Tools for environmental assessment of the built environment

During the last decades there has been an increasing interest in environmental assessments of the built environment. As a result, we can find several qualitative and quantitative assessment tools. With an increasing understanding of cities and the built environment as systems metabolising matter and energy, the use of quantitative tools are expected to increase, making it relevant to ask for their status of development. Aiming to give an overview of the present status of quantitative tools, as a basis for further research and development, this paper describes and compares five different tools for quantitative environmental assessment of the built environment. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.