TOOL NAME: Integrated Sustainability Assessment Platform (ISAP)
OWNED/DEVELOPED BY: CSIRO – Sustainable Urban Development Team - background IP derived from literature.
- Form of the CAT – whether it is a rating tool, strategic framework, guidelines etc. – and capacity to link with other tools.
ISAP is not a rating tool – rather, it is a planning and design decision-support tool, aimed at generating insights in sustainability assessment processes. Capacity to link with other tools - especially visualization tools – is currently being explored (e.g. linking of outputs with ACT mapping and Google Earth).
- Governance/administration of the CAT – its purpose and the organization behind it, the jurisdiction or scale of influence/application.
Tool is still in research and development phase, developing via a project-based participatory action/research model (e.g. ACTPLA Eastlakes project). Future administration and delivery options still under development. Tool focuses on existing urban areas – requiring data access and digitisation skill sets (possibly situating future application within planning agencies etc.).
Used in pilot study of Eastlakes neighbourhood-scale development in the ACT – ISAP tool outcomes underpin ongoing work by other agencies now engaged in more detailed assessment re sustainability metrics & monitoring of specific development proposals.
Current scale of influence and application is potential only, but integrated assessment model has capacity to leverage significant sustainability gains over existing industry practice, especially when applied early in the planning process.
- Sector or phase of development to which the CAT is applicable – e.g. planning, design, construction – residential, commercial, infrastructure etc. – including capacity to influence urban renewal and retrofitting outcomes.
Tool is most effective when applied as early as possible in the planning process. ISAP was principally developed around the residential sector, but current work is focussing on how to integrate commercial development and applying the tool as an evaluative methodology across a broad sector of development scenarios.
- Ability to promote systems thinking – how well the CAT encompasses and integrates the component factors and measures of urban sustainability.
The platform consists of a number of existing modules, plus several still under development which are expected to be incorporated by July 2010. Modules cover areas such as solar access & energy consumption, human health, water & stormwater, bushfire risk, transport & accessibility, LCA materials & waste, and ecological function. Indicators within modules define impacts in terms of CO2 emissions and units of water and energy use. The integrated platform approach explores how these indicators respond to different development configurations, with the aim of building up a systems conceptualization of the urban environment. It is designed specifically to engender systems understanding, and to build this capacity into decision-making.
- Capacity to inform design decisions – how well the CAT is able to derive and test alternative design strategies to inform decision-making.
This is the aim of the platform – to create a forum for more informed discussion with decision-makers around possible future design solutions within the built environment. It attempts - via creative, integrated assessment of multiple sustainability factors – to highlight critical interdependencies, potential complementarities and conflicts between such factors within alternative proposed design scenarios.
The application of the platform to the Eastlakes development was an important pilot project for the process of its development, and the tool shows great potential to significantly impact on built environment sustainability outcomes when applied across a broader range of scales and development types.
- Capacity to encourage collaboration – how effectively the CAT integrates input from multiple stakeholders in the context of its implementation and use.
ISAP at this stage requires further opportunities for testing against real-life project design scenarios, to fully articulate the range of potential links to stakeholder input from different sectors.
- Adaptability of the CAT to differing local environmental contexts
It is possible to extend the platform for application to any urban area internationally, but inputs are driven by local data and imperatives. Development of the tool to date has been fundamentally driven by available local data. However, insights generated by locally-specific application could be applied more widely (e.g. creating an evidence-base for decision-making).
- Ability of the CAT to drive innovation in urban planning and development.
ISAP developers expressed the view that “driving innovation is not part of the intention of the platform”, suggesting that the role of incentivising sustainability may reside more effectively in market-based instruments. However, the integrated approach to assessing sustainability criteria is likely to improve capacity for optimising sustainability gains at scale, as it enables more rapid & informed evaluation of alternative development scenarios, thereby increasing opportunity for innovative design responses.
- Flexibility of the CAT to adapt and evolve over time to changing understanding and measures of urban sustainability – including review processes and systems for ongoing monitoring, evaluation and reporting of outcomes.
Too early to assess at this point in tool development.
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