Journal - Footprints On The Landscape
Journal - Footprints On The Landscape
Journal - Footprints On The Landscape
com
Abstract
Environmental or ‘ecological’ footprints have been widely used in recent years as partial indicators of sustainability; specifically of resource
consumption and waste absorption transformed on the basis of the biologically productive land area required by a defined population. In the present
study, the environmental footprints of the Borough of Swindon and the County of Wiltshire in Southern England have been evaluated and contrasted.
Swindon is largely an urban area, whereas the adjacent landscape of Wiltshire is predominantly rural in nature. A mixed compound/component
approach to footprint accounting was adopted. The data utilised was based on ‘proxy’ data extracted from national statistics, as well as local
data. These calculations show that, on a per capita basis, the footprints of the two neighbouring communities studied are roughly the same:
5.65–5.94 global hectares (gha), with an estimated uncertainty of about ±11%. Consumption and pollutant emission patterns in both rural and
urban communities are shown to be unsustainable, and well above the ‘Earthshare’ of 1.80 gha. However, the corresponding overshoot ratios for
Swindon and Wiltshire were found to be 10.35:1 and only 2.01:1, respectively. The environmental burdens caused by urban and rural living in
developed countries feedback onto each other. Cities and towns require resources from beyond their geographic boundaries, but rural communities
also take advantage of the modern infrastructure and services typically provided in an urban setting. The notion of sustainability can only realistically
be applied in a broad geophysical context, and consequently the land use planning effort might more appropriately be focussed on a regional scale.
© 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Cities; Environmental footprints; Landscape planning; Rural communities; Sustainability; Urban development
0169-2046/$ – see front matter © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2007.05.009
14 R.L. Eaton et al. / Landscape and Urban Planning 83 (2007) 13–28
and Hammond, 1997, 2004). The notion of sustainability can footprints of communities as part of the overall sustainability
only be realistically applied in this wider geophysical perspec- agenda.
tive, where the urban–rural interface might play an important In the present study, the environmental footprints for the
role in land use planning. Doughty and Hammond (2004) recom- Borough of Swindon and the County of Wiltshire in Southern
mended that sustainability assessment, planning and monitoring England have been evaluated and contrasted. Swindon is largely
should therefore be undertaken at the regional scale or beyond. an urban area, whereas the adjacent landscape of Wiltshire is pre-
This would be aimed at reducing environmental footprints by dominantly rural in nature. A mixed ‘compound’/‘component’
encouraging greater self-reliance and low-impact development approach to footprint accounting was adopted, where the foot-
across regions, whilst protecting indigenous ecosystems. print components (energy, transport, food, materials and waste,
and water) represented broad policy-making categories. The data
1.2. The issues considered utilised was based on both proxy, or ‘top-down’, data extracted
from national statistics and local, or ‘bottom-up’, data provided
‘Ecological’ or environmental footprints (and related by local organisations. Thus, the uncertainties and deficien-
parameters) represent, albeit partial, sustainability indicators cies of using environmental footprints (and related parameters)
(Hammond, 2006). Resources used and wastes produced by a as sustainability indicators are examined, including problems
defined population are converted to a common basis: the area of of urban and rural boundary definitions, data gathering, and
productive land and aquatic ecosystems sequestered (in global the basis for weighing the various consumption and associated
hectares) from whatever source in worldwide terms. This foot- impacts.
print is illustrated schematically in Fig. 1, where the various
constituent elements are depicted. Previous research conducted 2. Cities and sustainability
by Friends of the Earth Europe (1995) and Wackernagel and
Rees (1996) found that most western lifestyles, such as those 2.1. Sustainable development versus sustainability
in Europe and North America, have consumption patterns that
result in footprints which are far greater than the amount of geo- The concept of sustainability has become a key idea in
graphically available land. In the case of cities, this ‘overshoot national and international discussions following publication of
factor’ (Rees and Wackernagel, 1996) amounts to some 20 times the Brundtland Report (WCED, 1987) published under the title
the urban area for Bath (Doughty and Hammond, 1997, 2004), “Our Common Future”; the outcome of 4 years of study and
125 times for London (Girardet, 1999), 16 times for Santiago debate by the World Commission on Environment and Develop-
de Chile (Wackernagel, 1998), and more than 200 for Vancou- ment led by the former Prime Minister of Norway, Gro Harlem
ver (Rees and Wackernagel, 1996). These factors, which Rees Brundtland. This Commission argued that the time had come
and Wackernagel (1996) suggest are representative of a ‘sus- to couple economy and ecology, so that the wider community
tainability gap’, do not correlate directly with urban population would take responsibility for both the causes and the con-
size or geographic land area, but depend largely on economic sequences of environmental damage. It envisaged sustainable
wealth per capita and building density. Much clearly needs to development as a means by which the global system would sat-
be done in terms of significantly reducing the environmental isfy “the needs of the present without compromising the ability
of future generations to meet their own needs”. The notion there-
fore involves a strong element of intergenerational ethics. More
recently, sustainability has been the subject of renewed interest
and debate in the context of the 2002 World Summit on Sustain-
able Development in Johannesburg. Here the strapline “people,
planet, prosperity” was adopted to reflect the requirement that
sustainable development implies the balancing of economic and
social development with environmental protection: the ‘Three
Pillars’ model. The interconnections between these pillars are
illustrated by the sustainability Venn diagram shown in Fig. 2
[Hammond (2004); adapted from a version originally developed
by Clift (1995) and extended by Parkin (2000)]. Sustainability
is reflected in the central portion of the diagram, where the three
types of constraints are met. The originators themselves recog-
nised that this is a simplified model (see, for example, Azapagic
et al., 2004). An alternative concept still involving these three
elements is the so-called ‘Russian Dolls’ model in which the
economy is viewed as being surrounded by first human society,
that is in turn enclosed by the natural environment (Chambers
et al., 2000). Recently the UK Government has added two addi-
Fig. 1. Schematic representation of the environmental footprint, and its land tional principles of sustainable development to the three pillars
types. Source: adapted from Chambers et al. (1999). (DEFRA, 2005): (i) promoting good governance, and (ii) using
R.L. Eaton et al. / Landscape and Urban Planning 83 (2007) 13–28 15
sive and convivial human settlements could provide diverse, yet in which the inputs are efficiently harnessed and the waste prod-
socially balanced, communities in an attractive setting (Urban ucts are reduced, reused or recycled. Such an arrangement is
Task Force, 1999). This requires a conscious effort to reverse the also illustrated in Fig. 2(b). The notion of cyclic resource usage
trends in urban planning evident during most of the 20th Cen- comes from the study of natural ecosystems (see, for exam-
tury. Sustainability assessment techniques need to be employed ple, Everard, 1999), but complete recycling is not feasible in
across the urban–rural interface in an extended process. Envi- an urban context. Waste streams could be minimised and the
ronmental footprint analysis could form an important element resource productivity of the city optimised. Communities can
of that assessment as an integral part of ‘systems thinking’ more play a useful role as potential exemplars of the type of holistic (or
generally. A key element in this type of development is to focus systems) thinking that is a prerequisite for sustainability assess-
on greatly improving the efficiency of resource use within com- ment and planning. The Wiltshire Wildlife Trust (WWT), which
munities, and thereby reducing their environmental footprint. collaborates closely with the local authorities in both Swindon
This will clearly enhance ‘sustainability’, although it is imprac- and Wiltshire, has advocated the use of footprint analysis as
tical to achieve the very strict system conditions laid down under a tool for guiding progress towards securing more sustainable
‘The Natural Step’ (Hammond, 2004). lifestyles. They have established a Climate Friendly Communi-
Richard Rogers (1997) advocates ‘sustainable urban ties programme across the two local authority areas to stimulate
planning’, which he contends should involve citizens in collective action in suburbs, towns and villages on waste, energy,
decision-making at every level. However, by the time that he transport, and local food. Local authority planners, and related
chaired the UK Government’s Urban Task Force (1999) the idea professionals, are ideally placed to account for the impacts of
of sustainable cities had formally disappeared, although com- resource and waste flows across the urban/rural boundary.
ponent parts of the broader concept of sustainable development
remained ‘centre stage’. The Task Force was given the remit 3. Environmental footprinting: back to basics
of determining an appropriate strategy for providing 4 million
additional homes in England over the following 25 years. They The use of ‘ecological’ or environmental footprint analysis
recommended greater re-use of ‘brown field’ sites to develop has grown in popularity over recent years, both in Europe and
new compact, cohesive settlements. North America. They provide a simple, but often graphic, mea-
Doughty and Hammond (2004) argued that EFA should be sure of the environmental impact of human activity: whether
employed for sustainability assessment and planning out at the or not in the foreseeable future humanity will be able to “tread
regional level (although perhaps ‘regions’ that differ from those softly on the Earth” (Hammond, 2000). Its roots lie in earlier
designated for local government purposes) or beyond. This case ideas, such as ‘Ghost Acres’ and similar concepts developed by
has also been argued from a Canadian perspective by Rees and Borgstrom (1972) and Ehrlich (1968) in the late 1960s. William
Wackernagel (1996) and from a European one by Renn et al. Rees used footprint analysis in its basic form to teach plan-
(1998). The latter suggest, taking the German industrialised ning students for some 20 years (see Wackernagel and Rees,
region or ‘Lander’ of Baden-Württemberg as their example, 1996). He decided to adopt the term ‘ecological footprint’ in
that cities have too many input resources (products and ser- the early 1990s, rather than ‘appropriated carrying capacity’
vices) crossing their boundaries to be considered sustainable. that he had previously used, after buying a new desk top com-
This applied even to the regional capital of Stuttgart. [It is inter- puter (Chambers et al., 2000). The deliveryman told him that
esting to note that Renn et al. (1998) reached this conclusion it had a smaller footprint (that is, took up less space) than his
using a set of sustainability principles that were similar to those old model. The terms ‘environmental’ and ‘ecological’ foot-
incorporated into the Natural Step system conditions (Everard, prints are used interchangeably here (as they were by Doughty
1999; Porritt, 2000).] Likewise Rees and Wackernagel (1996) and Hammond (1997, 2004) and Hammond (2006)), although
advocate regional self-reliance by way of ‘rehabilitating’ natural the former is preferred. Ecology is that branch of biology deal-
capital stocks, including the promotion of local fisheries, forests, ing with the introduction of organisms and their surroundings.
and agricultural land. Although Doughty and Hammond (2004) ‘Human ecology’, sometimes used for the study of humans and
noted that this approach to reducing environmental deficits their environment, is closer to the usage implied by footprint
with the rest of the globalised World might appear rather more analysis.
feasible in a Canadian setting than that of the UK. Land-use Footprint calculations involve several steps. Initially the per
planning and sustainability assessment could therefore usefully capita land area appropriated for each major category of con-
be employed on a regional scale with the aim of reducing envi- sumption (aai ) is determined:
ronmental footprints by encouraging greater self-reliance and
ci annual consumption of an item (kg/capita)
low-impact development, whilst protecting indigenous ecosys- aai = ∼
tems (much along the lines suggested by Rees, 1997). pi average annual yield (kg/ha)
Wolman (1965) noted that the inputs and outputs of urban In the original version of footprint analysis employed by
living are unsustainable; finite energy resources and other mate- Wackernagel and Rees (1996), four consumption categories
rial inputs with waste outputs. This has been termed the ‘linear were identified: energy use, the built environment (the land
metabolism’ of cities by Girardet (1992), which is depicted area covered by a settlement and its connection infrastructure),
schematically in Fig. 3(a). A more desirable system would be food, and forestry products. This is a restricted subset of all
one that he called ‘circular metabolism’ (Girardet, 1992, 1999) goods and services consumed, which was determined by the
18 R.L. Eaton et al. / Landscape and Urban Planning 83 (2007) 13–28
practical requirements of data gathering and influenced by the sures that can aid the assessment of sustainable development,
development of the technique in a Canadian setting. However, although it is arguably weak in terms of social inequalities
unconnected work by Friends of the Earth Europe (1995) using or poverty within and between different countries and soci-
the related ‘Environmental Space’ concept, adopted a similar set eties. Satterswaite (1997), for example, has devised a set of
of categories. In the present study, five land types (as depicted criteria for urban sustainability, including health and sanita-
schematically in Fig. 1 above) are been employed: bioproduc- tion, recreational facilities, and numerous other aspects of social
tive land and sea, energy land, built land, and the land needed to provision. Clearly environmental footprint analysis would need
secure biodiversity (Chambers et al., 2000). The ‘energy land’ to be supplemented by the use of other measures to account
reflects that required for new forests (anywhere in the world) for these broader elements of human welfare. In Costanza
needed to absorb carbon dioxide, and thereby stabilise the atmo- (2000), contributors noted that this aggregate indicator has a
sphere. Alternatively, it has been suggested that it could be number of advantages and disadvantages. It can be used as an
calculated from the land required to replace fossil fuels with effective pedagogic device (or awareness raising tool) for illus-
wood biomass (Chambers et al., 2000). In order to calculate the trating human resource use and waste generation, employing
per capita footprint (ef) in global hectares (gha), the appropri- a simple measure (land area) that advocates view as readily
ated land area for each consumption category is then summed understandable.
to yield:
i=n
4. The study areas and their boundaries
ef = aai
i=1
4.1. The general context
One global hectare represents a hectare (ha) of biologically
productive land at the average global productivity. Footprints This study focuses on two neighbouring local authority
of different communities or areas need to be standardised in areas—the County Council of Wiltshire and the Borough of
this way, so that global hectares account for disparities in land Swindon, a so-called ‘unitary authority’. The use of local author-
productivities. ity areas as the study boundaries was selected on the basis
The above computation then leads to a matrix of consumption that they provide a clearly defined boundary that is widely
categories and land use requirements, which is ideally suited to acknowledged, and therefore aided the collection of local data.
a spreadsheet implementation. In order to determine the total A schematic map illustrating the boundaries of the two neigh-
footprint for a given country, region or community (EF), the per bouring areas is presented in Fig. 4 in the context of the wider
capita figure is simply multiplied by the relevant population size region of the South West of England. The so-called ‘respon-
(N), viz: sibility principle’ was presumed to apply to each study area,
in order to attribute the resource consumption to those living
EF = ef(N)
within the boundary. Evaluation was undertaken using 2003
However, this is generally a less useful parameter for com- data, as local and UK national statistical sources were read-
parative purposes between countries or communities with ily available for that year at the time that the present footprint
different sized populations (Doughty and Hammond, 1997, analysis was actually undertaken (in the first half of 2005). It
2004; Hammond, 2006; Wackernagel and Rees, 1996). was necessary to utilise financial data for some purposes and, in
Footprint analysis implies judgements about the relative those cases, information for the financial year 2002–2003 was
weighting of the various consumption categories, and their envi- adopted.
ronmental impact. It reduces all such impacts to a common basis
in terms of global hectares per capita, which may not prove to
be a unit that can be readily assimilated by ordinary people. The
International Institute for Environment and Development (1996)
described the process of analysis whereby all environmental
impacts are aggregated into a simple index as “resource reduc-
tionism”. They likened it to traditional measures of economic
welfare, such as the gross domestic product (GDP) or gross
national income (GNI); see Hammond (2000, 2006), respec-
tively. Nevertheless, it provides a useful basis for contrasting
the footprint of human activity with the available productive
area, biocapacity, or ‘carrying capacity’. The consequences of
human consumption can then be graphically viewed against the
‘natural capital’ of a community, nation, region, or the planet as
a whole.
EFA is a ‘static’ process that provides a measure of aggre-
gate environmental burdens at some specified date (or year). Fig. 4. Schematic map of the South West of England: depicting the regional
It is nevertheless a valuable technique in a toolkit of mea- setting of the neighbouring local authority areas of Swindon and Wiltshire.
R.L. Eaton et al. / Landscape and Urban Planning 83 (2007) 13–28 19
4.2. The Borough of Swindon and Wiltshire’s many market towns. The unemployment rate
in Wiltshire is well below the national average of 3.5% at about
Swindon is located in South Central England where the 1.2%. The British armed forces have a significant presence, par-
Cotswold Hills meet the West Country. It is a bustling urban ticularly in the south of the County—on or around Salisbury
area surrounded by countryside. The Borough of Swindon cov- Plain. Military restructuring is resulting in the relocation, reuse
ers an area of approximately 23,000 ha, and has a population of and disposal of assets in the north of the County, such as RAF
about 181,000; yielding a population density of 7.89 persons/ha. Lyneham, whilst expansion is simultaneously occurring in the
The bulk of this is developed land, and is occupied by buildings, south. Wiltshire is an important area for biodiversity and land-
roads and other developments. Swindon offers all of the ameni- scape. Three ‘Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty’ (AONB)
ties of modern urbanised living, as well as the contrast of great cover 43% of the County’s landscape, there are 10 ‘Special
industrial heritage at the heart of Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s Areas of Conservation’, two ‘special Protection Areas’, 136
Great Western Railway, built in the 1830s. The rest of the land ‘Sites of Special Scientific Interest’ (SSSI), and seven ‘National
cover is mainly pasture, with only a small proportion used for Nature Reserves’. It also contains an abundance of archaeo-
growing crops. Swindon residents have an average income of logical and architectural sites, including the UNESCO World
approximately £21,000 (ONS, 2004). That is equivalent to 106% Heritage sites of Stonehenge and Avebury, Salisbury Cathedral,
of the average in the South West of England, or 97% of the UK nearly 20,000 prehistoric, Roman and medieval architectural
average. The ‘Gross Value Added’ (GVA) attributed to Swin- sites, and the industrial monuments like the Kennet and Avon
don represents around 6% of the total in the South West region. Canal and Brunel’s classic railway tunnel at Box. Wiltshire’s
Unemployment in the Borough is below the England and Wales GVA represents almost 9% of the total for the South West of
average at 2.5% of the workforce. It has been identified within England. The average income for a person living in Wiltshire
the regional planning framework as a specific focus for growth. is £22,900 (ONS, 2004) per year. This is equivalent to 116%
Swindon Borough Council (SBC) aspires to be the best busi- of the average for the South West, or 106 % of the UK average
ness location in the UK, and to secure an international reputation personal income.
by 2025 as a centre of innovation, science, and technology, as The development of Swindon will have a knock-on affect on
well as being an exemplar of ‘sustainable living’. Its relations the location of business and residential accommodation in the
with central government are governed by a ‘Local Area Agree- northern half of Wiltshire. The County is generally attractive
ment’ (LAA) to deliver agreed services. In this endeavour, the to inward migration for both work and retirement from Greater
SBC works in partnership with a range of community stakehold- London and the neighbouring cities of Bath and Bristol (see
ers under the umbrella of the Swindon Strategic Partnership Fig. 4), as well as from the adjoining region of the South East
(SSP). The SSP has provided the focus for the development of England. In addition, there is a significant amount of out-
of a Community Strategy (currently being refreshed as a ‘Sus- ward commuting to surrounding cities and towns, which enjoy
tainable Community Strategy’) of which the Swindon Climate better rates of job creation and higher salaries. The Wiltshire
Change Action Plan, launched in the autumn of 2006, has been Strategic Board (WiSB) plays an analogous partnerships role in
a major deliverable. It recognised climate change as not just the County to that of the SSP in Swindon. This Board is in the
an environmental problem, but as a crosscutting issue that will process of agreeing an LAA with central government, enshrined
have wide economic and social impacts. The Action Plan calls in a community strategy document: ‘A Sustainable Strategy for
for urgent precautionary action; believing that is vital to act Wiltshire’. It seeks to “create strong and sustainable commu-
now to begin addressing this global problem at a community nities” across the County, thereby enhancing economic, social
level. It recognises the interconnectedness of many activities on and environmental wellbeing: the ‘three pillars’ of sustainable
climate change: energy use, transport, biodiversity and the nat- development referred to above. On the environmental front, it
ural environment, food, health, water, and waste. Almost all of gives priority to waste minimisation, particularly in terms of
these components are reflected in the environmental footprint of reducing household arisings (via composting and recycling).
Swindon reported here. The WiSB desires to be the most waste-efficient County in the
UK by 2014. Other initiatives focus on securing greater bio-
4.3. The County of Wiltshire diversity, and on climate change mitigation through improving
energy efficiency and greater use of renewable energy systems.
The study of Wiltshire included all of the area covered It explicitly recognises that these various actions will lead to a
by Wiltshire County Council. This incorporates the four Dis- reduction in Wiltshire’s environmental footprint.
trict Councils of Kennet, North Wiltshire, Salisbury, and West
Wiltshire. The area encompassed by the County includes a 5. Resource flow and footprint accounting
population of approximately 436,000 that stretches over some
325,000 ha; giving a population density 1.34 persons/ha. It is 5.1. The method of footprint analysis and data collation
predominantly a rural County, with over 75% of the land area
dedicated to agricultural use, but having nearly half the pop- A mixed ‘compound’/‘component’ approach to footprint
ulation living in towns or villages of less than 5000 people. accounting was adopted for the present study, where the foot-
Significant concentrations of population can be found in the print components (energy, transport, food, materials and waste,
cathedral city of Salisbury, the County town of Trowbridge, and water) represented broad policy-making categories. These
20 R.L. Eaton et al. / Landscape and Urban Planning 83 (2007) 13–28
could be converted into the five basic land types; taking care
to avoid double accounting (particularly for embodied energy).
The data utilised was based on both proxy, or ‘top-down’, data
extracted from national or international statistics and local, or
‘bottom-up’, data. Wackernagel and Rees (1996), the origina-
tors of footprinting, developed the technique employing the
‘compound’ approach. They utilised aggregate data sources for
energy and trade flows. It has subsequently been adopted for
evaluating national footprints for the WWF’s biannual Living
Planet Report (the latest version of which has been reported
by Loh and Goldfinger (2006), and which Hammond (2006)
recently analysed in order to ascertain their determinants).
In contrast, Simmons et al. (2000) devised a ‘component’
approach, extending it to the estimation of footprints for sub-
national communities (for example, the Channel Island of
Guernsey), as well as those for organisations, households,
and products. In reality, Best Foot Forward (Chambers et al.,
2005) also employed a ‘mixed’ approach for their study of
the footprint of the South West of England, and for which
the second author of the present paper sat on the Advisory
Group.
Like Wackernagel’s study of Santiago de Chile (1998), the Fig. 5. Schematic representation of the component-based approach to environ-
aim here has been to make a rough estimate of the per capita mental footprint analysis devised by Simmons et al., 2000.
footprint for instructional purposes in a relatively short period of
time and at moderate cost. The duration of the present study was • Built land: land appropriated through urban development and
a little longer than that for Santiago de Chile, but this does not transport infrastructure.
necessarily imply any greater accuracy in the data or analysis. • Direct energy: electricity, natural gas, solid fuel, and
The use of a mixed approach to study Swindon and Wiltshire petroleum consumption.
enabled the uncertainties and limitations inherent in footprint • Food and drink: consumption of food materials and products.
analysis to be illustrated. • Materials and waste: consumption of products and materials.
• Transport: passenger-km travelled in each mode.
5.2. Resource flow analysis data • Water: domestic water use.
The initial phase of footprint analysis involves the collection
of consumption data covering the various components, such as In order to calculate the footprint of each component, it is nec-
energy, materials and waste, food, and transport. This yields essary to apply a conversion factor. Thus, in the case of transport,
the flow of resources into and out of the area under review: the number of car passenger-km travelled in each study area must
the Borough of Swindon and neighbouring County of Wilt- be converted to the footprint equivalent of the energy and road
shire in this case. The data collected needed to be specific space required (see, for example, Simmons et al., 2000):
to these local authority areas. In the spirit of a mixed ‘com-
Car travel footprint = number of passenger−kilometer travelled
pound’/‘component’ approach to EFA, proxy (or secondary)
data adapted from national statistics was employed in the × conversion factor
absence of locally obtained (or primary) data. This collation and
analysis of data is highly disaggregated with very many individ- The conversion factor here is the footprint equivalent of one car
ual items of information (for example, food and raw material passenger-km, and can be found using fuel use data, materials
inputs alone involved 14 separate categories). Limits of space and energy required for manufacture and maintenance, and the
have meant that only the aggregate results could to be presented share of UK road space appropriated by each of the study areas
here. (Simmons et al., 2000).
The area required to support each component (see Fig. 5) is
5.3. Environmental footprint calculations given by:
resource consumption (unit)
In addition to the consumption data needed for footprint land area (ha) =
analysis, yield and conversion (or ‘equivalence’) factors were average resource yield (unit/ha)
required. The EFA resource components had to be identified Then the footprint is found in global hectares using ‘equivalence
and categorised. They reflected broad and identifiable policy factors’ (Chambers et al., 2000):
making categories, which match the consumption of ‘natural
capital’. These components (see again Fig. 5) were: footprint (gha) = land area (ha) × equivalence factor.
R.L. Eaton et al. / Landscape and Urban Planning 83 (2007) 13–28 21
Table 1
Footprints and their components on a local, regional and UK national scale
Component The Borough of Swindon The County of Wiltshire South West of England region United Kingdom 2001
2003 (gha/cap) 2003 (gha/cap) 2001 (gha/cap) (gha/cap)
Sources: Swindon and Wiltshire, present study; South West Region, Chambers et al. (2005); UK, Loh and Goldfinger (2006).
Each land and sea type is normalised using different equivalence mate of the uncertainty for each study area of approximately
factors (gha/ha), representing its bioproductivity relative to the ±11%.
world average. Cropland is the most productive; bioproductive
sea is the least (Simmons et al., 2000). 5.4. Biocapacity calculations for Swindon and Wiltshire
Footprint calculations involve assembling the consumption
data taken from the resource flow analysis into a sequence Biocapacity is the total bioproductive area of the planet, a
of tables, along with the corresponding conversion factors. country, or a subregion, and is again measured in terms of
These footprints are then found for each resource. The additive global hectares (gha). It can be found using land use statis-
nature of the EFA means that the footprints for each compo- tics, which can then be compared with the footprints of the
nent can be summed in order to find an overall footprint for study area, or with global ‘Earthshares’. Ideally, biocapacity is
both Swindon and Wiltshire: see Table 1. ‘Pie charts’ illus- found using local yield factors for the different land areas, but
trating the environmental footprint balances for Swindon and an estimate of UK yields was used here for both local authority
Wiltshire by land type and by components are displayed in areas studied. These calculations also enable an estimate to be
Figs. 6 and 7, respectively for the year 2003. The overall results made of the ecological deficit of each study area (see Section 5.5
can be normalised in terms of land space, or footprints, per below).
capita (ef) simply by dividing the total footprints (EF) by the The per capita biocapacity of Swindon by land type is
population size of each study area. These are depicted sepa- shown in Fig. 8, together with its environmental footprint (ef).
rately in Figs. 8 and 9 for Swindon and Wiltshire, respectively. This indicates that there are potentially just over 99,000 gha
Estimates have been made of the uncertainties inherent in the of bioproductive land available to support the population of
footprint calculations using the method of Kline and McClintock Swindon. That equates to about 0.55 ha/person. However, some
(1953): see Appendix A below. This process led to an esti- 0.42 gha/person of built land had already been included in
Fig. 6. Environmental footprint balances for Swindon and Wiltshire by land type: 2003.
22 R.L. Eaton et al. / Landscape and Urban Planning 83 (2007) 13–28
Fig. 7. Environmental footprint balances for Swindon and Wiltshire by component: 2003.
These were found to be 10.35:1 and only 2.01:1, respectively rently done in Wiltshire and Swindon, then humanity would
for Swindon and Wiltshire. Obviously, ecological deficits also need access to a biocapacity of at least an extra two Earth-sized
imply that footprints have overshot biocapacity. planets to achieve sustainable living. In the same vein, the UK
‘standard of living’ would require the resources of three planets
6. Looking at sustainability: thinking globally, acting (Jones and Flint, 2005; Loh and Goldfinger, 2006), the USA six
locally planets (Loh and Goldfinger, 2006), and the United Arab Emi-
rates (UAE) 10 planets (Loh and Goldfinger, 2006). However, it
6.1. Thinking globally: towards ‘one planet living’? must be borne in mind that the notion of an ‘Earthshare’ is sim-
ply an ethical construct—a value judgement about fair national
The environmental footprint methodology is designed to help shares in environmental impacts. In practice, it is unlikely, given
put local sustainability concerns within a larger context, whether the disparity in global wealth and resources between the pros-
on a national or global scale. On a national scale, the foot- perous ‘North’ and ‘Majority South’, that the different nations of
print can be used to examine the effect that different trading the world will converge towards ‘One Planet Living’ during the
patterns could have on the footprint. In this way sustainable 21st Century. This would need, for example, a major reduction
development strategies can be created and implemented in a way in energy demand, along with a shift from a dependence on fossil
that reflects their importance on the global and local environ- fuel and uranium resources (so-called ‘capital’ energy sources)
ment. The footprints of Swindon and Wiltshire can be compared to renewable energy technologies (mainly solar-driven, ‘income’
to those already determined for the UK and its South West sources) in both the industrialised and developing nations. Only
region. Table 2 compares the per capita footprints of Wiltshire then would humanity be able to secure a low carbon global
and Swindon with those of the UK and South West (extracted economy.
from Loh and Goldfinger (2006) and Chambers et al. (2005), National and global footprint data published by the ‘World
respectively). Here the footprints of Wiltshire and Swindon are Wide Fund for Nature’ (WWF) in their Living Planet Report
shown to be slightly higher than the regional and national foot- (Loh and Goldfinger, 2006) highlight the global inequity asso-
prints, i.e., local residents consume more natural capital than the ciated with the acquisition of the world’s resources. It illustrates
average British or South West resident. Both Swindon and Wilt- that the richer, more developed countries are the primary cause
shire are relatively affluent areas in terms of average income for the current global ecological deficit. It is inevitable that, as the
per resident, resulting in greater purchasing power. Thus, the poorer countries aspire to become more industrialised, the vision
local populations can afford to expend more of their income on of a ‘better’ way of life will result in a larger global footprint, a
energy-intensive activities and products. However, these figures growing ecological deficit, and a rising overshoot ratio. A conse-
should be viewed in the context of the uncertainties estimated in quence of the rapidly growing world population is the continuing
the local footprints of ±11% (see Appendix A). The contribution overshoot of available natural resources. The biocapacity esti-
made to the footprint by each component is roughly compara- mates for Swindon and Wiltshire illustrate that, at a local level,
ble across both study areas: Swindon and Wiltshire (see Fig. 7). the demand for these natural resources is greater than either local
This emphasises the significance of particular components, such authority area can supply. Table 2 provides a comparison of the
as the ‘material and waste’ and ‘food’, which have a relatively biocapacity estimates for Swindon and Wiltshire with that for
large impacts on each footprint. the UK and its South West region. The UK is seen to have quite
The global implications of the environmental footprints for a large biocapacity, bearing in mind its relative high population
Swindon and Wiltshire can be assessed by placing them in a density. This reflects the higher than global average productivity
wider context. A comparison with the ‘Earthshare’ indicates of UK land area. The world’s per capita biocapacity, or Earth-
how close humanity is to achieving ‘One Planet Living’. That share, is smaller than that of the South West and Wiltshire. This
would require a rate of consumption of natural resources equiv- suggests that both areas have potential to be sustainable in terms
alent to 1.8 gha/person (see Table 2). Consequently, the global of ‘one planet’ lifestyles. However, Swindon is rather farther
environmental footprint exceeded the planet’s biocapacity by away from a sustainable living, given its relatively small land
some 0.4 gha/person in about 2001. This was achieved by using area, in common with many cities and urban areas that have high
resources laid down on a geological timescale; principally fossil population densities. Its main practical contribution towards sus-
fuels. If the rest of the world consumed as much as is cur- tainability might therefore be to reorganise itself, over time, from
a community exhibiting linear metabolism to something closer
Table 2 to the spirit of the Girardet’s circular metabolism for cities (see
Biocapacities of the study areas Fig. 3(b) above). That is, one having greater resource efficiency
Biocapacity (gha/cap) in terms of the reduction in demand, the reuse of goods, and
their recycling.
The Borough of Swindon 0.55
The County of Wiltshire 2.96
South West of England region 1.91 6.2. Acting locally: the role of environmental footprinting
United Kingdom 1.64
World 1.80 Once a footprint is calculated for a defined population it
Sources: Swindon and Wiltshire, present study; South West Region, Chambers can be used as a planning, monitoring and educational tool
et al. (2005); UK, Loh and Goldfinger (2006). (Wackernagel and Rees, 1996; Chambers et al., 2000; Bond,
24 R.L. Eaton et al. / Landscape and Urban Planning 83 (2007) 13–28
Table 3
The possible prioritisation of strategies aimed at reducing the environmental footprint of Swindon and Wiltshire
Component Typical contribution (%) Possible strategies
2002). Footprint datasets can be employed to help model sce- It advocates their utilisation to monitor the take-up of recycled
narios, and to investigate the environmental impact of different and/or traditional materials in construction, as well as improved
human activities. It has certainly proved to be a valuable and energy efficiency in building design and layout. This reflects
effective tool for educators: presenting complicated and detailed the largest of the footprint components: ‘materials and waste’,
statistics as a simple and visual concept. The footprint indicator including embodied energy. In the County of Wiltshire, the Wilt-
can then be used for the following purposes (see, for example, shire Wildlife Trust (WWT, 2004) has taken up the footprint
Bond, 2002): concept as a means of assessing environmental impacts “at all
levels from individuals to countries”. They have instigated a ‘Cli-
• as an indicator of environmental impact for lobbying decision mate Friendly Communities’ programme in both Swindon and
makers; Wiltshire in which communities (ranging from whole streets or
• to promote behaviour change at an individual level; villages to towns) act together to address the issues that underpin
• to illustrate how shifting consumption to less resource inten- the environmental footprint: waste, energy, transport, and local
sive items reduces environmental impact; food. A certification scheme has been devised for successful
• to illustrate that global footprints can be affected by the sum communities.
of local activities; and
• to link products to their global footprint and promote markets 7. Concluding remarks
for sustainably produced goods and services.
7.1. The environmental impact of urban and rural living in
Once the impacts on the footprint have been defined, local the developed world
strategies and initiatives can be developed and prioritised. By
updating data sources, the footprint might then be used as a An environmental appraisal has been undertaken of two
monitoring tool. Changes in the footprint can be re-examined neighbouring local authority areas in Southern England: the
annually or biannually. However, the role of proxy data in deter- Borough of Swindon and the County of Wiltshire (see the loca-
mining the footprint must be kept in mind. If a significant tion map presented as Fig. 4). This enabled a comparison to
proportion of the data employed is extracted from aggregate be made of a largely urban area (Swindon) with that of a pre-
data sources for energy and trade flows, then the local footprint dominantly rural one (Wiltshire). Wiltshire was shown to have
will be relatively insensitive to variations ‘on the ground’. The an environmental footprint (EF) of some 2.6 million global
planning function of the footprint relies on detailed analysis hectares, whereas Swindon was found to have a footprint of
of the collated results. The simplest means of prioritising the just over 1.0 million global hectares. Thus, the present calcu-
impacting activities is to use the component breakdown of the lations have shown that, on a per capita basis, the footprints
footprint. This is illustrated in Table 3, where possible strate- of the two adjoining communities studied are roughly the same
gies for reducing the environmental footprint of Swindon and (5.65–5.94 gha)–well above the ‘Earthshare’ of 1.80 gha in 2003
Wiltshire are listed against the weighting of each component. (Loh and Goldfinger, 2006). Associated biocapacity calculations
In both Swindon and Wiltshire activities of this sort are actu- reveal large ‘ecological deficits’ in both communities; demon-
ally being given a higher priority (SSP, 2006; WWT, 2005). The strating the unsustainable consumption and emissions pattern in
recently launched Swindon Climate Change Action Plan (SSP, rural, as well as urban, communities. However, the correspond-
2006) drew attention to the use of carbon and environmental ing overshoot ratios for Swindon and Wiltshire were found to
footprints in pulling together a range of climate change impacts. be 10.35:1 and only 2.01:1, respectively. This suggests that the
R.L. Eaton et al. / Landscape and Urban Planning 83 (2007) 13–28 25
largely rural community of Wiltshire has the greater potential to of local data is, on the whole, improving and local and central
live within its own biocapacity. government authorities are beginning to recognise the need for
A mixed ‘compound’/‘component’ approach to the EFA such information. Typical actions needed to be taken by local
methodology has been adopted for Wiltshire and Swindon. This communities to reduce environmental footprints are indicated in
approach presents the footprint in identifiable impact categories Table 3. In an ideal world, the aim would be to move consump-
(see Fig. 5): the built environment, direct energy, food, materials tion and pollution patterns from those associated with linear
and waste, transport, and water. They represent broad policy- metabolism (see Fig. 3) to a circular one.
making categories. Resource flow analysis was carried out, and ‘Biodiversity Land’ was found to account for only some 14%
significant data gaps were identified in some of the footprint of the environmental footprint of Swindon and Wiltshire (see
components. This included the most impacting components such Fig. 5). The Brundtland Commission (WCED, 1987) argued that
as ‘food’ and ‘materials and waste’. In order to estimate the at least 12% of global biocapacity should be preserved for this
footprints of the two study areas, a significant proportion of the purpose. However, this may be insufficient to secure biodiversity
consumption data were estimated using UK proxy figures. The (Chambers et al., 2000), and some believe that as much as 50%
resource consumption figures were then converted into footprint is needed to maintain a sustainable future for wildlife. In both
values for Swindon and Wiltshire, respectively. An uncertainty Swindon and Wiltshire local efforts have been made to protect
of approximately ±11% was estimated for each footprint. This biodiversity via partnerships between local authorities, nature
estimation reflects the availability and reliability of data sources. conservation organisations, and the business community, led by
The ‘materials and waste’ component was shown to be a large the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust. Wildlife priorities differ between
contributor to the overall uncertainty (∼±16%), which is a con- the two communities, but ‘Biodiversity Action Plans’ (BAPs)
sequence of the rather wide uncertainty band attributed to its have been put in place with the aim of setting out a vision of the
input consumption data. Thus, the data reported here, including way in which local species can be protected in the long-term.
the use of proxy data where necessary, illustrates the uncertain- They provide information on particular habitats, and identify
ties and limitations inherent in footprint analysis. key issues that need to be addressed.
The ‘materials and waste’ component was shown to domi- Experience in trying to use the environmental footprint at a
nate both study area footprints, and was significantly larger than local level by the staff of the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, in con-
the other components. It represented about 38% of each foot- nection with their ‘Climate Friendly Communities’ Programme,
print (see Fig. 7), and was primarily a result of the embodied suggested that it was quite a complex idea for the general pub-
energy requirements of the consumed materials and products. lic to grasp. There has been a recent tendency in the UK to
This footprint component included the impact of recycling, and adopt what is sometimes called the ‘carbon footprint’ as an
significant savings had been made in terms of the goods recycled alternative indicator of sustainability. But the property that is
or composted in each local authority area. ‘Energy Land’ was often used is actually a ‘carbon weight’ not a footprint: it has
identified as the major land type requirement for each footprint units of kilograms or tonnes of carbon per person or activity,
(see Fig. 6). It accounted for 62% of the Wiltshire footprint, and rather than spatial ones. Giving this parameter an inappropri-
65% of the Swindon footprint. The breakdown of the footprint ate name and units will only cause greater confusion amongst
results illustrated the impact not only of direct energy consump- both professionals and the general public. It could be con-
tion through fossil fuels, but also of the embodied energy that verted to spatial units (hectares or metres squared) in much
is required for all the materials and food that are produced, pro- the same way as is done for the ‘Energy Land’ element of
cessed and transported. It is because of the generation of this the environmental footprint analysed here; thereby reflecting
embodied energy that large amounts of equivalent forest are the amount of new forests (anywhere in the world) needed to
needed to act as a carbon sink. absorb carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere. However,
even a ‘true’ carbon footprint is only likely to embrace around
7.2. Reflections on environmental footprinting at the local 60% of the environmental burdens attributable to a given com-
authority level munity. Hammond (2006) noted that fossil fuel consumption
typically accounts for between 33% and 60% of national envi-
The results of the present study provide baseline footprints ronmental footprints for low-income and high-income countries,
that could be used as planning, monitoring, or educational tools. respectively.
It may assist the communities of Swindon and Wiltshire to assess The role of environmental footprinting has not gone without
how they are reducing environmental burdens of different sorts challenge. The uncertainties and deficiencies of using footprints
“on their patch”. The mixed ‘compound’/‘component’ approach (and related parameters) as, albeit partial, sustainability indica-
to EFA provides a footprint that is based around activities that tors include problems associated with boundary definitions, data
can be directly related to the material inputs and waste outputs gathering, and the basis for weighing the various consumption
linked to specific communities. Each footprint component rep- and associated impacts (Doughty and Hammond, 1997, 2004).
resents a broad policy category that can be analysed separately. Its adoption as a tool for decision-making in a policy or plan-
It is important, however, to take into account the associated ning context depends on an understanding of these assumptions
uncertainties of each footprint when putting the results in prac- and uncertainties. The global and national footprint results peri-
tice. Improved local footprint calculations could be achieved odically reported in the WWF Living Planet Report (Loh and
by obtaining comprehensive local statistics. The accessibility Goldfinger, 2006) have been viewed by some (see the discussion
26 R.L. Eaton et al. / Landscape and Urban Planning 83 (2007) 13–28
Table A2 Doughty, M.R.C., Hammond, G.P., 1997. The use of environmental footprints
Uncertainty in the environmental footprint (EF) of Wiltshire to evaluate the sustainability of cities. In: Russell, N., Byron, H., Dixon,
A., Richardson, J. (Eds.), Proceedings of the Sixth IRNES Conference:
Components Footprint (gha) Uncertainty (%) Uncertainty (gha)
Technology, the Environment and Us. Imperial College, London, pp. 170–
Direct energy 443,500 3.7 16,500 176.
Transport 340,800 10.7 36,460 Doughty, M.R.C., Hammond, G.P., 2003. Cities and sustainability. In: Win-
Food 551,900 9.4 51,880 nett, A.B. (Ed.), Towards a Collaborative Environment Research Agenda.
Materials and waste 964,200 16.3 157,430 Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, pp. 81–105.
Water 3,200 10.5 340 Doughty, M.R.C., Hammond, G.P., 2004. Sustainability and the built envi-
Built land 290,000 10.0 29,000 ronment at and beyond the city scale. Build. Environ. 39, 223–
1233.
Total 2,593,600 291,610
Ehrlich, P., 1968. The Population Bomb. Ballantine, New York.
Ekins, P., Cooper, I., 1993. Cities and Sustainability, Clean Technology Unit.
Total footprint 2,593,600
UK Research Councils, Swindon.
Uncertainty (gha) 291,610
Everard, M., 1999. Towards sustainable development of still water resources.
Uncertainty (%) 11.2
Hydrobiologia 395/396, 29–38.
1995. Friends of the Earth Europe (FOE), 1995. Towards Sustainable Europe.
FOE, Brussels.
for each component for the footprint of Swindon and Wiltshire, Girardet, H., 1992. The Gaia Atlas of Cities: New Directions for Sustainable
respectively. In addition, these uncertainties were converted into Urban Living. Gaia Books, London.
percentage values for each component. The total uncertainty for Girardet, H., 1999. Creating Sustainable Cities. Green Books/The Schumacher
Society, Totnes.
each study area was obtained by summing the uncertainties for Graedel, T.E., Klee, R.J., 2002. Getting serious about sustainability. Environ.
each component. The total uncertainty (in hectares) that could Sci. Technol. 36 (4), 523–529.
be presented as a proportion of the overall footprint: Hall, P., 1998. Cities in Civilisation. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London.
Hammond, G.P., 2000. Energy, environment and sustainable development: a
EF Uncertainty% UK perspective. Trans. IChemE Part B: Process Safety Environ. Protect. 78,
304–323.
W
= Hammond, G.P., 2004. Engineering sustainability: thermodynamics, energy sys-
EF tems, and the environment. Int. J. Energy Res. 28, 613–639.
WE + W T + W F + W P + W W + W B Hammond, G.P., 2006. ‘People, planet and prosperity’: the determi-
= nants of humanity’s environmental footprint. Nat. Resourc. Forum 30,
EF 27–36.
This process led to an estimate of the uncertainty for each study Haughton, G., Hunter, C., 1994. Sustainable Cities. Jessica Kingsley Publishers,
London.
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Holman, J.P., 2001. Experimental Methods for Engineers, 7th ed. McGraw-Hill,
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