Edinburgh Napier University

  The concepts of sustainable development that have emerged in the ‘post Brundtland’ era are explored in terms of a vision and methodology of sustainable urban development (SUD). The said vision and methodology of SUD result from the activities
of an international network called BEQUEST, funded by the European Commission (EC). The project involved building consensus over the vision and methodology of SUD and sharing this across a wide range of stakeholders. This paper sets out the vision and methodology of the BEQUEST Framework for consensus building between
stakeholder interests, represented here in terms of a collaborative platform for the planning, property, design, construction and operational stages of concerted actions on SUD. The paper goes on to examine some impediments to the realisation ofthe said vision and methodology, including the reluctance of stakeholders to consider either the ecology and equity of urban development, or concern themselves with the environmental, economic and social issues underlying the sustainability ofcities. This paper shall suggest that if these impediments are to be overcome, a collaborative platform capable of integrating such matters is needed.