The European experience and best practice in sustainable urban planning has been reviewed and a list of sustainability criteria has been compiled, to guide the “auditing” of urban public open spaces. The partners have investigated the relevance of the sustainability criteria and the framework for sustainability “auditing” in their countries by consulting with the target groups of the project. The sustainability criteria have been adapted to local conditions through a number of focus groups that have been organised in all participating countries. The case studies compiled by partners have also given insights on how to form the list of sustainability criteria.

The framework that defines these criteria is based on the principle that “auditing” should be based on an integrated view: that is, one should take all criteria into account and give each of them a separate “weight” according to local and national conditions.

The framework that guides the formulation and application of the criteria is schematically shown in the graph.