Sustainable urbanism is not just about greenery, energy-efficient buildings or rainwater management. It emerges from the integration of natural conditions, a well-considered settlement structure, affordable housing, collaboration, high-quality implementation and long-term care. The following checklist helps assess whether a proposal creates a good place to live today—and whether it can adapt in the future. If we want people to enjoy living in our towns and cities without development spreading into the open countryside, we need to make our settlements more liveable.

What Sustainable Urbanism Means

A sustainable settlement must balance three dimensions: environmental, social and economic. Being environmentally responsible is not enough if people cannot afford to live there with dignity. Nor is economic viability sufficient if it comes at the expense of the landscape, public space or future generations.

Urbanism is not a finished image. It is a long-term process that begins with understanding a place, continues through design and implementation, and does not end when construction is completed. The way a place is managed, maintained, repaired and adapted over time is equally important.

The following eight areas can be used when planning a new neighbourhood, regenerating a brownfield site, redesigning a public space or preparing the development strategy of an entire municipality. These points are not a universal recipe. They are a set of questions that help reveal a proposal’s blind spots and maintain its ambitions throughout the process.

1. Context: I Understand the Story of the Place and How It Works

Every place already functions in a particular way before an architect or investor arrives. It has its own terrain, water regime, microclimate, ecosystems, history and everyday routes. Sustainable design does not erase these layers. It reads them and uses them as a starting point.

Respecting the terrain reduces excavation, soil movement and technically demanding interventions. Understanding how water moves through the site helps prevent both flooding and drought. Solar orientation and knowledge of air movement affect thermal comfort and energy consumption. Historical traces, significant places, local stories and the routes people actually use are equally important.

• I respect the terrain and geological conditions and minimise interventions in them.
• I know how water flows through the area, how the wind moves, how the sun reaches it and how these conditions change throughout the year.
• I understand the historical development of the place, its heritage and its social context.
• I know the principal routes used by people and animals.
• I can identify the important points, lines, values and stories within the area.
• The proposal supports a diversity of habitats and development patterns and responds to its surroundings.
• I connect the project to the surrounding landscape and, where appropriate, create conditions for local food production and regenerative agriculture.

2. The Settlement Landscape: The Settlement Is Liveable and Close to Nature

The fundamental decision is not the appearance of an individual building, but the structure of the settlement as a whole. This structure determines distances, modes of transport, the character of streets, access to services and the amount of land consumed by development.

Sustainable development therefore prioritises the existing capacity of settlements. It fills gaps, regenerates underused sites and improves already urbanised areas instead of continuing to expand into the open countryside. A well-designed structure is legible, diverse and permeable. Everyday destinations are within walking distance, while public spaces form a coherent network rather than residual areas left between roads and buildings.

Water, vegetation, energy and materials must also be integral parts of this structure. As much rainwater as possible should remain where it falls. Greenery and water features should form continuous blue-green infrastructure rather than isolated decorative elements. The orientation of buildings should make use of winter sunlight while limiting summer overheating.

• The settlement structure is appropriately oriented, proportioned, legible and diverse.
• I prioritise the densification and improvement of the existing settlement over development in the open countryside.
• Everyday needs are accessible within a few minutes’ walk, and the area is easy to move through.
• Public spaces form a clear, purposeful and appropriately scaled network.
• The proposal retains rainwater within the area, makes use of solar gains during colder months and reduces the need for summer cooling.
• Energy for construction and operation is generated as close as possible to where it is consumed.
• I prioritise local, natural, reusable or biodegradable materials with the lowest possible carbon footprint.
• Transport and technical infrastructure allow continuous, high-quality blue-green infrastructure to be created.

3. Community: The City Should Serve Everyone

Settlements exist for people. Sustainability cannot therefore be measured only by energy consumption or the proportion of greenery. It also depends on who can use a place, who can afford to live there and whether it supports healthy relationships.

A good city works for children, older people, parents with pushchairs and people with limited mobility. It remains usable in hot weather, rain and winter. It provides different forms of housing, services and activities so that it does not become a monofunctional area dependent on commuting. Affordable housing is not an optional addition—it is a fundamental condition of a socially sustainable settlement.

Space can encourage relationships. Shared gardens, workshops, community rooms, playgrounds and simple places to sit give people opportunities to meet, help one another and develop a relationship with their surroundings.

• The settlement works equally well for different groups of people and in all weather conditions.
• The proposal creates a diverse mix of housing, building types, spaces, services and activities.
• I treat affordable housing as a basic human need.
• From the outset, I communicate the proposal with the public, authorities, investors and future users.
• The environment supports physical, mental and social wellbeing.
• I create opportunities for sharing objects, experience and space.

4. Buildings: The Sustainability of the Whole Begins with Its Parts

A settlement can function as a sustainable organism only if its individual cells are sustainable too. Urban design must therefore create the right conditions for high-quality architecture: appropriate building orientation, suitable building depth and height, active ground floors, adaptable layouts and long-lasting structures.

Every building should be assessed in terms of energy, materials, water, indoor environmental quality, its relationship with its surroundings and its capacity for future adaptation. These issues are explored in greater depth in Rethink Architecture’s Sustainable Architecture Checklist, which complements this urban design checklist.

• The urban structure enables the development of energy-efficient, healthy and durable buildings.
• I assess individual buildings using the Sustainable Architecture Checklist.
• Buildings can be reasonably adapted, repurposed, repaired and, where necessary, dismantled in the future.

5. Process: Sustainability Is Determined Long Before Construction Begins

Even a strong concept can fail without a realistic process. It is therefore necessary at the outset to distinguish genuine needs from wishes that merely increase costs, resource consumption or the scale of construction. The brief should be developed through dialogue with those affected by the project.

A project needs stable financing, political support and public trust. A plan for the period after opening is equally important: who will manage the place, how maintenance will be funded, how problems will be evaluated and what will happen at the end of each component’s useful life.

A sustainable process can adapt. It allows phased development, continuous learning and the testing of solutions on a smaller scale. Through rapid, inexpensive and temporary interventions, tactical urbanism can reveal what works before permanent investment is made.

• I have defined the minimum requirements and discussed them with all participants.
• The project has secure financing and sufficient political and public support.
• The process covers preparation, implementation, subsequent management and maintenance, as well as the end of the project’s useful life.
• The design and process can be adapted as the project progresses, and implementation can be phased.
• I have explored the possibility of gradually transforming the place through tactical urbanism.
• The pace of the process is manageable for all key stakeholders.
• It is clear how buildings and public spaces can be adapted, rebuilt and dismantled in the future.

6. Working Together: We Shape the Environment for One Another

A complex area cannot be designed well by one person or one profession alone. Architects, landscape architects, transport engineers, water specialists, sociologists, facility managers, municipalities, investors and the public all contribute different forms of knowledge. The earlier they begin working together, the lower the risk of costly conflicts and subsequent remedial work.

Participation is not a one-off presentation of a finished proposal. It requires continuous, accessible communication, attentive listening and transparent explanations of decisions. Not every request can be met, but everyone can receive a fair response. Trust develops when people understand what they can influence and what will happen next.

• I involve all necessary disciplines from the outset and encourage the sharing of knowledge.
• I communicate the proposal continuously and clearly with the public, investors and users.
• I actively investigate users’ needs, including the needs of people whose experiences differ from my own.
• I listen, build trust and can set aside my own ego.
• I involve the local community in both preparation and implementation so that people develop a relationship with the place and with one another.

7. Quality: Functional and Efficient Solutions Can Be Beautiful

Sustainability is not a competition to include the greatest possible number of features, certificates or visible greenery. What matters more is whether the whole system works. Every element should have a clear purpose, connect with the others and be deliverable to the required standard.

Good solutions usually emerge from comparing alternatives, independent professional review and feedback from future users and facility managers. Quality is also determined in the details. Simple, proven construction solutions often last longer, are easier to repair and depend less on complicated operating systems.

• I do not prioritise quantity at the expense of quality.
• I optimise both the proposal and the process, compare alternatives and actively seek feedback.
• I use simple, high-quality technical details that remain functional over the long term.
• I assess proposals according to the quality and comprehensiveness of the solution, not merely the lowest initial cost.

8. Care: The Work Does Not End When Construction Is Completed

Even the best-designed place will not remain successful without care. Materials wear out, vegetation grows, people’s needs change and climatic conditions create new demands. Management cannot therefore be treated as an afterthought once implementation is complete.

The design must establish who is responsible for maintenance and repairs, what resources are available and how easily individual elements can be renewed. Durability does not mean immutability. Sustainable materials and structures are those that can be repaired locally, modified and reused.

Regular evaluation is an important part of care. We should monitor whether public spaces are used as expected, where water accumulates, which routes people choose, whether trees are thriving and where barriers are emerging. The findings should lead to ongoing improvements developed jointly with the public, facility managers and specialists.

• I select high-quality, proven and durable materials that can be readily modified and repaired.
• Responsibilities for management, maintenance and repairs are clearly assigned.
• The proposal limits the emergence of additional barriers, ad hoc modifications and visual or spatial clutter.
• I regularly evaluate how the settlement and its public spaces function.
• Based on the results, I develop improvements together with the public, facility managers and specialists.

How Should the Checklist Be Used?

The checklist is most effective when the team returns to it repeatedly: first when defining the brief, again when comparing design alternatives, before permitting and implementation, and finally when evaluating actual operation.

For each point, it is useful to record more than a simple yes or no:

• Evidence: What supports our answer? Do we have data, a survey, a calculation or evidence from users’ experience?
• Responsibility: Who is responsible for this area?
• Deadline: When must the decision be made or the measure implemented?
• Measure of success: How will we know after implementation that the solution is working?

Not every point can be addressed perfectly in every project. If we deliberately decide not to pursue one of them, however, we should be able to explain why, describe the consequences and seek an alternative. Transparent decision-making is what turns a checklist from a wish list into a practical tool.

A Sustainable City Is Capable of Change

Sustainable urbanism does not result from a single technical solution. It is the outcome of many interconnected decisions—from respecting the terrain, ensuring walkability and providing affordable housing to communication, high-quality detailing and long-term management.

A good settlement protects the landscape and conserves resources while giving people a reason to want to live there. It is liveable, fair, viable and prepared for change. A checklist cannot provide one universally correct answer. It can, however, help us ask the right questions before mistakes become expensive or irreversible.