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The purpose of this paper is to discuss the ideal meaning of good governance for cities sustainability, basing itself on the international consensus of governance as the most important issue when facing urban environmental problems.

Focusing on urban environmental problems and based on discussions about environmental governance and sustainability carried out throughout the last decades, the paper recognizes that the discussions on environmental governance, although presenting converging ideas and some successful examples, are still to convey a definitive framework as a base to be followed and consolidated. For this reason, it aims to offer a theoretical framework for handling urban environmental governance, as well as an approach that allows one to recognize ways for an appropriate assessment of cities sustainability.

The results of the analysis suggest that, while the notion of governance offers a direction in researches addressing the study of institutions and of the interaction between governmental and non‐governmental actors, there is still a lack of applicable and appropriate models to achieve good governance in a democratic way, especially in developing countries. Another important conclusion lies in the perception that, for knowledge construction purposes, as well as for structure policies and measurement of society's achievements towards a more sustainable development, urban environmental governance indicators are a helpful and thoroughly necessary tool.

Developing an urban environmental governance assessment model allows for comparisons in between analytical results of projects implemented or under implementation, creating a scientific basis for designing sustainable institutional arrangements in future projects.

System dynamics is a whole-system modelling and learning approach, useful for tackling non-linear problems, such as sustainable urban development. The purpose of this paper is to review system dynamics applications in the simulation of sustainable urban development over a period from 2005 to 2017.

The analysis reveals that the number of applications of system dynamics modelling in the area of urban sustainable development increased in the analysed period. Research has changed its focus from the modelling of environmental problems to more complex models, portraying the multidimensional socio-economic processes that have an impact on the sustainability of urban development. Analysed case studies most often use the behaviour reproduction test for model validation, but without a unified approach. In most cases, modelling has been done in China, Germany and the USA, while urban development in the Eastern European countries, Africa and Latin America has not often been investigated. This paper indicates the knowledge gaps and suggests future research directions.

Papers that report the use of system dynamics modelling reveal a wide range of applications in urban sustainability. The analysis shows significant emphasis on environmental problems, while the interest for modelling social problems has been increasing during the last several years. Most of the modelled problems examine the sustainability of resources (land, water) and waste management, which are used for insights into the reasons for the system behaviour, forecasting future behaviour and policy testing.

The presented models were developed in most cases for the purpose of understanding the phenomena examined, as well as the future use of the models in policy planning. This brings us back to the need for greater stakeholder involvement, not only in the initial phase, but also during the whole modelling process, which could increase understanding, use and ownership of the models in the future, and thus increase their practical application.

This paper aims to present some challenging issues concerning urban space management in the Mediterranean region, with a special focus to sustainability.

It is structured around the outcomes of the SB05MED International Conference titled “Sustainable Construction: Action for Sustainability in the Mediterranean Region,” held in Athens in June 2005, which is the main subject of this special issue. It will present the main outcomes related to existing approaches of environmental quality in buildings as well as methodologies, policies and standards for environmental quality in buildings and cities. Furthermore, it will present future trends and explore the current situation of projects, systems and operations, as well as performance assessment tools and financial instruments and mechanisms towards sustainable construction in the Mediterranean region. Each major scientific topic is presented and analysed. Finally, a synthesis of outcomes is presented.

The paper demonstrates the links between developments in the field of sustainable building in the Mediterranean region and relates them with future developments and perspectives at a macro‐regional level.

This overview paper can be used as the starting point of future research as well as a reference paper.

The purpose of this paper is the comparison of Local Agenda 21 – sustainability plan implementation and research activity between Europe, North America and India.

Intensive literature and web search for European, North American and Indian Local Agenda 21 sustainability planning and implementation status.

Close to 6,000 sustainability plans have been prepared for European communities versus about 100 for North American communities. A total of 20 Indian cities have started sustainability planning efforts. There is an extensive support network for European communities and much less so or North American and Indian communities. Most sustainability/biodiversity/urban ecosystems research is ongoing in Europe and North America and there is a beginning surge of activity in India.

Knowledge of Local Agenda 21 implementation status between these three regions can hopefully spur more activity in North America and India. Comparisons of applicable planning innovations and approaches could be useful.

There has not been a comparison of Local Agenda 21 implementation that compares Europe, North America and India. There have been some reviews respective to each region.

The purpose of this paper is to address the following questions: To what extent is residents’ perception of the state of their environment consistent with findings based on samples from the field? Are the locals aware of the drivers and pressures that led to the present state of the environment? Are they aware of the impacts? If so, are they able to recommend responses?

To examine the extent to depend on citizens’ opinion in decision-making, the researcher juxtaposed results from data gathered and analysed from the field assessing the quality of the marine environment, coastal zone and levels of both noise and air pollution. The researcher collected datum from focus group meetings, questionnaire and review of newspapers and magazines. The researcher used Qualitative Data Analysis QDA software to analyse qualitative data.

The results of the survey and the focus group meetings indicated that the citizens’ perceptions are, to some extent, in line with the results that the Arabian Gulf University (AGU) team concluded from the field survey. Citizens do not feel the urgency of conserving water because the government has been meeting growing demand by increasing the supply of water. The participants identified drivers and pressures that led to the present state of the environment. They were not able to differentiate between the state of the environment and the impacts of environmental degradation.

Citizens’ opinion is a valuable tool as an input at the various stages of plan formulation. Citizens’ views can bring an issue to experts’ attention and shed light on the qualitative aspect, such as meaning or value, that the quantitative data fail to reveal. However, the planning process must not depend entirely on citizen’s views. Experts must combine citizens’ opinions with scientific facts that result from in situ monitoring and laboratory analysis.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding about sources of water for the urban poor in Rajshahi city, Bangladesh. It evaluates water supply performances to identify priority areas of water supply for further improvement. The paper also illustrates whether location of slums in the city has a connection with water supply facilities or not.

The paper presents a case study of water supply for the urban slum dwellers. Based on a questionnaire survey, it evaluates performances of water supply following a holistic framework for assessing dimensions of water supply system among three slum zones of Rajshahi city. The dimensions of water supply are as follows: technical, biophysical, political, institutional, economic and social.

The research finds that most of the slum dwellers do not have reliable and sufficient access to water supply. The performance of water supply is location specific, and all of the slums do not have equal access to all dimensions of water supply. Overall performance of water supply is moderate, but individual performances of dimensions are unsatisfactory and unequal among the slums.

The paper suggests location-specific identification of strengths and weaknesses of water supply for the poor. It consolidates a performance evaluation method for identifying priority areas and needs of the urban poor for making Rajshahi city more inclusive and sustainable.

The paper provides an assessment of water supply performance for the urban poor in Rajshahi city, Bangladesh.

What makes neighbourhood environment more walkable is an important question for urban planning and design research. The purpose of this paper is to explore this question through a case study of urban sidewalks in different contexts of urban neighbourhoods in Rajshahi city of Bangladesh.

Using participatory observation, Google street view and photography techniques, it examines the quality of the street facilities by demonstrating physical attributes of sidewalks and by analysing how various obstructions on them characterize neighbourhood walkability environment.

The findings suggest that the unusable sidewalks in Rajshahi city, Bangladesh, are a production of inadequate and inappropriate planning and design that unable to capitalize the functionality of sidewalks as a means of walking. It further argues that the urban planners and designers of streets have paid little attention to the diverse requirements of sidewalks in accordance with spatial and socio-economic categories of urban neighbourhoods.

This study adds insights about the urban sidewalks planning and design in the context of a developing country. It provides an empirical evidence about the constraints and potentials of making a walkable city.

A natural gas pipeline accident could prove to be a dangerous fire source in city centers. Taking the explosive danger caused by natural gas leakage as an example, the purpose of this paper, based on the box model, is to examine how such an environmental hazard can be hindered by the variation of building heights in the context of urban safety design and land‐use decision making.

The box model measures the concentration of pollutants within a defined box in which a mixture of pollutants with air and their transport by wind take place. A street surrounded by tall buildings in the city center is a good example for the application of such a model, and the building heights shape the box size and the mixing height. Under the consideration of atmospheric conditions this study identifies how the constellation of physical factors shaping the city‐street box and its change affect the elapsed time to reach the lower explosive limit (LEL) and the upper explosive limit (UEL) of natural gas.

Ceteris paribus higher building heights expand the time span between initial gas leakage and reaching LEL, in which appropriate safety measures should be taken before ignition, but more rapidly increases the elapsed time to reach UEL, making the time scope for potential explosive danger in the city center even larger.

In the past, the aspect of preventing explosive dangers caused by natural gas leakage has been largely ignored in the building height regulations related to urban safety design and city center development.