Assessments using the BEST are used to ascertain the extent and nature of sustainability performance gaps in a neighbourhood and understand how these may be addressed. They can be used for:
- Evaluating
and informing proposals for developing an existing neighbourhood.
- Assessing
different designs and proposals for a new neighbourhood.
- To
develop local sustainability plans with communities and councils
- Comparing
neighbourhoods to select the most suitable one for a new project.
- Developing urban sustainability assessments and reports.
Information required for BEST assessments
Information required for BEST assessments is outlined below. The quality of the data and the time taken to carry out assessments will affect the accuracy of BEST reports. Therefore, on large-scale, complex, high-cost implementation projects it is important to access the best available data and, where necessary, carry out surveys and analysis to ensure that BEST reports are as accurate as possible.
It is also possible to use the BEST as a design tool as it enables different options to be rapidly tried and compared. This can provide very valuable input which ensures that much more responsive and sustainable solutions are developed. For this type of exercise, data requirements are less stringent and the assessment process can be much faster. However, it is important to understand that the BEST reports developed through rapid iterative design processes will be less accurate than a thorough assessment process so should not be used publicly to make any ‘sustainability claims’ for a project.
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Information |
Description |
Sources |
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Neighbourhood map |
A detailed map or
aerial photograph of the neighbourhood to be assessed. The map should be detailed
as it will be marked up and quantities such as areas need to be taken off
this. This can be done online very
easily using the ‘My Maps’ app within Google which is freely available
(Google, 2020). |
Google Maps GIS data and tools Surveyors offices |
|
Residential, Work
and Social Facilities |
Residential, work and
social facilities should be identified and categorised. The area and
occupation of these should be identified or estimated as accurately as
possible. This data is available from surveys, maps, statistics and reports
from local municipalities. |
Site visits City-data Analysis of plans |
|
Social, economic
and environmental data |
Income and population
data for the area and the country is used in the BEST to define affordability
levels and social infrastructure ratios. |
Statistics
organisations City-data |
Table 1. BEST data requirements.
The structure of the BEST
The BEST has two parts that are navigated to through tabs at the bottom of the tool These are ‘Report’ and ‘Assessment’. To get a report you need to complete the assessment. A BEST report is shown in Figure 1.
B
C
A
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C |
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A |
Figure 1. BEST report tab
On the left are the BEST criteria and to the right of this is the column with ‘Existing’ assessment. This is the assessment of the existing situation in the neighbourhood. Beside this is the ‘Proposed’ column that shows the performance of the neighbourhood post the interventions outlined in the six columns.
The six columns are interventions that are being tested to ascertain their potential to improve the sustainability performance of the neighbourhood.
Steps in using the tool
There are six basic steps in using the tool. These are as follows:
- Selecting and demarcating the area to be assessed.
- Assessing
the existing area and facilities.
- Generating
options for improvement.
- Assessing
options for improvement.
- Developing
implementation plans and strategies.
- Developing
sustainability assessment reports.
Selection and demarcation of the area to be assessed
Select the urban area that you wish to assess and demarcate this clearly on a plan. The area assessed must be identified as a neighbourhood by the community living within it or it may be demarcated by the local council.
Neighbourhoods must be an area that can be easily walked
across and as a rule, should not exceed 2km at its widest point. Once neighbourhoods
are demarcated, an assessment can begin. Figure 1. shows an example of a
demarcated neighbourhood. This is shown in blue. Once this is done the main
building types and land uses can be identified.
Assessment of existing area
Figure 1 shows an analysis of the neighbourhood. The blue indicates the area of the neighbourhood. If the neighbourhood is drawn in ‘My Maps’ in Google maps, click on the shape will provide the area in hectares. Enter this into the Project Details table of BEST. In this example, it is 131 ha.
Figure 2. Demarcated neighbourhood
You also need to enter income data. This can be accessed from the country’s statistical organisation and you need to obtain the monthly average earnings. It is a good idea to put a reference or link to the data so that this can be retrieved easily.
From the monthly income, BEST automatically calculates the Affordability Levels A, B, C and D. These affordability levels are used later to calculate the affordability of rent, food, and utilities.
One this has been completed the land uses and buildings in
the neighbourhood can be addressed.
The blue area in Figure 2 indicates the residential area. A shopping mall is indicated in yellow; business properties are indicated in red and parks indicated in green. Once this is done the characteristics of each area can be analysed.
In this case, as building types and densities are uniforms, representative samples can be used. Here a representative residential block and business block can be identified. The densities of these blocks can then be calculated and extrapolated for the neighbourhood. In areas were building sizes vary, such as the shopping mall, the whole area should be analysed to obtain densities. Finally, areas such as parks and schools can be extracted directly from the maps. This process requires careful selection of representative samples to understand the sizes of buildings, the population in these buildings and the activities that take place in these areas.
Data from your assessment data should be entered into the 'Existing' (yellow) column of the 'Assessment' tab of BEST. The sustainability targets are included in brackets and automatically calculated from the area of the neighbourhood by the BEST. These sustainability targets are drawn from research and are explained in the manual.
The assessment should complete the ‘Existing’ column for all the BEST criteria. To ensure this assessment is carried out accurately, refer to the relevant sections of the manual as you work through the criteria. For instance, refer to the section in the manual when completing the ‘Food Preparation’ assessment. In some cases, data from the ‘Target’ section is automatically transferred to the BEST criteria table. For example, in the ‘Food Preparation’ criteria table, figures from the ‘Target’ section of the assessment have been automatically transferred.
Once data on ‘Existing’ has been entered into the BEST, the results can be analysed by looking at the colour of the ‘Existing’ criteria as shown in Figure 1 and comparing this Figure 3, to understand the existing capability of the neighbourhood. Also, the spider diagram shown in Figure 1 provides a quick overview of performance. |
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BEST score |
Neighbourhood
performance |
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The neighbourhood
provides full capability to enable occupants to achieve HDI and EF
targets and live in a sustainable way. |
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3-4 |
The neighbourhood
provides excellent capability to enable occupants to achieve HDI and
EF targets and live in a sustainable way. |
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2-3 |
The neighbourhood
provides strong capability to enable occupants to achieve HDI and EF
targets and live in a sustainable way. |
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1-2 |
The neighbourhood
provides partial capability to enable occupants to achieve HDI and EF
targets and live in a sustainable way. |
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0-1 |
The neighbourhood
provides limited capability to enable occupants to achieve HDI and EF
targets and live in a sustainable way. |
Figure 3. BEST Scores and Neighbourhood performance
The results from the BEST can be used to identify areas where there is poor capability and generate interventions for addressing this. This is shown in Table 2.
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Finding about
the existing neighbourhood |
Interventions to
improve performance |
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Table 2. Findings about the neighbourhood and interventions
to improve performance.
Generating options for improvement
A review of the BEST reports shows clearly where the neighbourhood does not perform well in terms of provision for sustainability. During this stage, interventions which address priority areas and have the greatest impact are determined and tested.
Priority
areas
Priority areas can be determined in discussion with communities and local councils to respond to the local situation and opportunities. Some examples are given below.
- A
total lack of provision (such as for education) may need to be addressed
urgently.
- Government
policy may prioritise an issue (such as cycling) and provide resources for this
to be addressed.
- A
local business may decide to sponsor the development of more sustainable
systems (such as recycling provision), enabling this to be addressed rapidly.
- The government may provide work and training opportunities for unemployed people (such as the Expanded Public Works Programme) which could be used to develop local resources such as vegetable gardens.
Greatest
impact
Interventions that generate the greatest impact are those that improve the capability of the neighbourhood most in terms of the BEST scoring. Usually, this means that interventions either makes a very substantial improvement in one area or has multiple impacts across several BEST areas. Some examples are provided below.
- The
intervention completely addresses the lack of provision. Thus, a comprehensive recycling
scheme could ensure that all waste generated within the neighbourhood is
recycled enabling full provision, or capability in this area.
- A requirement to density and diversify local businesses would not only create local employment and enterprises but also increase access to local ecological footprint food, services, and goods.
Once interventions
can be entered into the Assessment tab of the BEST and their impact recorded
both in terms of quantified changes as well as percentage changes. Figure 1 shows the interventions and the cumulative quantified impacts of these.
Assessing options for improvement
Once you have completed the assessments of all the interventions, the ‘Proposed’ values will be updated and the BEST report can be reviewed (see Figure 1).
Developing implementation plans and strategies
Different interventions can be tried, and their impact assessed until an optimal set are identified. Once an optimum set of interventions have been identified, plans can be developed to implement these.
In a proposed neighbourhood, designs can be updated to incorporate the proposed interventions. In an existing neighbourhood a sustainability plan can be developed and agreed to by key stakeholders such as occupants of the neighbourhood and the local council. This can then be used to implement the options over time.
The tool enables the development of sophisticated and responsive plans and strategies to support improved local sustainability. These plans respond to and address gaps and aspects of current poor performance in the neighbourhood while supporting and improving aspects of good performance.
A wide range of options should be evaluated before a final selection of options for implementation is made. The tool should also be used to inform the mix, and sequencing, of interventions. Finally, detailed implementation plans and strategies should be designed and tested back against criteria in the tool to ensure that maximum impact is achieved.
The questions below, in conjunction with BEST, can be used to inform detailed implementation plans and strategies aimed at supporting sustainability.
New infrastructure
- Is
new infrastructure required?
- Can
existing infrastructure be used or adapted?
- Can management and operation agreements be developed to support multifunction use of and shared access of existing facilities?
- ·
Can
clustering and shared use of infrastructure be used to increase efficiency and
reduce operating costs?
- · Can partnerships be developed with neighbouring landowners and communities to increase the scale of interventions to support shared benefit and improved cost-effectiveness?
- How
can systems be linked to reduce wastage and improve efficiency?
- Are there synergies that can be developed for mutual benefit?
- Which
location(s) for interventions can be used to support symbiotic relationships
between functions and land uses?
- Which location(s) for interventions draw on, and work with, natural and artificial features of the existing site to improve efficiencies and reduce operational costs?
- Which
procurement processes are most suitable for creating local jobs and supporting
local small businesses?
- Which procurement processes can be used to reduce risk and improve local self-reliance concerning funding and long-term financial sustainability?
- Which
construction processes are most suitable for creating local jobs and support
local small businesses?
- Which construction products and materials are most suitable for creating local jobs and support local small businesses?
- Which
operational management models ensure affordable local access and use of
infrastructure for community benefit?
- Which operational management models include governance mechanisms which ensure that infrastructure is responsive to local needs and opportunities?
These
questions can be used to develop detailed designs, specifications, plans and
implementation methods that ensure that the resulting interventions not only
support local sustainability but also ensure that implementation processes are
also used to support sustainability.
Sustainability assessment reports
Once the optimum set of interventions has been selected, a final report on the capability improvement can be obtained from the graphs and tables at the bottom of the tool.
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