Sustainability assessment of site-scale development projects — Focusing the assessment system based on greenspace gross volume

This study aims to suggest a quantitative assessment method for Environmental Sound and Sustainable Development (ESSD) of site-scale development projects. For this sustainability assessment, we propose a sustainability indicator that is expressed by a combination of the environmental Pressure (P) and the environmental Response (R). The equation used to quantify sustainability is R/(P + R). If P is equal to R, the quantified sustainability is calculated to be 0.5, which is the minimum value of sustainability required for sustainable development. Using the carbon dioxide cycle as our basis, we designated the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by development projects as P and the amount of carbon dioxide assimilated by the vegetation and soils of a greenspace as R. This study applied the indicator to 57 apartment sites. The findings of this study indicate that 30.17% of the total CO2 emissions at the apartment site developments can be compensated. If we want to reach the indicator of 0.5 in only ten years under the assumption that CO2 emissions are stable but assimilation grows annually, we will have to modify urban planning to include a 31.3% decrease in building capacity or a 65.21% increase in greenspace.