Case-based assessment of planned hill town using existing urban sustainability assessment tools

Abstract

Mountain ecosystems are complex and fragile, with significant topography variations, climatic conditions, and one that faces the most severe threats and challenges due to natural and anthropogenic activities. Despite all contributions within the past few decades on basic concepts, dimensions, sustainability issues, and various aspects of urban sustainability assessment tools, only a few academicians, researchers, and institutions have looked at the peculiar aspects of sustainability in hill areas. However, these have not been implemented or tested for their appropriateness within the context of environmentally sensitive hill areas. This research explores the comparative case study approach for assessing the urban sustainability of hill town using the existing urban sustainability assessment tools (USATs) to address the gap in the available literature. New Tehri Township has been selected as a case for the town’s assessment with the selected USATs to determine the key aspects that are not covered by each of the selected USATs. The case-based assessment findings highlighted that not all the criteria and indicators used in a given USATs are relevant in a particular context due to varying environmental, social, and economic conditions. The results provide valuable information and evidence to planners, developers, and researchers for further studies on township-level sustainability analysis, as well as emphasizing the importance of collaborative efforts and a well-defined mechanism in achieving humane, sustainable, and environment-friendly settlements. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.