DOCSLIB.ORG

Music - a Multi-Scalar Index for Evaluating Sustainability in Cities

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Music - a Multi-Scalar Index for Evaluating Sustainability in Cities Sustainable Architecture and Urban Development 19 MuSIC - A Multi-scalar Index for Evaluating Sustainability in Cities Luca D'Acci and Patrizia Lombardi Politecnico di Torino, DICAS - Department 0/Housing and City Abstract It is intemationally recognized that Sustainable development is achallenging multi-stake holders process, encompassing multiple dimensions and trans­ disciplinary knowledge. The idea of sustainability dates back more than 30 years. Over these decades, govemments, communities and businesses have all responded to the challenge of sustainability to some extent. Citizens in alm ost all countries not only know the issues, but tend to feel that the quality of the environment is important both to their own wellbeing and to the common good. Despite all these efforts, when the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) released the results of a four-year global study into the state of global ecosystem services and the possible consequences of anticipated ecosystem change on human wellbeing, the board feit it necessary to present the following waming: ... the results of human activity are putting such astrain on the natural functions of Earth that the ability of the planet's ecosystems to sustain future generations can no longer be taken for granted. According to Adams (2006), one of the reasons is the problem of metrics as a result of the desire to set targets and measure progress. Using indicators as a means for measuring or assessing the sustainability of cities and practices intended to improve sustainability is criticized for several reasons. One of the main concems is the way in which indicators are developed through often "ad hoc" processes without a structured framework or consensus on what urban sustainability is, a consensus which is still more of a political than a scientific enterprise. Most present indicators have been developed by govemments and intergovemmental bodies in response to their needs. This ensures policy relevance, but often fails to capture what is going on at the grass roots of society. Other indicators have been created by CSOs or academics to draw attention to policy issues. Few indicators have been devised by or are designed for the real 20 Luca D'Acci & Patrizia Lombardi agents of change businesses and individuals operating at a decentralized level in aB societies. Most critical, many of the indicators, even the much-used statistics relies on assumptions that when we draw our conc\usions. This study presents the work wh ich has been done toward the development of a new index to measure the sustainability of eities having the following characteristics: complementary - displaying multi-scalar reeiprocity and transferable - comparable across spatial scales and stakeholder interest. This index wishes also to address the question of how to overcome the gap between awareness of the issues at stake and the concrete engagement in sustainability-driven action, as individuals and as a soeiety. Keywords: sustainable development indicators, built environment, evaluation 1 Introdudion "At the heart of the sustainable development agenda is the question of management" (Brandon and Lombardi, 2005: 144). The most difficult chaUenge facing policymakers is deciding the future directions of society and the economy in the face of conflicting demands of short-term political favour, economic development, social progress, and environmental sustainability. Wrong deeisions can lead to critical consequences, increase human suffering, and precipitate current environmental and economic crises. Improving the basis for sound decision-making is, therefore, a high priority. The requirement to evaluate whether a development is sustainable was already recognized in Agenda 21, which observed that "indicators of sustainable development need to be developed to provide solid bases for decision-making at an levels". As a result, the last twenty years have seen a overabundance of measures, indicators and evaluations which attempt to make some assessment of what is happening to our planet and the actions of human beings upon it. However, the development of indicators has resulted in considerable complexity, which has made it difficult to derive suitable assessment criteria. Notions of weak and strong sustainable development have been debated in the literature, and a number of indicators or frameworks have been proposed to capture them. For weak sustainability, efforts have focused on whether the well­ known macroeconomic indicators of gross national product and gross domestic product can be transformed to produce an indicator of sustainable development. For strong sustainability, the concept of critical natural capital was introduccd for the stocks of capital that cannot be substituted by other stocks of environmental or other capital to perform the same functions (Ekins et al., 2003). Sustainable Architecture and Urban Development 21 Sustainability indicators should be able to measure the essential characteristics of the system and show a scientifically verifiable trajeetory of maintenance or improvement in system funetions. Unfortunately, like models, indieators reflect reality imperfectly. Within the measurable, the quality of indicators is determined largely by the way reality is translated into measures and data, be they quantitative or qualitative. Although present scientifie knowledge is inadequate to understand many aspeets of human-environment interaetions, and some feedback loops between human and environmental systems are irreducibly complex, many issues are sufficiently weIl understood to necessitate seientifieally aecurate indieators. The quality of indieators inevitably depends on the underlying data that are used to compose them. The prevailing data gaps in monitoring of human-environment interactions and the poor quality of many databases are potential threats to the quality of the related indieators. Many indicator sets have been assembled; countries have started their own indieator programs at the national level, since the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 adopted Agenda 21 and launched an international indicator process. Methods are gradually becoming standardized and poliey decisions inereasingly provide clear directions and targets. However, major conceptual ehallenges remain, methods need further development, and more must be learned about the most effective ways to influence policy. We are still far from fully integrated sets of indicators or indices to support self-regulating sustainability. The eomplexity of the problem makes a complete and intemationally accepted measure impossible (Brandon and Lombardi, 2005). The aim of this paper is to critically analysis major shortcomings of eurrent metrics and to introduce a new index which seems to be able to overeome some ofthe identified limitations. 2 A critical Analysis of Current lndicators and Indices Indicators are symbolic representations designed to communicate a property or trend in a complex system or entity. They are, by definition, eommunication tools (EEA, 2007) that: Simplify complex issues making them accessible to a wider audience (i.e. non-experts), • Can encourage decision-making by pointing to clear steps in the causal chain where it can be broken, Inform and empower policymakers and laypeople by creating a means for the measurement of progress in tackling environmental progress. It is the capaeity of the indicator to reach its target audience that determines its success. Failure to communicate makes the indieator worthless. However, beeause sustainable development is a multi-stakeholder process, indicators must communicate to a variety of different actors. 22 Luca D'Acci & Patrizia Lombardi Indicators are distinguished from raw data and statistics in that they contain reference values such as benchmarks, thresholds, baselines, and targets. Such values have the most important function to transform meaningless data into information. Several basic types of indicators or indices may be distinguished by their methods of construction and level of aggregation, as folIows: Indicator: Ihis type of indicators includes results from the processing and interpretation of primary data. Examples include C02 emissions, employment rates, etc .. Aggregated indicator: This type of indicators combines, by an additive aggregation method, a number of sub-indicators that are defined in the same or similar units, e.g. tones, monetary units, etc .. Examples include the domestic material consumption, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the Adjusted Net Saving and the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), developed by the World Bank. Composite indicator or Index: This type of indicators combines various aspects of a given phenomenon that are based on the complex concept into a single number with a common unit. Examples include the Ecological Footprint, the Human Development Index (HOl), Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI); the Environmental Performance Index (EPI), the Urban Govemance Index (UGI). To be effective, indicators must be credible (and/or scientifically valid), legitimate in the eyes of users and stakeholders, and salient or relevant to decision-makers. More specifically, the quality of an indicator can be judged on five methodological dimensions: purpose and appropriateness in scale and accuracy, measurability, representation ofthe phenomenon concemed, reliability and feasibility, and communicability to the target audience. There is seldom a perfeet indicator, so the design generally involves some methodological trade­ offs between technical feasibility, societal
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Modelling Quality of Life for Sustainable Development
    MODELLING QUALITY OF LIFE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT V. Varma1, G. Chattopadhyay2, M.M.K. Khan3 Process Engineering and Light Metal (PELM) Centre Faculty of Science, Engineering and Health Gladstone Campus, CQUniversity Bryan Jordan Drive, QLD-4680, Australia. Email: [email protected] Abstract The growing human population and the strain on natural resources are having an adverse effect on human lives. Findings from leading research organizations have highlighted that the accelerated depletion of natural capital is expected to be a big challenge for Sustainable Development (SD) of the world in the medium to long term future. SD is currently defined as, ‗Development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs‘. However the current trend of research indicates that this view of SD is limited. Major areas of focus for SD are economic, social and environmental. One area not reflected well in the existing models is quality of life. The rationale behind this is the complexity and difficulty in modelling. Scarcity of natural resources, potable water and the slow pace of development for alternate sources of energy coupled with the affects of climate change will drive nations around the world to conflicts. With human population estimated to reach 9 billion by 2050 there would be an adverse impact on the quality of life (QOL) of people. The Well-Being Index (WI), Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), Global National Happiness (GNH) and Quality of Living are used to capture QOL, albeit with limited success. There is a need to define QOL in an easy to understand way and develop a user-friendly and practical model to provide inputs to models on SD.
    [Show full text]
  • Appendix a Derivation of LQI
    Appendix A Derivation of LQI Abstract The Life Quality Index (LQI) is derived from economic princi- ples. The LQI can be used to estimate the societal capacity to commit re- sources to risk reduction, SCCR. The LQI, in a format simple for practical application, can be written as EKG, where G is the real GDP/person/year, E is the life expectancy and K is a constant. The societal capacity SCCR, de- rived from the LQI, equals KG/E and is described in Chap. 2. The purpose of this appendix is to describe the derivation of LQI from economic prin- ciples and to prepare for the calibration of the parameter K using economic data in Appendix C. A.1 Introduction Efficient management of risks to life safety involves the search for a bal- ance between the overall potential for harm and good outcomes. In recent years several acceptability criteria with quantitative rationales have been derived from compound social indicators (Lind et al. 1992, Nathwani et al. 1997, Rackwitz 2002, Lind 2002) to support evaluation of broad program outcomes. Lind et al. (1992) proposed the use of two key social indicators, real GDP per capita and life expectancy at birth (both also used in the UN Hu- man Development Project Index, HDI) for judging the effectiveness of de- cisions about risk and life safety. The concept was expanded by Nathwani et al. (1997) who further developed the Life Quality Index (LQI) to estab- lish a test of efficiency for programs and regulations to manage risks. The LQI is simpler than the HDI and based on well-defined component indices weighted to reflect peoples’ revealed preference for the work/non-work- time ratio and productivity.
    [Show full text]
  • Principles for Managing Risk
    Principles for Managing Risk: A Search for Improving the Quality of Decisions J.S. Nathwani 1, N.C. Lind, M.D. Pandey Institute for Risk Research, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. 1 Professor (Adj), Department of Management Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada. N2L 3G1 Dr. Nathwani is the Senior Advisor, Strategic Development, Ontario Hydro Services Co., 700 University Ave., Toronto, ON. M5G 1X6 2 Principles for Managing Risk: A Search for Improving the Quality of Decisions J.S. Nathwani 2, N.C. Lind, M.D. Pandey Institute for Risk Research, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Abstract: The prospect of disease and death command widespread attention resulting in much effort expended to reduce risk and promote safety. The aim is to develop practical and workable policies 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors wish to acknowledge the seminal contributions of Prof. Ernest Siddall, Prof. Jan Narveson, and Prof. F. Kenneth Hare. Members of the Joint Committee on Health and Safety of the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Engineering (1990-1996) also contributed to the early development of ideas in this paper. The results and the conclusions of this study do not represent the views of any organization; we remain solely responsible for all opinions and errors in this book. 4 0.1 INTRODUCTION We consider the problems of managing risks responsibly on behalf of others. “What should we do when the safe and the dangerous are inextricably intertwined?3” It is unrealistic to seek maximum benefit without considering the risks involved, but it is just as naïve to pursue risk minimization without regards for the cost.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Canada Wide Standard for Particulate Matter and Ozone: Cost
    Canada Wide Standard for Particulate Matter and Ozone: Cost-Benefit Analysis using a Life-Quality Index M.D. Pandey1 and J.S. Nathwani 2 Institute for Risk Research University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada Accepted for publication in Int. J. Risk Analysis 1 Associate Professor of Civil Engineering 2 Professor (Adj), Department of Management Sciences Dr. Nathwani is the Manager, Strategic Planning, Hydro One Inc, 483 Bay Street, Toronto, ON 1 Abstract The adverse impacts of particulate air pollution and ground level ozone on public health and the environment have motivated the development of Canada Wide Standards (CWS) on air-quality. In cost-benefit analysis of air-quality options, valuation of reduction in mortality is a critical step as it accounts for almost 80% of the total benefits and any bias in its evaluation can significantly skew the outcome of the analysis. The overestimation of benefits is a source of concern since it has the potential of diverting valuable resources from other needs to support broader health care objectives, education and social services that contribute to enhanced quality of life. We have developed a framework of reasoning for the assessment of risk reduction initiatives that would support the public interest and enhance safety and quality of life. The paper presents the Life Quality Index (LQI) as a tool to quantify the level of expenditure beyond which it is no longer justifiable to spend resources in the name of safety. It is shown that the LQI is a compound social indicator comprising societal wealth and longevity, and it is also equivalent to a utility function consistent with the basic principles of welfare economics and decision analysis.
    [Show full text]
  • THE GOOD SOCIETY FRAMEWORK: an ESSAY on UNDERSTANDING the QUALITY of LIFE Professor Patrick W
    Spring & Summer, May & August SOCIAL 2010 INDICATORS • NETWORK Number 102 & 103 ISSN 0885 6729 NEWS A Quarterly Review of Social Reports and Research on Social Indicators, Social Trends, and the Quality-of-Life. SINews Included of WorkingN Group 6ET on Social Indicators and Social Reporting of the International Sociological Association. THE GOOD SOCIETY FRAMEWORK: AN ESSAY ON UNDERSTANDING THE QUALITY OF LIFE Professor Patrick W. Jordan Fellow, Royal Society of Medicine [email protected] Good societies are those in which the food; whether work, home and public envi- QoL have been proposed and, although conditions enable their citizens to have ronments are generally safe. there is some overlap in their dimensions, a high standard of well-being. Tradition- • Peace and Security - whether crime is there is little consensus as to which is the ally, the main measures used to quantify most appropriate. a society's level of well-being have been low and people feel safe in their homes and financial measures, in particular 'stan- public areas; whether or not society is af- The indices differ both in terms of the dard of living', which is mainly a measure fected by war or terrorism. dimensions that they use and in the of people's income and spending power. • Culture and Leisure - whether there is weightings that they give to each dimen- sion. More recently, attention has been fo- a rich and rewarding culture, both 'high' and cussed on wider and more far-reaching 'popular'; whether there are opportunities to The Good Society Framework (GSF) was measures of well-being which look at participate in rewarding leisure activities.
    [Show full text]
  • Environment Dimensions of Quality of Life (Assessment of Environmental Indicators That Influence the Quality of Life in Indonesia)
    MSc Programme in Urban Management and Development Rotterdam, The Netherlands September 2015 Thesis Title: Environment Dimensions of Quality of Life (Assessment of Environmental Indicators that Influence the Quality of Life in Indonesia) Fitri Novitasari Supervisor: Dr. Ir. Ronald Wall Co-Supervisor: Dr. Spyridon Stavropoulos Specialization: Urban Competitiveness and Resillience MASTER’S PROGRAMME IN URBAN MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT (October 2014 – September 2015) Environment dimensions of quality of life (Assessment of environmental quality dimensions that influence quality of life in Indonesia) Fitri Novitasari Indonesia Supervisor: Dr. Ir. Ronald Wall Co-Supervisor: Dr. Spyridon Stavropoulos UMD 11 Report number: 797 Rotterdam, September 2015 ii Environment Dimensions of Quality of Life (Assessment of Environmental Quality Dimensions that Influence Quality of Life in Indonesia) Summary The understanding and improvement of the human living environment have been major goals of individuals, researchers, communities and governments. The overall assessment of humans’ living environment has been commonly expressed by the term quality of life across multiple disciplines. An understanding quality of life has tremendous potential implications because improving quality of life is a major policy and sustainability goal. In order to obtain the comprehensive understanding about quality of life and sustainable development aspect, recently, several global institutions used a number of standard tools to measure aspects of environmental quality in relation to quality of life. The main purpose of the quality of life measurement is providing tangible information about what is needed for the accomplishment of a good life, value of humankind, how strong human bonds are and the relationship to the environment. As one of the prominent developing countries, Indonesia sought to expand the availability of data regarding regarding quality of life and environmental quality to support improvements on sustainable development.
    [Show full text]
  • 2013 China National Human Development Report
    Development Report 2013 China NationalHuman China National UNDP fosters human development to empower women and men to build better lives in Human Development China. As the UN’s development network, UNDP draws on a world of experiences to assist China in developing its own solutions to the country’s development challenges. Report 2013 Through partnerships and innovation, UNDP works to achieve the rule of law, promoting environmental sustainability, and fighting HIV/AIDS. Sustainable and Liveable Cities: Toward Ecological Civilization Toward Cities: and Liveable Sustainable Toward Ecological Civilization This report is a collaboration between UNDP China and the Institute of Urban and Environmental Studies of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Special thanks go to the Royal Norwegian Embassy, the Peace and Development Foundation, Leighton Asia, Tianyan Green Energy Corporation, Stora Enso and Veolia Group for their kind sponsorships. For copies or information related to this publication, please contact us: UNDP China 2 Liangmahe Nanlu, 100600 Beijing Telephone +86-10-8532-0800 Fax +86-10-8532-0900 中国对外翻译出版有限公司中 国 出 版 集 团 公 司 ISBN 978-7-5001-3754-2 9 787500 137542 定价：69.00 元 CHINA NATIONAL HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2013 Sustainable and Liveable Cities: Toward Ecological Civilization The preparation of this report was a collaboration between UNDP China and Institute for Urban and Environmental Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences China Publishing Group Corporation China Translation & Publishing Corporation CIP Data China Human Development Report. 2013: Sustainable and Liveable Cities: Toward Ecological Urbanisation: English Compiled by United Nations Development Program. –Beijing: China Translation and Publishing Corporation, June 2013 ISBN 978-7-5001-3754-2 I.
    [Show full text]
  • Tools and Strategies for Improving Policy Responses to the Risk of Air Pollution
    TOOLS AND STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING POLICY RESPONSES 181 TOOLS AND STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING POLICY RESPONSES TO THE RISK OF AIR POLLUTION Ari Rabl1, Jatin Nathwani2, Mahesh Pandey3, Fintan Hurley4 ABSTRACT This paper offers a brief review of the need for cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and the available policy instruments for air pollution. To prioritize different possible actions, one needs to know which source of pollution causes how much damage. This requires an impact pathway analysis, i.e. an analysis of the chain emission → dispersion → dose- response function → monetary valuation. The methodology for this is described and illustrated with the results of the ExternE (External Costs of Energy) project series of the European Commission. Two examples of an application to CBA are shown: one where a proposed reduction of emission limits is justified, one where it is not. It is advisable to subject any proposed regulation to a CBA, including an analysis of the uncertainties. Even if the uncertainties are large and a policy decision may have to take other considerations into account, a well documented CBA clarifies the issues and provides a basis for rational discussion. One of the main sources of uncertainty lies in the monetary valuation of premature mortality, the dominant contribution to the damage cost of air pollution. As an alternative an innovative policy tool is described, the Life Quality Index (LQI), a compound indicator comprising societal wealth and life expectancy. It is applied to the Canada-wide standards for particulate matter and ozone. Regardless of monetary valuation, a 50% reduction of PM10 concentrations in Europe and North America has been shown to yield a population-average life expectancy increase in the order of 4 to 5 months.
    [Show full text]
  • WORKING DRAFT the Objective Vs. Subjective Debate One of The
    WORKING DRAFT The Objective vs. Subjective Debate One of the central debates in the quality of life literature revolves around whether the indicators used to measure quality of life are “subjective” or “objective” in nature and understanding the division among the literature is a useful starting point for any attempt to create a quality of life measure particularly one designed to be used as a metric of success. In the literature objective measures are defined as being based on aggregate population data have been advocated by such measures as the UNDP (2008) in their Human Development Index, and the World Bank (2009) in their World Development Indicators. Measures such as life expectancy, adult literacy rates, student enrollment ratios, and gross domestic product per capita are used to create the Human Development Index. The reasoning behind using these measures is based in the belief that the use of quantifiable aggregate measures of economic, social, health or other indicators are sufficient to gauge the quality of life for a given population. Their usage and efficacy also rest on the assumption that the indicators that are being measured are objective in the sense that they are universally seen as desirable attributes. On the other hand, subjective measures, such as those advocated by Brooks and Gill, place the measurement of quality of life in the psychological realm of satisfaction and overall happiness, which is only definable by the individual and thus can only be measured by the use of surveys to individuals. Instead of measuring what they believe to be the most important indicators of quality of life like the UNDP and World Bank do, they instead pose more open questions to the individual, which allows the respondents to express their perceived level of life quality without any bias or value weighting.
    [Show full text]
  • Quality of Life - the Factor of Russia Success at Present and in the Future
    SHS Web of Conferences 28, 01012 (2016) DOI: 10.1051/shsconf/20162801012 RPTSS 2015 Quality of life - the factor of Russia success at present and in the future S. V. Berkalov1, E. V. Pluchevskaya1, N.V. Kozlova1 1 National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University, Lenin Avenue, 30, Tomsk 634050, Russia Abstract. The quality of life and human development - these concepts are substantial characteristics of contemporary approaches to the challenges of economic growth and development of society. The quality of life in contemporary quality concepts means the integrated characteristics of social-economic, political, cultural-ideologic, ecologic factors and living conditions and social status of a person. State policy in the field of regulating population’s quality of life and living standards is the basis of creating totally new work force, essential needs in material wealth, life quality and working conditions indicators. We consider the definition "quality of life" within the concept of human development to define the system of the factors influencing it. We review the modern approaches to the analysis of the quality of life. Features and aspects of quality of life are considered, its role in social and economic development of the country is analysed. The main criteria define specifics of human development and social wellbeing of the population. To evaluate the quality of life of the population we use the statistical analysis of the United Nations (UN), Human Development Index (HDI).We conclude that the level of life is an integrated social and economic category that presents the level of development of physical, immaterial and social needs which influence the quality of life and population wellbeing Index.
    [Show full text]
  • Measuring Well-Being and Progress D’Acci L., (2010)
    Measuring Well-Being and Progress D’Acci L., (2010). Measuring Well-Being and Progress, Social Indicators Research , Vol 104, n.1, pp. 47-65. DOI:10.1007/s11205-010-9717-1 The final publication is available at http://link.springer.com http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11205-010-9717-1 Abstract Well-being is becoming a concept which is more and more involved in any world development consideration. A large amount of work is being carried out to study measurements of well-being, including a more holistic vision on the development and welfare of a country. This paper proposes an idea of well-being and progress being in equilibrium with each other. This is distant from the two extreme positions: poor but happy, and rich then happy; too romantic the first, and reductive the second. After a short explanation on the meaning of Objective and Subjective well-being, we show some interesting relations between economic and social variables, and we propose a new index to measure the well-being and progress of the countries: the Well-being & Progress Index (WIP). It includes several aspects of well-being and progress, like human rights, economic well-being, equality, education, research, quality of urban environment, ecological behaviours, subjective well-being, longevity, and violent crime. The most frequently used indexes usually only focus on some aspects, like ecology, or economy, or policy, or education, or happiness, and so forth. On the contrary, this new WIP index allows a global and well-balanced vision, thanks to the large range of indicators used, and how representative they are.
    [Show full text]
  • Document #4 the Philosophy Behind the Life Quality Index and Empirical
    Basic Documents on Risk Assessment in Engineering Document #4 The Philosophy Behind the Life Quality Index and Empirical Verification JCSS Joint Committee of Structural Safety Date: November 2008 JCSS author: Rüdiger Rackwitz, Technical University Munich Updated memorandum to JCSS, November, 2005 The Philosophy Behind the Life Quality Index and Empirical Verification R. Rackwitz Technical University Munich, Munich, Germany e-mail: [email protected] 1. Preface The following memorandum collects and discusses most of the relevant material presently avail- able for setting up rational risk acceptance criteria and risk reduction expenses. They are based on the so-called life quality index and utility considerations. The paper attempts to support all basic assumptions by empirical findings. Much of the material presented herein is not available elsewhere. The memorandum is meant to be the basis for practical decisions. Before starting we try to estimate the size of risk reductions we are going to discuss. Overall crude mortality (per year) is about 0.01 in industrial countries but only 3 in 10000 are not due to natural causes. If one subtracts from this number those deaths which are induced by voluntary risky activities (sports and some traffic accidents) and those which are unavoidable such as house accidents, climbing stairs, etc., then, the reduction of a mortality of about 0.0002 or less is the subject of our study. It may be a little larger because certain risks typical for industrialized countries like air pollution are not separated out in the usual statistical records. Also, we estimate the result of a (crude) mortality reduction dm/year in terms of increases in life expectancy d` using a European life table (the corresponding theory is developed later).
    [Show full text]