A Study of Urban Rankings as it Pertains to Facets of Environmental Sustainability

A concern has arisen about the numerous rankings of sustainable, green and smart cities in various publications. Different publications are producing vastly different results. If a consistent and legitimate set of measures were being adopted by various researchers, there would be commonality among the rankings. However, this does not seem to be the situation. As such, this thesis explores the credibility of the published rankings of cities as to whether they are sustainable, green, or smart. To help meet this goal, this study explores how the rankings vary, what criteria are used, and how such rankings can be improved. In addition, a survey was conducted of experts in the field to help better construct ways of ranking cities, based on them being sustainable, green or smart. 

The findings show that the majority of the rankings of sustainable, green and smart cities are diverse and employ questionable techniques. Sources that publish such rankings seemingly compile random lists of cities with no research having taken place. The survey helped establish additional criteria by which to rank cities so as to create more consistent results.