Third-party certification is the mainstream method for assessing the built environment. Independent accredited external experts evaluate the built environment according to standards generally decided upon at a broad level (national, international).

Yet, assessment tools and certification methods should be contextualized to be consistent with local practices and have a broad impact among stakeholders in the local society. This is the case of Participative Guarantee Systems (PGS), which can be considered as knowledge Commons, in the sense of Hess and Ostrom (2007), proposing a new governance approach for designing, implementing and assessing the sustainable built environment.

A participative study at European level, under the direction of the CESBA (Common European Sustainable Built Environment) association, explored how the PGS principles could be applied to approaches assessing the sustainability of the built environment. A benchmark has been made of the PGS which is in use worldwide for certifying organic farming, as an alternative to third-party certification, creating a new form of local governance by the Commons.

The principles identified through the benchmark were then compared with the actual practices of envirobatBDM, association set in southern France, for certifying sustainable buildings and neighbourhoods. EnvirobatBDM approach is in many ways similar to PGS. The system gives much place to the active participation of the association’s members throughout the evaluation process: co-development of the framework and criteria, support for projects, open evaluation by peers in public events. This assessment process helps to offer a three-loop learning process to generally enhance the quality of decision making, planning, implementation and usage.

This comparison raises the question of whether, as for organic farming, this participatory evaluation could challenge third-party certification offering a path for new forms of locally responsible governance. PGS helps to involve users, raises their capacity to act (empowerment) while being totally focused on local needs. PGS initiates a learning process, diffuses and upgrades knowledge of stakeholders. Interviews with stakeholders in Europe show a rising interest. Could it be a desirable future for sustainability assessment of the built environment?

Topics: New governance approaches for a sustainable built environment

第三方认证是评估建筑环境的主流方法。独立认可的外部专家根据一般在广泛层面（国家、国际）确定的标准评估建筑环境。

然而，评估工具和认证方法应该与当地实践相一致，并在当地社会的利益相关者中产生广泛的影响。参与式保障系统 (PGS) 就是这种情况，在 Hess 和 Ostrom (2007) 的意义上，它可以被视为知识共享，提出了一种用于设计、实施和评估可持续建筑环境的新治理方法。

在 CESBA（欧洲共同可持续建筑环境）协会的指导下，一项欧洲层面的参与性研究探讨了如何将 PGS 原则应用于评估建筑环境可持续性的方法。作为第三方认证的替代方案，PGS 已在全球范围内用于认证有机农业，从而建立了一种新的下议院地方治理形式。

然后将通过基准确定的原则与法国南部成立的协会 envirobatBDM 的实际做法进行比较，以认证可持续建筑和社区。EnvirobatBDM 方法在许多方面类似于 PGS。该系统为协会成员在整个评估过程中的积极参与提供了很大的空间：共同制定框架和标准，支持项目，由同行在公共活动中进行公开评估。该评估过程有助于提供一个三环学习过程，以普遍提高决策、规划、实施和使用的质量。

这种比较提出了一个问题，即对于有机农业，这种参与式评估是否会挑战第三方认证，为新形式的地方负责任治理提供途径。PGS 有助于让用户参与进来，提高他们的行动能力（授权），同时完全专注于当地需求。PGS 启动学习过程，传播和升级利益相关者的知识。对欧洲利益相关者的采访显示出越来越多的兴趣。它会成为建筑环境可持续性评估的理想未来吗？

主题：可持续建筑环境的新治理方法