In April 2001, Alessandra Valentinelli and Anna Crimella analysed systematically a large number of urban indicator initiatives. They wanted to find out how much "cultural diversity" was needed to describe the environmental situation of a city. After all, every city is a very special case - or not? They found indeed a total of over 344 different (!) indicators. However, 285 (i.e. 83%) had been mentioned less than five times, while the ten most frequently used indicators, see below, had all been mentioned at least twelve times. This demonstrates clearly that cities have similar environmental problems: from Finland to Portugal, from Greece to Ireland, they all have air pollution, waste problems, struggle with noise and public transport, and would like to give their citizen more urban green, bicycle lanes and "protected areas" for pedestrians. There is no need to reinvent the wheel - instead of proposing new indicator lists every two years, indicator developers should collect data, publish them, and seek the dialogue with citizens on how the problems portrayed by the indicators could be solved...
Note the table below is the intellectual property of Alessandra Valentinelli.
Please to get more information about the
methodology used.
Questa tabella è proprietà intellettuale di Alessandra Valentinelli. Clicca per ottenere ulteriori informazioni sulla metodologia
usata.
| Pos. | English name | Count |
Nome italiano |
| 1 | water consumption per capita | 20 | consumi idrici pro capite |
| 2 | urban waste production per capita | 17 | rifiuti urbani prodotti |
| 3 | separate waste collection | 17 | raccolta differenziata |
| 4 | energy use | 16 | consumi energetici |
| 5 | atmospheric NO2 concentrations | 14 | concentrazioni atmosferiche NO2 |
| 6 | urban green per capita | 13 | verde urbano procapite |
| 7 | greenhouse gas emissions (CO2) | 13 | emissioni atmosferiche di gas effetto serra - CO2 |
| 8 | nitrogen compounds in water | 13 | concentrazioni in acqua di composti azotati |
| 9 | population served by water treatment plants | 12 | popolazione servita da depurazione |
| 10 | modal split of mobility | 12 | distribuzione modale mobilita' sistematica |
| 11 | population exposed to acustic pollution | 11 | popolazione esposta inquinamento acustico |
| 12 | protected areas | 11 | aree protette |
| 13 | degree of motorisation | 10 | tasso motorizzazione |
| 14 | waste by type of treatment | 10 | rifiuti trattati per tipo di smaltimento |
| 15 | area at hydrogeological risk | 10 | aree a rischio idrogeologico |
| 16 | public transport offer | 10 | offerta trasporto pubblico |
| 17 | soil consumption | 10 | consumo di suolo |
| 18 | urbanised area | 10 | aree urbanizzate |
| 19 | biological quality of surface water | 9 | qualita' biologica delle acque |
| 20 | atmospheric emission inventory | 9 | inventario emissioni atmosferiche |
| 21 | renewable energy | 9 | energie rinnovabili |
| 22 | Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) | 9 | BOD |
| 23 | contaminated areas | 8 | aree contaminate |
| 24 | water extraction | 8 | prelievi idrici |
| 25 | bicycle lanes | 8 | piste ciclabili |
| 26 | water loss in network | 8 | perdite di rete |
| 27 | phosphor concentration | 8 | concentrazioni di fosforo |
| 28 | atmospheric SO2 concentration | 8 | concentrazioni atmosferiche SO2 |
| 29 | Total Suspended Particles (TSP) concentration | 8 | concentrazioni atmosferiche PTS |
| 30 | exceedance of ozone (O3) | 7 | superamento limiti O3 |
| 31 | use of public transport | 7 | spostamenti su mezzo pubblico |
| 32 | pedestrian zones | 7 | isole pedonali |
| 33 | concentration of fecal coliforms | 7 | concentrazioni di coli fecali |
| 34 | atmospheric O3 concentration | 7 | concentrazioni atmosferiche O3 |
| 35 | mineral extraction | 7 | attivita' estrattive (cave) |
| 36 | areas with noise limits | 6 | zonizzazione acustica |
| 37 | exceedance of CO limits | 6 | superamento limiti CO |
| 38 | total waste production | 6 | rifiuti totali prodotti |
| 39 | production of toxic waste | 6 | rifiuti tossico-nocivi prodotti |
| 40 | production of special waste | 6 | rifiuti speciali prodotti |
| 41 | population connected to drainage network | 6 | popolazione allacciata alla rete fognaria |
| 42 | water treatment capacity | 6 | capacita' di depurazione |
| 43 | fuel consumption | 6 | consumi carburante |
| 44 | operational monitoring stations | 6 | centraline monitoraggio funzionanti |
| 45 | area destinated for waste disposal | 5 | area destinata a discarica |
| 46 | access to urban green | 5 | accessibilita' al verde urbano |
| 47 | abandoned areas | 5 | aree dismesse |
| 48 | level of acustic emissions | 5 | livelli di emissioni acustiche |
| 49 | emissions of NO3 | 5 | emissioni atmosferiche NOx |
| 50 | concentration of NO3 in groundwater | 5 | concentrazioni in falda di NO3 |
| 51 | Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) | 5 | COD |
| 52 | concentration of PM10 | 5 | concentrazioni atmosferiche PM10 |
| 53 | concentration of CO | 5 | concentrazioni atmosferiche CO |
| 54 | concentration of benzene | 5 | concentrazioni atmosferiche benzene |
For comparison, here the current 24 indicators of Ecosistema Urbano (2007):