Development and application of a new Resilient, Sustainable, Safe and Inclusive Community Rating System (RESSICOM)

The rising concern about sustainable development led most states worldwide to adopt the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to achieve 17 new goals before the end of 2030. Due to the prominent role of urbanization, the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #11 was introduced to make cities and human settlements more resilient, sustainable, safe and inclusive. The frameworks built so far to assess sustainable urban development primarily focus on sustainability, disregarding inclusiveness, safety and resilience. Under the joint consideration of these four facets, this research devised a new tool to evaluate communities and cities by selecting 61 indicators from an extensive literature review, which were weighted subsequently to ensure the balance among the four sustainability dimensions, namely society, economy, environment and governance. Data extracted from international organizations and the targets of the SDGs were used to score the indicators of the system. Mexico City, as one of the most overcrowded cities in the planet, was selected as a case study to apply the proposed tool. The research determined that the minimum thresholds set for the safety, sustainability and inclusiveness domains were not reached. In contrast, the city performed over the resilience limit. Consequently, RESSICOM was revealed as a helpful framework to identify shortcomings in cities related to the achievement of SDG #11.