The SEI Urban Toolbox for Liveable Cities

The SEI Urban Toolbox for Liveable Cities is a co-designed, living digital resource hosted on the weADAPT platform. It aggregates methodologies, frameworks, and applications developed by Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) researchers to help city officials, residents, and community groups implement more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable urban planning and governance.

• The Urban Toolbox was developed through a four-phase co-design process involving internal SEI reviews and external consultations with urban stakeholders to ensure the resources are user-friendly and relevant to actual urban challenges.
• An external review of 55 urban-related tools identified seven primary themes: general urban planning processes, spatial analysis tools, sourcebooks and key urban statistics, planning for informal settlements, linking the environment with urban planning and management, linking health and well-being with urban planning and management, and gender and children's perspectives in urban planning and management.
• SEI organized its internal tools within the toolbox into four main topic areas: residents' wellbeing (e.g., mobility, livelihoods), neighbourhood conditions (e.g., crime, sanitation), environmental quality and ecosystem services (e.g., urban heat islands, disaster risks), and cross-cutting issues.
• Consultations with stakeholders in cities across Thailand, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia, and Colombia revealed a strong demand for tools that increase public participation in data collection and planning, as well as data that is more accessible to policymakers.
• Stakeholder reviews of specific SEI tools identified critical barriers to usability, including the requirement for specialist expertise for tools like Participatory Geographic Information Systems (PGIS) and SDG Synergies, and the existence of paywalls or unpublished methodologies for tools like EMCHEW.
• To maximize accessibility, the toolbox incorporates features such as printable documents for offline use, machine-based translation, and the use of case studies and video presentations, although mobile app versions were not integrated due to investment requirements.
• The toolbox is hosted on the weADAPT platform to function as a living resource, allowing a network of practitioners—including NGOs, government ministries, and universities—to share experiences, provide new tools, and collaborate on climate change adaptation.

APA

Rao-Williams, J., Archer, D., & Witton, R. (2023). The SEI Urban Toolbox for Liveable Cities. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/urban-toolbox-brief-sei2023.028.pdf

Chicago

Rao-Williams, Jennifer, Diane Archer, and Rosie Witton. The SEI Urban Toolbox for Liveable Cities. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2023. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/urban-toolbox-brief-sei2023.028.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Rao-Williams |first1=Jennifer |last2=Archer |first2=Diane |last3=Witton |first3=Rosie |title=The SEI Urban Toolbox for Liveable Cities |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=May 2023 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/urban-toolbox-brief-sei2023.028.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{raowilliams2023sei, author = {Rao-Williams, Jennifer and Archer, Diane and Witton, Rosie}, title = {{The SEI Urban Toolbox for Liveable Cities}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2023}, month = may, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/urban-toolbox-brief-sei2023.028.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }