Georgios Gaidajis

    (Laboratory of Environmental Management and Industrial Ecology, Department of Production Engineering and Management, Democritus University of Thrace, 67100 Xanthi, Greece)

Abstract

The aim of this study is to evaluate the existing available methods that can potentially be applied to anthropogenic spatial entities to access their environmental sustainability. The paper offers an overview of existing sustainability assessment methods, discusses their adequacy, and evaluates their efficiency to assess the environmental sustainability of anthropogenic spatial entities. From a list of sixty-one (61) sustainability assessment methods for spatial entities with anthropogenic activities that had been identified and examined, thirteen (13) methods were selected to be assessed based on specific exclusion criteria set. The thirteen methods were further classified into four categories, namely, (1) Indicators/Indices, (2) Resource Availability Assessment, (3) Material and Energy Flow Analysis, and (4) Life-Cycle Assessment, and then these methods were evaluated using specific evaluation criteria. The “Resource Availability Assessment” category, and particularly the “Ecological Footprint” method, was indicated as the most appropriate method to assess the environmental sustainability of anthropogenic spatial entities.

Suggested Citation

  • Despoina Aktsoglou & Georgios Gaidajis, 2020. "Environmental Sustainability Assessment of Spatial Entities with Anthropogenic Activities-Evaluation of Existing Methods," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-11, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:7:p:2680-:d:338475
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sala, Serenella & Ciuffo, Biagio & Nijkamp, Peter, 2015. "A systemic framework for sustainability assessment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 314-325.
    2. Graymore, Michelle L.M. & Sipe, Neil G. & Rickson, Roy E., 2008. "Regional sustainability: How useful are current tools of sustainability assessment at the regional scale?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 362-372, October.
    3. Ness, Barry & Urbel-Piirsalu, Evelin & Anderberg, Stefan & Olsson, Lennart, 2007. "Categorising tools for sustainability assessment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 498-508, January.
    4. Graymore, M.L.M. & Sipe, Neil G. & Rickson, Roy E., 2010. "Sustaining Human Carrying Capacity: A tool for regional sustainability assessment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 459-468, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Mariusz Czupich & Justyna Łapińska & Vojtěch Bartoš, 2022. "Environmental Sustainability Assessment of the European Union’s Capital Cities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-18, April.
    2. Despoina Aktsoglou & Georgios Gaidajis, 2020. "A Case Study on Environmental Sustainability Assessment of Spatial Entities with Anthropogenic Activities: The National Park of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, Greece," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-17, June.
    3. Jakub Chromčák & Daša Bačová & Pavol Pecho & Anna Seidlová, 2021. "The Possibilities of Orthophotos Application for Calculation of Ecological Stability Coefficient Purposes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-18, March.

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