The need for sustainable development of the urban environment presents the research community with a number of challenges and opportunities. A considerable volume of research has been undertaken into the constituent parts of this complex problem and a number of tool kits and methodologies have been developed to enable and encourage the application of specific aspects of research in practice. However, there is limited evidence of the holistic integration of the body of knowledge arising from the research within real-life decision-making practices. In this paper we present an overview of the existing body of knowledge relating to sustainable development of the urban environment and propose a generic framework for its integration within current practices. This framework recognises the need to: understand social, economic, and environmental issues; understand the decision-making processes; provide a means of measurement, assessment, or valuation of the issues; provide analytical methods for the comparative assessment of complex data to enable an evaluation of strategies and design options and to communicate effectively throughout the process with a wide range of stakeholders. The components of a novel sustainability assessment, visualisation and enhancement (SAVE) framework, developed by the authors to ‘operationalise’ the body of knowledge are presented and justified. These include: decision-mapping methods to identify points of intervention; indicator identification and measurement approaches; appropriate mathematical and analytical tools and an interactive simulation and visualisation platform which integrates and communicates complex multivariate information to diverse stakeholder groups. We report on the application of the SAVE framework to a major urban development project and reflect on its current and potential impact on the development. Conclusions are also drawn about its general applicability.

Water Treatment Residuals (WTRs) are a by-product of the addition of chemical coagulants to water during the water treatment process and are a mixture of water and organic and inorganic matter that coagulates during the treatment process. WTRs often contain metals such as iron, aluminium, and manganese that have been oxidised as part of the process or are constituents of the coagulation chemicals used. The metals within WTRs are of interest with regard to applying these sludges to agricultural land. WTRs can also contain beneficial organic matter and nutrients (primarily nitrogen). The nature of the benefits delivered is largely dependent on the quality of the raw water and these beneficial components are generally found in much smaller quantities in WTRs than are found in sewage sludge produced from wastewater. However, WTRs can still be used to enhance the physical properties of soils. As urban populations increase in size, it is anticipated that the tonnage of WTRs will increase significantly in the future. At present, the majority of WTRs are disposed of in landfills; however, landfill charges are increasing significantly, making disposal of an increasing tonnage of WTRs financially unviable. In terms of a circular economy, the procedure of reusing WTRs for alternative applications satisfies the Scottish Government’s goals in terms of waste prevention and reducing the amount of material being sent to landfill as set out in the Proposals for Legislation in 2019. Given the potential benefits in terms of cost savings and compliance with government legislation, and the complexities of understanding where and when WTRs can be used in land applications, we developed a Decision Support Tool (DST) that uses data obtained from an extensive review of approaches in other countries to assist in decision making. We also conducted a pre-application analysis and provided guidance on when and where WTRs can be used in land applications and when they are not suitable, presented in a simplified format that requires few inputs from the user in order to simplify the process and removes the requirement for a specialist operator during pre-application analyses.

The decarbonisation of the energy sector through major renewable energy developments in rural areas is one the requirements for sustainable development and future carbon-neutral societies. However, this has resulted in increased construction on peatlands and wetlands and has led to diverse environmental impacts in the affected areas. The overall aim of this project was to review the effectiveness of standard mitigation measures used during construction to maintain the hydrological conditions within peat soils and wetland habitats. This work involved a literature review of the evidence of the impacts of construction on the habitat and groundwater in groundwater-dependent wetlands and peatlands. In addition, developers and contractors were consulted to gain feedback on what practical approaches have and have not been successful and remedial actions taken when monitoring or observation identifies ongoing issues. This research also developed regulatory-relevant recommendations. The main recommendation focuses on the central importance of collecting relevant and detailed site investigation data at an early stage of the application process to enable a full understanding of the site character and to inform a more accurate design process. This will reduce or avoid impacts on the environment, minimise risk, and produce a more informed construction strategy.

The Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus describes the synergies and trade-offs between water, energy and food. Despite the significant attention that the WEF nexus has received in recent years, challenges remain, primarily related to gaps in integrated data, information and knowledge related to the most critical inter-linkages and their dynamics. These WEF nexus complexities and uncertainty make decision-making and future forecasting extremely difficult. Policy makers and other stakeholders are currently faced with the task of understanding longer term environmental impacts and tJhe benefits and limitations of innovations that could be potentially beneficial, such as Anaerobic Digestion as a waste solution or insect protein production. This paper describes an approach to support decision making for local-level innovations within the WEF nexus by creating a set of sustainability indicators and an accompanying interactive visualisation. The indicators were derived from stakeholder consultation processes and workshops, and they were selected to include a much broader assessment than just financial aspects when considering the viability of such innovations. By taking this bottom-up approach and placing stakeholders at the heart of the project, we produced a visualisation tool to support sustainable decision making when considering the implementation of WEF innovations. Considering other, often overlooked factors and giving greater priority to these deepens knowledge and the recognition of influential issues that in conventional processes may be overlooked. This visualisation tool is designed to support decision makers to engage in a exploration of the different interlinkages, and to be the basis of stakeholder dialogue around sustainability. The visualisation tool developed was designed to be easily modifiable in order to be updated with new insights and to include other future innovations.

Public realm urban regeneration projects aim to provide facilities for the common good such as improved road systems, public parks, museums and cultural institutions. Driven by political priorities, the expected benefits for society comprise of the proposed regeneration outcomes articulated in a masterplan vision. As a philosophical concept, common good in the context of urban regeneration is explored in this study to understand the expectations for major, long-term regeneration projects and the intended project objectives. In the approach to governance, there should be a relationship between monitoring indicators adopted by the regeneration project as part of the governance framework and their alignment with the common good. These concepts are analysed through a case study of the development and reporting of benchmark indicators established at the start of a major 20-year urban redevelopment in 2010. The monitoring and enhancement concept implemented required indicators to be developed and embedded in the regeneration process to, not only monitor, but also enhance sustainability. The longitudinal case study, at the interim point 10 years since the establishment of these indicators, will evaluate the sustainability of the urban regeneration and evaluate current evidence for the common good. The indicators were developed following the principles of a theme orientated framework in line with the UK and Scottish Government approach at that time. The process of indicator development was iterative, refined and finalised through working closely with local authority, Scottish Enterprise and partnership stakeholders (civic oriented organisations) to capture evidence of progress towards the masterplan vision. Ten years on, conclusions examine whether these indicators could be used a proxy for common good. The conclusion will identify the extent to which we would need to revise indicators to address any gaps to become a more accurate measure of common good.

Public realm urban regeneration projects aim to provide facilities for the common good such as improved road systems, public parks, museums and cultural institutions. Driven by political priorities, the expected benefits for society comprise of the proposed regeneration outcomes articulated in a masterplan vision. As a philosophical concept, common good in the context of urban regeneration is explored in this study to understand the expectations for major, long-term regeneration projects and the intended project objectives. In the approach to governance, there should be a relationship between monitoring indicators adopted by the regeneration project as part of the governance framework and their alignment with the common good. These concepts are analysed through a case study of the development and reporting of benchmark indicators established at the start of a major 20-year urban redevelopment in 2010. The monitoring and enhancement concept implemented required indicators to be developed and embedded in the regeneration process to, not only monitor, but also enhance sustainability. The longitudinal case study, at the interim point 10 years since the establishment of these indicators, will evaluate the sustainability of the urban regeneration and evaluate current evidence for the common good. The indicators were developed following the principles of a theme orientated framework in line with the UK and Scottish Government approach at that time. The process of indicator development was iterative, refined and finalised through working closely with local authority, Scottish Enterprise and partnership stakeholders (civic oriented organisations) to capture evidence of progress towards the masterplan vision. Ten years on, conclusions examine whether these indicators could be used a proxy for common good. The conclusion will identify the extent to which we would need to revise indicators to address any gaps to become a more accurate measure of common good.