Understanding the Built Environment Sustainability Tool presentation was made at the Green Building Workshops at Tshwane University of Technology. The talk covered the development and rationale of BEST and how it can be used to assess the sustainability performance of neighborhoods and develop plans to improve this.

The presentation and discussion illustrated how many neighborhoods performed poorly in terms of sustainability and showed why it was important to develop alternative models. A range of examples of city and neighborhood initiatives that have been developed to promote sustainability from the UK, Zambia and South Africa were presented and critically discussed. Alternative approaches, technologies and organizational structural structures such as the sharing economy, co-living and walkability standards were analyzed in terms of their value for improving built environment and neighborhood sustainability performance.