Chapter 10
The Urban Sustainability Indicators
in Québec
Georges A. Tanguay and Juste Rajaonson
10.1 Introduction
This chapter addresses issues raised in the current literature on the selection and use
of urban sustainability indicators. The analysis is supported by the findings of a
research program carried out at the Center for Interuniversity Research and Analysis
on Organizations (CIRANO) between 2008 and 2014. The program led to the
identification of 20 key indicators that could serve as a tool to assess the sustainability performance of the 25 largest cities in Québec. After a brief presentation of
the research program, this chapter highlights the main findings from the assessment
of the selected cities and discusses the issues relevant to the interpretation of urban
sustainability indicator (USI) scores. We argue that each score, on its own, may only
estimate the strength and weakness of each city for one or a few factors, and as result,
does not provide a complete description of the main characteristics that make the city
“sustainable” or “not sustainable.” We propose to complement this basic interpretation on two key aspects of sustainability: the non-substitutability between environmental and socioeconomic performance, and the time dimension. An empirical
analysis of the contribution of such criteria to sustainability assessment is then
conducted. Finally, this chapter discusses the implications of such analysis for
megacities.
G. A. Tanguay (*) · J. Rajaonson
Department of Urban Studies and Tourism, School of Management, University of Québec in
Montreal, Montréal, QC, Canada
e-mail: tanguay.georges@uqam.ca
© Springer Japan KK, part of Springer Nature 2021
S. Muramatsu et al. (eds.), Living in the Megacity: Towards Sustainable Urban
Environments, Global Environmental Studies,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-56901-5_10
183
The Urban Sustainability Indicators
in Québec
Georges A. Tanguay and Juste Rajaonson
10.1 Introduction
This chapter addresses issues raised in the current literature on the selection and use
of urban sustainability indicators. The analysis is supported by the findings of a
research program carried out at the Center for Interuniversity Research and Analysis
on Organizations (CIRANO) between 2008 and 2014. The program led to the
identification of 20 key indicators that could serve as a tool to assess the sustainability performance of the 25 largest cities in Québec. After a brief presentation of
the research program, this chapter highlights the main findings from the assessment
of the selected cities and discusses the issues relevant to the interpretation of urban
sustainability indicator (USI) scores. We argue that each score, on its own, may only
estimate the strength and weakness of each city for one or a few factors, and as result,
does not provide a complete description of the main characteristics that make the city
“sustainable” or “not sustainable.” We propose to complement this basic interpretation on two key aspects of sustainability: the non-substitutability between environmental and socioeconomic performance, and the time dimension. An empirical
analysis of the contribution of such criteria to sustainability assessment is then
conducted. Finally, this chapter discusses the implications of such analysis for
megacities.
G. A. Tanguay (*) · J. Rajaonson
Department of Urban Studies and Tourism, School of Management, University of Québec in
Montreal, Montréal, QC, Canada
e-mail: tanguay.georges@uqam.ca
© Springer Japan KK, part of Springer Nature 2021
S. Muramatsu et al. (eds.), Living in the Megacity: Towards Sustainable Urban
Environments, Global Environmental Studies,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-56901-5_10
183