Article
Urban Sustainability Performance Measurement of a Small
Brazilian City
Fernanda Caroline Caldatto * , Sandro César Bortoluzzi, Edson Pinheiro de Lima and
Sergio E. Gouvea da Costa
Citation: Caldatto, F.C.;
Bortoluzzi, S.C.; Pinheiro de Lima, E.;
Gouvea da Costa, S.E. Urban
Sustainability Performance
Measurement of a Small Brazilian
City. Sustainability 2021, 13, 9858.
https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179858
Academic Editor: Paolo Renna
Received: 28 July 2021
Accepted: 18 August 2021
Published: 2 September 2021
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4.0/).
Industrial and Systems Engineering, Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná,
Pato Branco CEP 85503-390, Brazil; sandro@utfpr.edu.br (S.C.B.); pinheiro@utfpr.edu.br (E.P.d.L.);
gouvea@utfpr.edu.br (S.E.G.d.C.)
* Correspondence: fercaldatto@gmail.com
Abstract:
The population increase in cities implies the need to balance environmental, social, and
economic demands in such a way that growth is guided by sustainable development. This research
aimed to build a model for evaluating the performance of urban sustainability in a small Brazilian city.
To structure the model, the multicriteria decision support methodology-constructivist (MCDA-C)
was adopted, which aims to identify the objectives and criteria of a context based on the actors’
values. The measurement model resulted in 66 criteria, which were measured by considering the
reference levels (Good and Neutral). The results of the analysis through the model showed that the
city’s urban sustainability performance was good in 45 criteria, excellent in 20, and compromising
in 1. Thus, there is a theoretical contribution by presenting a multi-criteria performance assessment
methodology focused on the sustainability of small towns and practice by helping to formulate
and evaluate public policies. In addition, when confronting the criteria of the model built with the
objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it was identified that, although they are
partially aligned, the improvement of performance in local sustainability has positive effects on
achieving global goals.
Keywords:
performance measurement; urban sustainability; MCDA-C; sustainable development;
problem structuring
1. Introduction
With the expansion of cities, several environmental, social, and economic problems
have begun to emerge [
1
]. The existence of slums, the low quality of life of the population,
the reduction of natural resources, air pollution, and low levels of economic development
are some examples [
2
]. This reality can be identified in the most varied sizes of cities [
3
]
when sustainable urban development is not pursued.
The most widespread definition for sustainable development was given by the World
Commission on Environment and Development and consists of a guarantee that the current
generation can meet their needs without harming future generations [
4
]. The achievement
of sustainability is conditioned on a balanced and dynamic system of the three pillars:
environmental, social, and economic [
1
,
5
–
7
]. According to [
2
], in urban sustainability, the
three dimensions can be worked on in situations related to aspects of people’s lives, such
as education, culture and health, waste treatment, city vegetation, discharge of polluting
gases, quality and the growth of the economy, and the reduction of waste.
However, achieving sustainable development is not a trivial task. There are limiting
factors in the process that need to be considered, which are: Technical capacity (knowledge,
experience and training), low political commitment, financial resources [
8
], and citizens’
knowledge [
3
]. In addition, the adoption of beneficial actions for only one dimension or,
that which promotes sectoral interests at the expense of others, should be avoided [
9
], as
sacrificing the performance of one dimension to achieve better performance in another
Sustainability 2021, 13, 9858. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179858 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability
