Module 4 — City Performance Indicators and Methods of Assessment

MODULE OVERVIEW

This module provides tools and techniques to quantitatively evaluate and compare cities based on standardized metrics. A number of methods of assessment are introduced to offer tools for the performance evaluation of cities using quantifiable metrics through a series of videos about urban metabolism, using emergy and material flow analysis, environmental life cycle analysis and greenhouse gas emissions accounting. You will also find examples of city performance indicators for urban infrastructure in Boston, Buenos Aires and Taipei, and from Cape Town, Minna and Tshwane. In addition to the end of module quiz, you’ll have a chance to join the discussion by contributing your thoughts on how which cities can learn from one another using city performance indicators, and the many data sets and analytics that are available, in addition to a point of reflection. By the end of this module, you will be able to evaluate the performance of cities quantitatively using several methods of assessment.

Topics:

  • Urban Metabolism
  • Emergy and Material Flow Analysis
  • Environmental Life Cycle Assessment
  • Greenhouse Gas Emissions Accounting
  • Examples from global cities (Boston, Buenos Aires, Taipei)
  • Examples from African cities (Cape Town, Minna, Tshwane)

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Overall: Recognize the context for urbanization in global cities and in African cities

  1. Apply methods of assessment in urban contexts to visualize material and resource flows in cities
  2. Calculate greenhouse gas emissions resulting from production and consumption activities
  3. Explain city performance based on urban metabolism

EXPLORE MODULE

Welcome to Module 4

Learning Outcomes

Urban Metabolism

Emergy and Material Flow Analysis

Environmental Life Cycle Assessment

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Accounting

Examples from Global Cities

Examples from African Cities

Module 4 Summary

QUIZ: Module 4

DISCUSSION POINT: Module 4

REFLECTION POINT

References

PROJECT FILES

Type: Assessments (DOCX)

Module 4 Assessment Answer Key

Type: Video Links (YouTube)

Welcome to Module 4

Urban Metabolism

Emergy and MFA

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Accounting

Environmental Life Cycle Assessment

PROJECT INFORMATION

Sustainable Cities: Adding an African Perspective

PROJECT COMPONENTS

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This work is licensed under a This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

These course materials were created as part of the deliverables of the Engineering Education for Sustainable Development in Africa (EESC-A) at the University of Toronto, which was funded by the Dean’s Strategic Fund, Connaught Global Challenge Award, and the Learning and Education Advancement Fund (LEAF).

This effort has come to fruition with the support of the following individuals at the University of Toronto: Murray Metcalfe (Project Director), Brent Sleep (PI Connaught), Greg Evans (LEAF Co-PI), in addition to Dan Hoornweg, Lulu Luo and Rahim Rezaie on the EESC-A leadership team, the online magicians Allison van Beek and Joanna Lau in the Education Technology Office, and Laurie Harrison at the Centre for Teaching Support and Innovation, and the amazing librarians, Mindy Thuna and Katherine Johnson at the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering Library.

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