Built Environment Sustainability Tool
The Built Environment Sustainability Tool (BEST) has been developed to assess sustainability capability of neighbourhoods and built environments. Gauge was invited by ICLEI at a special Urban-LEDS pre-event training workshop of the Local Climate Solutions for Africa Congress. Professional staff and counsellors from municipalities were trained on the tool and used this to carry out assessments of areas within their municipalities and develop interventions to improve sustainability.
Participants welcomed the approach developed in the methodology and appreciated the simplicity of the tool. In particular, there was positive support for the way in which the methodology was able to address reductions in carbon emission reductions within a sustainable development framework. Participants indicated that this aligned well with sustainable development mandate of local government and the increasing pressure being experienced to accelerate service delivery.