And the winner is... DARWIN!

The Australian Conservation Foundation's Sustainable Cities Index provides a snapshot of comparative performance in each of Australia’s 20 largest cities, with the aim of encouraging healthy competition, stimulating discussion and suggesting new ways of thinking about our cities.

A rigorous compilation, assessment and independent review process established 15 indicators across three broad ’baskets’: environmental performance, quality of life and resilience.

The cities were ranked in order of comparative performance from 1 (most sustainable) to 20 (least sustainable) across each indicator, with the total score determining the most and least sustainable cities for 2010 (see list to right).

In 2010 Darwin has emerged as Australia’s most sustainable city, scoring highly on biodiversity, household repayments and employment, despite coming second last on ecological footprint and health indicators.

Darwin was followed closely by the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane. In contrast Newcastle, Geelong and finally Perth came out as comparatively Australia’s least sustainable cities in 2010.

No city did well across all 15 indicators; and while each has its own unique strengths and weaknesses, no Australian city can yet be held up as a real champion in sustainable urban development.

For instance: Darwin is almost eight times less sustainable than the ideal city (one which would rank 1st on all 15 indicators).

For more information contact our Sustainable Australia team.