Reference Framework, Standardization, Labeling: Incentives Tools for Sustainable Urban Development. Operational Examples

Governement, cities, compagnies will exchange all interest for tools and incentive policies to implement sustainable urban developpement : International standard, labelling systemes, european framework implemented enable to guide cities on their own path towards sustainability. The idea behind labels and incentive policies is to guarantee the quality of projects based on a set of fundamental requirements covering technical aspects, governance and the resulting economic momentum, regardless of the area in which they take place. This leads to a certain flexibility which allows the approach to be contextualised and adapted to any type of city according to its size, history, culture, geography and at any stage of the project. For example, the French national EcoDistrict Quality Label is based on a proactive approach by local authorities. It does not provide a model or any ready-made responses, but insists on the notion of context and the shared definition of a project. At the global scale, France Germany and China together are very significant and active participation in the implementation of ISO 37101, the first ISO norm on management of sustainable cities and territories. Several european governements also spearheaded several projects at regional scale such as the Referential Framework Sustainable Cities (RFSC), a web application giving an European framework for fostering integrated urban development for small, medium and big cities all across Europe. Finally, the Ecodistrict initiative, RFSC, ISO 37101 are good illustrations of what can be done at local level, by a city, with the support of national and regional authorities and compagnies, to implement urban projects. It enable a proposal to build a diversified urban area, in association with the different stakeholders and residents, within a high-quality living environment, while limiting its ecological footprint.