Australian Sustainable Cities Index

As a citizen of the UK and Australia I have long been aware of the similarities between our two countries across numerous environmental, political and social issues, including the impact the rapid expansion of cities is having on natural ecosystems.

In the lead up to the next Federal Government election (expected before the end of 2010), the Australian Conservation Foundation saw a need to highlight the lack of action towards creating more sustainable cities. This became part of our broader campaign to reinvigorate environmental debate in Australia. For example, many Australians are feeling particularly deflated about climate change, with the Federal Government’s proposed Emissions Trading Scheme first diluted and finally scrapped, and no clear long-term policies from the Opposition.

So in November last year all of our national campaigners flew into Melbourne from our six different offices around Australia to collaborate and generate ideas about how we can move the debate forward in each of our campaigns areas. Central to this was the idea of ranking our largest cities to determine which is the most sustainable and in doing so to highlight those areas where Federal, State, Territory and Local Governments need to take action.

Already aware of the excellent Sustainable Cities Index from Forum for the Future, I saw this as a great place to start. It didn’t take long at all to get everyone on board, but at that time no one had any idea just how big it would become!

Launched on 15 June, the ACF (Australian) Sustainable Cities Index ranks our 20 largest cities on 15 different indicators, determining for the first time our most and least sustainable cities. Darwin, our northern most capital and Australia’s ‘gateway to Asia’, has come out as our most sustainable city. Perth, capital of Western Australia and home to Australia’s resources boom, has come out as comparatively the least sustainable city in 2010.

That said, no city has done well across all of the indicators. There is a long way to go before any Australian city can be held up as a champion of sustainable urban development.

While we based our method on the Forum for the Future Index, we had to discard, adapt or replace many of the indicators to suit the unique Australian context and respond to the quantity and quality of data available. Our 15 indicators were:

Air QualityEcological FootprintGreen BuildingWaterBiodiversityHealthDensitySubjective WellbeingTransportEmploymentClimate Change (policy)Public ParticipationEducationHousehold RepaymentsFood Production

In the face of developing social and cultural challenges, we see cities as central to the work of creating a healthy and sustainable future for all Australians. The ACF Sustainable Cities Index encourages healthy competition, stimulates meaningful discussion and suggests new ways of thinking about how our cities can be not only sustainable, but move toward environmentally positive outcomes.

Thanks to the team at Forum for the Future we have been able to work from a solid base to create something that has been extremely well received publicly and politically.

Matthew Trigg is Smart Cities Project Coordinator at the Australian Conservation Foundation