The Reference Framework
for Sustainable Cities

A EUROPEAN VISION


TOWARDS JUST, GREEN AND PRODUCTIVE CITIES

Why use rfsc?

A web application to guide cities
on their own path towards sustainability


YOU ARE AN URBAN PLANNER, A CITY LEADER,
A PRIVATE ORGANISATION AND YOU NEED TO:

Choose your framework


UN SDGs

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

RFSC

The European Framework for Sustainable Cities

ISO 37101

Sustainable development in communities

RFSC OFFERS THE CHOICE BETWEEN SEVERAL EUROPEAN AND GLOBAL SUSTAINABILITY FRAMEWORKS
IN FAVOUR OF INTEGRATED AND SUSTAINABLE URBAN DEVELOPMENT TO DESCRIBE YOUR AMBITIONS,
ASSESS YOUR PROJECT AND MONITOR YOUR PROGRESS

Define your ambitions

Identify and prioritise your ambitions


THE RFSC REVEALS THE SUSTAINABILITY PROFILE OF YOUR AMBITIONS,
EMPHASIZING WHERE THE PRIORITIES HAVE BEEN SET

Assess your project

For each objective, describe your actions and estimate their impact.


Objective 10

INCREASE
CITIZEN PARTICIPATION

Objective 17

IMPROVE INCLUSIVE EDUCATION
AND TRAINING

Objective 19

STIMULATE GREEN GROWTH
AND CIRCULAR ECONOMY

THE RFSC OFFERS YOU VISUALS THAT SHOW ESTIMATED GAPS BETWEEN YOUR AMBITIONS AND YOUR ACTIONS

Monitor your progress

with a set of indicators coming from cities and from European and Global Databases


    About the indicators

    The RFSC indicators are the result of a rigorous selection that has identified key and secondary indicators from more than 6.000 possible indicators coming from local to global databases*. Representatives of Member States, CEMR and the different DGs of the European Commission, as well as test cities from all across Europe, have participated to this selection.

    The main criteria are the relevance towards European targets and RFSC Objectives as well as the availability and easiness of access of data and indicators, including for the local level. This last criteria has considerably changed these last years with great leap of data made available often freely thanks to Earth Observation. The Copernicus programme and the Urban audit as well as their exploitation by the European Environmental Agency , DG REGIO or through European funded projects has made available for more than 600 cities across Europe a wide range of data sets that could be used to monitor the progress towards being greener, more inclusive and more prosperous.

    The RFSC basket of indicators have hence been recently updated to take into account this great leap, as well as new key sources of indicators like the Sustainable Development Goals indicators. Indicators that have been selected by a wide range of cities leader and actors have been added **Each indicator is described, including the source, the methodology of collection and eventually where to find the data at the city or the Larger Urban Zone level.

    * European Common Indicators, Sustainable Development Indicators, Global City Indicators (World Bank), Urban audit, Aalborg Charter indicators, Eurobarometer indicators, OECD, EEA, etc.

    ** They appear repeatedly in local to global databases or/and the database they come from has been selected following consultation and test by cities.

Learn more about the indicators

HOW ATTRACTIVE IS MY CITY?

AIR QUALITY

In Stuttgart 63 days beyond the european limit of particulate mater (PM10)

BASIC SERVICE PROXIMITY

56% of the population of Barcelona lives at less than 500m from a municipal market

ACCESS TO GREEN SPACES

69% of the population of Genova lives at less than 300m from a small green area

THE RFSC ENABLES YOU CHOOSE THE INDICATORS YOU WANT TO FOLLOW
AND TO FILL-IN THEIR VALUES, ON LINE.