Analysis of indicators of sustainability in a residential development, case study: Uptown core and Iroquois Ridge communities, town of Oakville, Ontario

This thesis evaluates sustainable community planning and design indicators as applied to conventional and alternative residential developments. Two developments similar in size, location and land use patterns were the sources of the data. The conventional development represents a design as defined under current Ontario municipal development standards. The second community challenges the existing standards and introduces a new set of alternative design criteria.;Research has been ongoing for some time to develop appropriate indicators to evaluate the physical design of communities. However, only recently have these indicators been applied to specific developments. The main purpose of this study is to critically assess the effectiveness of sustainability indicators relating to economics, environmental responsiveness and sense of community. The secondary goal is to compare and contrast the developments themselves in relation to the indicators.;The results of the indicator analysis revealed that not all indicators are relevant and most lack readily available data to provide a suitable measurement. Comparison of the communities using the sustainability indicators resulted in minimal differences between the conventional and alternative development, as they might relate to sustainability. Further elaboration and implications of these results are discussed as well as suggested directions for future study.