Dataset of the livability performance of the City of Birmingham, UK, as measured by its citizen wellbeing, resource security, resource efficiency and carbon emissions

Leach, Joanne M. and Lee, Susan E. and Boyko, Christopher T. and Coulton, Claire J. and Cooper, Rachel and Smith, Nicholas and Joffe, Hélène and Büchs, Milena and Hale, James D. and Sadler, Jonathan P. and Braithwaite, Peter A. and Blunden, Luke S. and De Laurentiis, Valeria and Hunt, Dexter V.L. and Bahaj, AbuBakr S. and Barnes, Katie and Bouch, Christopher J. and Bourikas, Leonidas and Cavada, Marianna and Chilvers, Andrew and Clune, Stephen J. and Collins, Brian and Cosgrave, Ellie and Dunn, Nick and Falkingham, Jane and James, Patrick and Kwami, Corina and Locret-Collet, Martin and Medda, Francesca and Ortegon, Adriana and Pollastri, Serena and Popan, Cosmin and Psarikidou, Katerina and Tyler, Nick and Urry, John and Wu, Yue and Zeeb, Victoria and Rogers, Chris D.F. (2017) Dataset of the livability performance of the City of Birmingham, UK, as measured by its citizen wellbeing, resource security, resource efficiency and carbon emissions. Data in Brief, 15. pp. 691-695. ISSN 2352-3409

Abstract

This data article presents the UK City LIFE1 data set for the city of Birmingham, UK. UK City LIFE1 is a new, comprehensive and holistic method for measuring the livable sustainability performance of UK cities. The Birmingham data set comprises 346 indicators structured simultaneously (1) within a four-tier, outcome-based framework in order to aid in their interpretation (e.g., promote healthy living and healthy long lives, minimize energy use, uncouple economic vitality from CO2 emissions) and (2) thematically in order to complement government and disciplinary siloes (e.g., health, energy, economy, climate change). Birmingham data for the indicators are presented within an Excel spreadsheet with their type, units, geographic area, year, source, link to secondary data files, data collection method, data availability and any relevant calculations and notes. This paper provides a detailed description of UK city LIFE1 in order to enable comparable data sets to be produced for other UK cities. The Birmingham data set is made publically available at http://epapers.bham.ac.uk/3040/ to facilitate this and to enable further analyses. The UK City LIFE1 Birmingham data set has been used to understand what is known and what is not known about the livable sustainability performance of the city and to inform how Birmingham City Council can take action now to improve its understanding and its performance into the future (see “Improving city-scale measures of livable sustainability: A study of urban measurement and assessment through application to the city of Birmingham, UK” [2]).