Selecting Indicators for Sustainable Development of Small Towns: The Case of Valmiera Municipality (original) (raw)

Enhancement of Small Towns in Inland Areas. A Novel Indicators Dataset to Evaluate Sustainable Plans

Sustainability

In response to the abandonment and depopulation of small towns in inland areas, it is necessary to provide analysis and technical-economic evaluation tools with the aim of selecting effective recovery and valorization strategies. In the light of what criteria and indicators should this selection be carried out? The principles of sustainability guide us to a new definition of social, economic, environmental, and historical-architectural criteria. The intention is to outline a new way of classifying the judgment criteria, exclusively referring to the peculiarities of small towns. In turn, the criteria are specifically defined in sixteen sub-criteria, again able to represent the salient features of small municipalities: Local traditions, genius loci, urbanization levels, but also prevailing economy, environmental (flora and fauna, water, soil, air, etc.), and historical-architectural components (relations between the small town and the immediate context, formal relationship between bui...

Assessment of urban development policies in the context of sustainability in Latvia

Ecosystems and Sustainable Development IX, 2013

An assessment of the sustainability of urban development policies was undertaken in six major cities in Latvia using a methodology developed as part of the Aalborg Commitments baseline review for the city of Riga. Development planning documents and development indicators and trends were assessed against the Aalborg Commitments. The assessment revealed significant discrepancies between the sustainability criteria of the Aalborg Commitments and development policy goals and measures defined in the municipal planning documents. Development goals provide cities with a weak orientation towards sustainability, whereas policy measures show limited coherence with development goals and the Aalborg Commitments. None of the strategic development plans of the investigated cities reflect all the Aalborg Commitments and none reflect issues in the group Local to Global. Only three of the cities studied have a limited number of sustainability indicators that can be used in part to measure progress towards sustainable development. Based on the available indicators development in these cities is characterized by predominantly unsustainable trends. The results of a survey of municipal administration personnel and council deputies indicate that deficiencies in governance, including knowledge about sustainable development, policy integration, intersector cooperation, municipality and stakeholder cooperation and urban management contribute to development policies and outcomes that are weakly supportive of sustainable development and act as barriers to mainstreaming sustainable development.

Changes in (Sustainable) Development of Slovenian Small Towns

European Countryside

Considering the settlement pattern in Slovenia, small towns with a population of 5,000 to 15,000 are very important for balanced regional and local development, especially for the achievement of sustainable development goals. This paper presents findings from a study of the level of sustainability in 32 Slovenian small towns, as assessed using a set of twelve economic, social, and environmental indicators of sustainable development. A comparison of the results for the years 2002 and 2018 shows that over the past two decades, Slovenian small towns have for the most part successfully advanced towards the goals of sustainable development. The small towns that lag behind in these efforts were identified, as were the development areas where sustainability trends are less favorable.

Small Towns Recovery and Valorisation. An Innovative Protocol to Evaluate the Efficacy of Project Initiatives

Sustainability

In many Countries, the depopulation of small towns is a significant phenomenon, which is causing the disappearance of a vast material and immaterial heritage, the beating heart of national identities. However, in recent years, with the environmental and metropolitan crisis, a gradual change of trend is taking place in which small towns play a crucial role in rebuilding the city-countryside relationship. The sustainable development of territories is possible, but in order to achieve it, it is essential to reverse the gaze and consider small municipalities as the main driving force for a radical change. Nevertheless, too often administrations are inadequate in dealing with the complexity of small realities, defining strategies and funding projects that are inconsistent with the real and varied local needs. This work deals with the issue of the recovery and valorisation of small towns through multi-criteria analysis schemes able to capture not only the specific characteristics of the s...

Measuring Sustainable Cities: An approach for assessing municipal-level sustainability indicator systems in Sweden

""It is now common for managers, strategists, planners and citizens at municipality level to use sustainable development indicators (SDI) to help them work towards sustainable development. But not all indicator systems are created equal. Some are better tools than others when it comes to helping cities and municipalities in their work, and thousands of municipalities use SDI worldwide. How then should we assess the effectiveness of existing indicators for municipalities? To answer this question I develop an approach for assessing the design, creation and communication of SDI, and then apply it in a case study in Falun Municipality in Dalarna County, Sweden. The approach assesses five aspects of SDI: ‘Vision’, ‘Framework’, ‘Indicator Selection’, ‘Stakeholder Participation’ and ‘Communication’. The findings are that SDI have been essential to the implementation of sustainable development in policy and action in general municipal operations, but the municipality has not moved beyond a ‘conventional’ sustainable development vision and monitoring strategy. The benefits and constraints of the current indicator system are then discussed using the above approach, and the thesis finishes by offering suggestions for the municipality going forward. I also point to the need to develop a standardised assessment method for thousands of municipalities using indicator systems used today, to help in ongoing review and improvement of SDI in practice.""

The sustainable development of small towns: characteristics of the main factors of influence (with the example of the Tula Region

This article is devoted to the study of the main factors of the small-towns sustainable development in the Tula region, as well as the definition of conditions that influence the development of tourism in cities and small settlements in the region. During the research, the factors of the small-towns sustainable development were studied and analysed, including their relationship with the development of tourism. To identify the conditions influencing the development of tourism in small towns, methods of expert assessments, in-depth interviews and questionnaires were used. The study revealed that at present, tourism has a greater impact on the development of a settlement's infrastructure than on the urban product, or the total volume of production of the basic sectors of the economy per capita and the purchasing power parity of residents. The main factors influencing the development of tourism are also highlighted: transport accessibility, accommodation infrastructure, food infrastructure, the appearance of the city, the uniqueness of the location, key attractors, ensuring the safety of tourists, reviews about the place of stay and information support. At the same time, the authors of the study emphasise that the 'appearance of the city' is the main factor when deciding whether to visit a tourist destination.