Abstrakt
Meeting sustainability challenges at a local level requires understanding urban and sustainability concepts and monitoring progress towards set targets. A literature review reveals that a wide array of sustainable city definitions, urban sustainability assessment frameworks, and countless indicators (assessment tools) have been developed and implemented.
This study focuses on the indicator-based assessment approach applied at the local level in the Czech Republic. We argue that the self-assessment approach using an appropriate assessment tool or set of tools enables municipal representatives to understand the strengths and weaknesses of their path towards sustainability and allows them to take effective measures to eliminate weaknesses.
We demonstrate this in the method entitled 'Urban Sustainability Audit' applied by Czech municipalities under the Local Agenda 21 programme. The study describes the original participatory methodology applied by municipalities of various types and sizes which has been in use for nearly a decade.
Key findings - benefits and challenges from different types of LA21 implementations reflected by municipal representatives and external evaluation experts - may serve as inspiration for other cities and countries.