Top 20 UK Sustainable Cities Named Industrial Heritage Trump Card
Saturday, 06 Dec, 2009
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Newcastle pushed previous winners Bristol and Brighton into second and third place in 2009 – the first time a northern industrial city has broken into the top three.
Its achievement shows that it is possible for cities with an industrial heritage to overcome the legacy of the past and perform well on many measures of sustainability.
Bristol tops the quality of life table and ranks third on future-proofing. It has the highest scores for recycling and household waste collections, and comes second on employment and transport. But it is let down by some poorer performances on the environmental table.
Brighton, which came top in 2007, is second for future-proofing and third for quality of life, but is also let down by its environmental performance. It has the strongest economy but the worst ecological footprint – the amount of land required to provide each person with food, transport, housing, goods and services.
Leicester takes fourth place – a strong rise from eighth last year and 14th in 2007 – and tops the future-proofing table, reflecting the ambitious strategies noted in last year’s index.
London moves up four to fifth place and takes second place for quality of life, with strong scores on employment, transport and health. Its economy is second only to Brighton.
13 indicators are measured in three broad baskets:
- Environmental impact – the city’s impact in terms of resource use and pollution;
- Quality of life – what the city is like for people to live in;
- Future-proofing – how well the city is preparing for a sustainable future.
The indicators are designed to give a snapshot of sustainability in each city and chosen to reflect areas in which local authorities have the power to enhance the sustainability of their city.
Overall city rankings:
2009 rank (2008) [2007]
1 (4) [8] Newcastle
2 (1) [3] Bristol
3 (2) [1] Brighton and Hove
4 (8) [14] Leicester
5 (9) [10] London
6 (13) [5] Leeds
7 (6) [2] Edinburgh
8 (10=) [11] Nottingham
9 (7) [7] Sheffield
10 (5) [6] Cardiff
11 (14) [17] Coventry
12 (3) [4] Plymouth
13 (12) [13] Sunderland
14 (15) [12] Manchester
15 (17) [20] Liverpool
16 (10=) [9] Bradford
17 (19) [19] Birmingham
18 (16) [16] Wolverhampton
19 (18) [15] Glasgow
20 (20) [18] Hull
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