Urban Sustainability Performance Measurement of a Small Brazilian City

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.