In the work of sustainability, tools matter.

Frameworks, certification systems, and protocols give us a way to name what we’re doing, measure progress, and hold ourselves accountable. But tools don’t stand alone – they reflect the values, assumptions, and priorities of the contexts in which they were created.

For African cities, that raises an urgent question: Can we keep using global tools without localising them, or are we measuring the wrong things well?

At Solid Green, we believe the tools we use must be fit for place, purpose, and people. That’s why our work extends beyond applying frameworks. We actively engage in shaping them.

From sustainable to strategic: tools that shape cities

Over the past decade, Solid Green has worked at the forefront of precinct-scale transformation using tools that guide decision-making, stakeholder collaboration, and long-term impact tracking.

Some of the most influential frameworks we’ve worked with include:

• Green Star New Build and Major Refurbishment v2:
  The new version of South Africa’s green building certification tool, now in pilot phase, includes the PLACES category, a major advancement that invites design teams to engage with cultural context, community stories, and integration into surrounding urban systems. This tool applies to individual buildings, not precincts.
• Green Star Sustainable Precincts (SUP):
  A stand-alone tool focused specifically on precinct-scale sustainability. SUP addresses governance, liveability, ecology, and urban systems across entire neighbourhoods or mixed-use developments. Solid Green has contributed to multiple SUP certifications and continues to guide clients through this process.
• EcoDistricts and Just Communities:
  The Just Communities framework is a direct evolution of the EcoDistricts Protocol, reimagined to centre racial equity, community power, and justice in urban development. The tools are intrinsically linked, with Just Communities building on the foundational values and structure of EcoDistricts while deepening its accountability mechanisms.

Solid Green was instrumental in adapting the original EcoDistricts Protocol for the African context. Adaptation of international tools is essential to ensure that solutions facilitated through these systems are appropriate for local realities .

Why Localisation Matters

African cities are not just copy-paste versions of their global counterparts. Our spatial legacy, cultural richness, climate pressures, and governance structures are unique – and so are the metrics that matter.

Localisation isn’t about simplification. It’s about translation:

• Translating intent into local language and meaning
• Translating outcomes into culturally and spatially relevant indicators
• Translating global ambition into doable, trackable, and meaningful action

At Solid Green, our successful partnership with the EcoDistricts team to localise the original protocol taught us that localisation requires both technical precision and social sensitivity. While the EcoDistrict certification has now been replaced with the Just Communities label, projects that were certified under the EcoDistricts framework have been given the option to retain their certification and we see projects successfully moving through recertification and biennial progress reports to retain and expand on the original goals and aspirations they had set for themselves.

Measuring what matters in the African Context

Frameworks like Green Star SUP and EcoDistricts have taught us that, while environmental and economic performance are vital, so too are:

• Historical repair and social cohesion
• Cultural preservation and local identity
• Psychological safety and lived experience in the built environment

These are not “nice to haves.” They are indicators of whether people will stay, thrive, and invest in their places over time.

The next evolution of our tools must consistently move beyond compliance toward community-rooted accountability.