Sustainability Indicators Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

To consider small islands as places for sustainable tourism or sustainable anything, for that matter, must surely be cause for critical deliberation. Small islands as sanctuaries, or rare citadels for ecological safekeeping and tight-knit communities, runs counter to islands as sites for extraction and development, yet increasingly the latter prevails. However, the former are the precise reasons that small islands are aligned with the global travel supply chain. Consuming small islands abides with the tropical idyll narrative and, within such invocations, the exposure of small islands to externalities renders its utility to purposes that run counter to benign and constructive outcomes. Herein is the dilemma for small islands and their entanglements with tourism expansion.
See full report here: http://projects.upei.ca/unescochair/files/2020/07/Annual-Report-on-Global-Islands-2019.pdf

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- Tourism Studies, Tourism Marketing, Tourism Management, Pacific Island Studies
- by Sara Jo Breslow and +4
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- Social Sciences, Subjective Well-Being, Social Indicators, Values

This study examines the urge to construct indicators of sustainable development that has been outlined in the Agenda 21 of the Rio Earth Summit 1992, re-expressed in the Rio+20 Declaration “The Future We Want” in 2012, and discussed in the work by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress (2009). An indicator of sustainable development (SDI) is a measure expected to signal whether a society is on a sustainable path, or not, by organising large data sets into easily readable illustrations for the purposes of policy-makers. The study positions into the earlier work of sociologists of science and philosophers such as Hacking and Latour who have aimed to understand the contexts in which knowledge is formed. For policymakers and the wider public, understanding the limitations of these different measurement approaches can be beneficial. This study suggests that SDIs can be considered analogous to evidence-based autonomous models that can be framed in various ways. One-dimensional indicators select a single bottom-line against which other considerations are judged; composite SDIs typically aim to balance environmental, social and economic considerations; and monetary-based indicators attempt to incorporate ecological and social losses into economic costs. Depending on the choice of approach, a SDI may either adhere to the principle of ‘strong sustainability’ according to which no ecological harm is acceptable, or ‘weak sustainability’ that accepts substitutability between different types of capital, including the loss of natural capital. However, a general weakness of several SDIs has been their inability to signal when ecological thresholds are crossed. Under energy and resource constraints, these efforts reflect an aspiration, borrowing the terms of seventeenth century political economists, the need to explore means towards a ‘new’ political arithmetic. This study aims to observe what choices researchers and political institutions have and have made in adapting to the realities of climate change and other ecological constraints. The study will argue that the depiction of ‘sustainable development’ may be a worthy ideal but for measurement purposes of actual ecological or social thresholds, a notion of multiple meanings has challenged the work of scientists who have been unable to agree over a ‘proper’ indicator. By assessing the theoretical underpinnings of science, the aim of this study is provide common ground to the multidisciplinary subject matter of sustainability for natural and social scientists who often conduct research in their separate research strands. Furthermore, scientific work itself follows societal progress and is limited by theoretical underpinnings that inevitably also influence the attempts to construct meaningful indicators. The study observes how in the context of political decision-making, institutions that act as gatekeepers that shape the understanding of politicians about the choices they have, even if these institutions are constrained by ideological discourses as well as existing institutional arrangements. For the purpose of the measurement of sustainable development, existing cross-country measures such as the GDP have serious weaknesses. At least in the advanced economies, while the measurement of aggregate economic growth may remain useful, it may be less relevant than it was in the contexts of modernisation and post-Second World War reconstruction when the current UN System of National Accounts was adopted. However, pragmatic challenges also undermine some of the alternative indicators, including the lack of available data as well as the need for institutional capacity and improved theoretical understanding about sustainability. Nevertheless, it is suggested that states could engage more closely to explore the possibility to use SDIs as a new technology of governance. For this purpose, the study also examines indicators of climate change, material flows and energy. It is also suggested that decision-makers may need to better adopt a perspective of systemic thinking that adopts an ecological view that also internalises social considerations rather than macroeconomic theories that treat ecological and social costs as externalities.

Urban Sustainability in Theory and Practice responds to the crises of sustainability in the world today by going back to basics. It makes four major contributions to thinking about and acting upon cities. It provides a means of reflexivity learning about urban sustainability in the process of working practically for positive social development and projected change. It challenges the usually taken-for-granted nature of sustainability practices while providing tools for modifying those practices. It emphasizes the necessity of a holistic and integrated understanding of urban life. Finally it rewrites existing dominant understandings of the social whole such as the triple-bottom line approach that reduces environmental questions to externalities and social questions to background issues. The book is a much-needed practical and conceptual guide for rethinking urban engagement.

- by Paul James and +2
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- Social Theory, Ontology, Social Sciences, Sustainable Production and Consumption

• The process development and optimization potential needs to be driven by the individial coporate value chain. • The identification of this specific value chain and the related indicators is essential to limit the scope of any analysis and optimization to the core business • The process framework consisting of clearly defined value chain, the related processes and the corresponding indicators is a prerequisite for a meaningful and efficient process analysis and continuous process optimization.

The paper will draw on the experience of Greater Lyons (France) in the development and implementation of air quality indicators in the framework of an environmental monitoring body, created in 1992. The analysis shows a patent discrepancy between the strength of the political support enjoyed by the monitoring body at its creation and its gradual confinement within the administrative structure of Greater Lyons. In fact, developing and using indicators raises not only technical issues but also political and bureaucratic stakes. The experience provides food for thought as regards the emergence of sustainable development issues within large and complex structures such as that of Greater Lyons. The paper points out that if indicators are hybrid objects, monitoring bodies, which are supposed to devise and promote them, are hybrid as well: their management, in terms of aims, means and position within the administrative body, is at least as important as their so-called 'technical' function.

- by Thierry COANUS
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- Social Sciences, Sustainability Indicators, Sociology of Risk

Global energy requirements are rising tremendously because of increasing urbanization and the human population. In the last few centuries, the consumption of fossil fuels has caused increased emissions of greenhouse gases resulting in environmental concerns like global warming, climatic change, and biodiversity loss. As a result, progress in sustainable energy has become the centre of attention in climatic change agenda and economic growth. Until now, various methods of renewable energy production have been extensively studied such as geothermal energy, wind energy, and solar energy. In addition to this, the utilization of biofuels from different sustainable sources are also being considered to reduce greenhouses gas emissions. New approaches and developments are still required for the creation of more sustainable, efficient, and affordable renewable energy systems and for the mitigation of global environmental threats. This special issue aims to advance novel developments in the su...

- by M Tazli Azizan
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- Environmental Science, Climate Change, Renewable Energy, Sustainability Indicators

Mythmaking presents us with an idiosyncratic fusion of language and metaphysics so as to simply convey meaning as language does, and also communicate an entire metaphysics at a level of meaning beyond language and image. Claiming so, is to attest to the relevance of myths in the operationalization of ecological worldviews. In this paper, I will assume such an operational relationship between myths and ecological worldviews. First and foremost, our worldviews act as 'first principles' in establishing our interaction with our environment. At a time when anthropogenic ecocide presents a grave threat to the balance of life on earth, this fundamental notion is of great relevance. Specifically, this paper will study how myths mediated human interaction with nature in the past and continue to do so today. By comparing sets of myths of the Tukano Indians of the Amazon and Hindus of India, I will identify two functions of myth as mediator between man and nature.

The Indian ornamental fish industry is divided into two-the domestic market and the export market. 90% of the freshwater ornamental fish exported from India are wild caught indigenous species. The study formed the criteria and indicators assessing the sustainability of wild caught ornamental fish exported from India. These indicators were then analyzed for their interactions, connections, linkages and relationships using cognitive mapping. The work is first of its kind in the ornamental fisheries.

A water and sanitation sustainability index (WASSI) was developed and estimated in four cities of the province of Salta, in northern Argentina. The index was built with nine descriptors and fifteen indicators that covered all essential aspects of the sustainability of local water and sanitation management systems. Only one of the cities studied obtained a sustainability value above the acceptability threshold adopted (50 of 100 points). Results indicate that the water company needs to address some environmental and social issues to enhance the sustainability of the systems studied. The WASSI was conceptually robust and operationally simple, and could be easily adapted to the case studies. The index can be followed and updated online on a web site specially developed for this project. This website could be useful to promote participatory processes, assist decision makers, and facilitate academic research. According to local stakeholders, a more open sustainability assessment based on sustainability indices and supported by virtual tools would be relevant and highly feasible. It would help decision makers improve the sustainability and transparency of water and sanitation management systems, and promote more sustainable water policies in the region and beyond.

The aim of this thesis is to assess how the tourism-based sustainable development strategies as promoted by UNESCO (in)form, affect, and impede development efforts in the management of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Balancing conservation and tourism development creates a variety of opportunities and challenges for heritage sites and local communities that can either improve or reduce the quality of local livelihoods.
By assessing the strategies, efforts and impacts of the two World Heritage Sites in Cape Town - Robben Island and Table Mountain National Park - from a cultural-economic perspective, utilizing the concept of the 'Sustainable Livelihoods Framework for Tourism', I am going to show how and why the (potential) impacts on local livelihoods greatly differ for Robben Island and Table Mountain, although both sites operate within the same legislative, geographic, and infrastructural frameworks.
I will also assess how and why the managers of both World Heritage Sites are presented with different opportunities, as well as with an enormous variety and multiplicity of site-specific challenges for achieving sustainability and improving local livelihoods.
My assessment shows that both WHS are highly aware of their responsibilities and accountability regarding local sustainable development, and that their respective strategies aim at improving sustainability on all spheres. Yet, while Robben Island Museum struggles to fulfill their mandate and legislation, and fail to improve local economies, environments and livelihoods in a sustainable manner, Table Mountain National Park and its affiliates manage to provide a holistic tourism experience while also successfully promoting environmental awareness, socioeconomic development, and inclusive local participation to ensure the long-term improvement of local livelihoods.
The conclusion clearly shows that, although the UNESCO strategy provides a viable framework for developing site-specific strategies that consider the individual aspects of heritage assets, successful implementation depends on a multiplicity of (often intangible and unchangeable) aspects, that require highly individual management approaches and available resources.
This results in the fact, that some sites like Table Mountain National Park have the potential to impact more people with less resources, as compared to sites like Robben Island, who have to invest a lot of resources just to keep operations running.

Sustainability concepts showcase significant value in construction projects. The discipline of project management is also integrating sustainability issues into its approaches. Under this notion, this study explores the integration of sustainability indicators into project management practices of construction projects. Current literature discloses many indicators/key factors as contributing towards the sustainability success of construction projects. However, the lack of an all-encompassing categorization creates difficulties in directing project managers towards their proper utilization. This paper aims to contribute towards the holistic view of sustainability in project management, especially for construction projects. A systematic literature review was conducted towards the understanding of the key topics and the findings were validated through semi-structured interviews. Eighty-two (82) sustainability indicators related to project management practices in construction projects were finally identified. Their categorization into economic, environmental and social/ management sustainability indicators was completed through semi-structured interviews with construction experts and via previous literature analysis. The economic related indicators finalized in 27; 18 for the environmental dimension and 37 indicators were included in the social/management dimension. This study contributes to research on sustainable project management for construction projects in two main ways: (1) it provides a holistic view of sustainable project management indicators, covering the full spectrum of the triple constraint (TBL); (2) it offers the possibility for practitioners to choose the right mix of indicators, depending on the sustainability focus they want to provide in their projects.

Few studies have investigated the use and performance of conventional and sustainable building technologies of
use in low-income housing construction. Hence, this study investigates the use and performance of the conventional
and sustainable building technologies used in low-income housing construction towards proposing the
most sustainable technological solution for low-income housing development in South Africa. Using a case study
research approach, the study developed a rating tool for use in assessing the sustainability performance of the
Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) low-income houses within the nine provinces of South
Africa with measures drawn from the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA) technical manual.
Findings of this study show that the most commonly used method of construction for low-income housing in
South Africa are concrete floor slab, brick and mortar for the external envelope and a combination of timber
structures fitted with Inverted Box Rib (IBR) sheeting for the roof system. The results also show that conventional
building components had a much lower sustainability level due to the high use of concrete and that innovative
building components have a lower environmental impact due to the low carbon dioxide emission associated with
the manufacturing process. The study concludes with regards to the socio-economic and environmental dimensions
of sustainability that buildings constructed using sustainable technologies are more sustainable than
those produced using conventional methods. The study recommends that public sector clients involved in the
provision of low-income housing should encourage the use of sustainable construction technologies. Further, the
research also suggests that the GBCSA should develop measures which specifically targets low-income housing
development to allow for the determination of both the socio-economic viability and environmental impact of
the RDP houses produced in South Africa.

In numerous aspects of digital marketing usage, India is among the top two countries in the world. Almost all businesses currently use digital marketing. Thousands of start-up businesses with new ideas strive to break into the corporate sector every year. Unless they have a good marketing plan, start-ups and SMEs will be unable to compete with established and lucrative organisations. One of the leading causes of business failure is a lack of a comprehensive digital marketing strategy. However, not all of the tools available to a digital marketer are equally productive. The barrier between the “haves” and the “have nots” is narrowing as technology interventions become more widely available. Some digital marketing methods succeed, while others fail. In view of the importance of digital marketing usage in India, this paper provides a framework based on Diffusion of Innovation (DOI). It also makes use of Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) theory for obtaining conceptual framework...

Environmental, social and economic aspects of transport and logistics systems’ operation are considered in the paper. The role of the transport systems and logistic activities for achieving the goals of sustainable development is presented. Results of the statistical analysis of transport and logistics systems’ influence on the environment are provided. The system of factors of sustainable development of transport and logistics systems based on structural and functional approach emphasizing the main func-tions of elements of a logistics system is proposed. Accounting the factors during transport and logistics systems’ operation will allow to carry out integrated assessment of supply chains and their elements in compliance with the principles of sustainable development and develop activities for achieving the goals of sustainable development.
В статье рассмотрены экологические, социальные и экономические аспекты функционирования транспортно-логистических систем. Показана роль транспортных систем и логистической деятельности по достижению целей устойчивого развития. Представлены результаты статистического анализа влияния транспортно-логистических систем на окружающую среду. Предложена система факторов устойчивого развития транспортно-логистических систем, основанная на структурно-функциональном подходе выделения основных функций элементов логистической системы. Учёт факторов в процессе функционирования транспортно-логистических систем позволит проводить комплексную оценку цепей поставок и их элементов на соответствие принципам устойчивого развития, а также разрабатывать мероприятия по достижению целей устойчивого развития.

While many studies in the field of environmental communication have focused on exploring the environmental impact of social media, this research paper takes a different turn. It investigates, through a qualitative content analysis, 391 websites that support and provide green hosting services. This study is considered the first in the field that aims to examine in-depth how these green websites tend to communicate their green services. Therefore, its contribution is to enhance the relevant bibliography and present more insights regarding green websites and sustainability. The results showed that most of the websites were trying to highlight the positive impact their services will have on the environment. In addition, many websites tried to educate their consumers concerning sustainable development and make them part of a broader green cultural tradition. Nevertheless, on many websites, green hosting seemed a supplementary factor for choosing the company’s services.

- by Minos-Athanasios Karyotakis and +1
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- Cultural Studies, Communication, Social Sciences, Climate Change

Decoupling the negative effects of economic growth is imperative for sustainable development. However, the present situation does not bode well for achieving such absolute decoupling. Sustainable development was envisaged as a long-term process to ensure future liveability of humans by the balanced use of resources today. Here growth and development were combined together with sustainability principles. However, about half a decade after the adoption of Sustainable Development Goals, certain issues have emerged. Critics argue that economic growth cannot be viable with environmental protection measures. Others argue that the growth of the economy cannot increase the well-being of those who already enjoy the highest standard of living. These facts suggest that the negative effects of economic growth outweigh the positive effects in already developed countries. Further, economic growth could be a driver of sustainability in developing and least developed countries. The question of equality and accessibility to goods and services also determine the extent of economic benefits for social sustainability. The 21st century has seen the rise of complex and multi-dimensional pathways between different aspects of sustainability. Due to globalization, these relationships now work at varying spatio-temporal scales resulting in global and regional dynamics. With this background we have explored the complex relationship between sustainable development and economic growth, linking the environmental and social with the economic pillar of sustainable development. The book aims to strengthen the existing conceptual knowledge as well as serve as guide for future research in this field.

- by Daniela Perrotti
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- Sustainability Indicators, Urban Ecology, URBAN SUSTAINABILITY, Urban Metabolism

Für einen Workshop zur Evaluierung von SDGs wird das Indikatorensystem MONET der Schweiz vorgestellt und an einzelnen Beispielen erläutert. ein besonderer Focus wird gerichtet auf die Messung der Reduktion des Ausstosses klimaschädlicher Gase und die Wirkung von Lenkungsabgaben. Derzeit werden die nationalen Ziele und Politiken zu den SDGs im Rahmen einer Vernehmlassung diskutiert. Die Schweiz wird 2018 an die UNO Bericht erstatten, wie die SDGs umgesetzt werden, welches ihre prioritären Handlungsfelder im Inland sind und was sie zur globalen Zielerreichung beiträgt. Ab 2019 beginnt die Umsetzung.

The current research deals with renewable energy sources for the energy independence of Zakynthos Island in Greece. In order to define the most efficient renewable energy source, a multi-criteria analysis was used. The main criteria that were applied are the three pillars of sustainability, namely environment, society and economy. The aforementioned criteria were also subject to the DPSIR model of indicators, while a range of economic, environmental, social and technical sub-criteria were applied. The results, with regard to the delimitations set for the scope of the current research, indicate that the solar energy source systems (photovoltaics) are proved to be a more suitable alternative over a geothermal power station.

- by Ioannis Vardopoulos
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- Photovoltaics, Renewable Energy, Sustainability Indicators, Geothermal Energy

How individuals live their lives, within the context of personal and collective values, expresses their living culture. Societies may be made up of people with different ethnocultural backgrounds, socio-economic profiles or spiritual orientations, but they share certain common cultural frameworks (e.g., democratic governance, rules of law, conventions of business, principles of equity for all, etc.) of what is increasingly a globalized, pluralized, and urbanized present. Culture is often thought of as either the historical traditions of a group, or else as certain types of activities (e.g., dance, theatre, celebrations, rituals, etc.) and objects (e.g., art, artifacts, clothing, etc.). Meanwhile, cultural organizations are characterized as specialized places of expertise that provide selected kinds of experiences and services to the public – normally available for consumption during leisure time. This article argues that the heart of living culture is to be found not in specialized types of objects, leisure-time experiences, ethnocultural traditions, or cultural organizations but, rather, in its processes of human adaptation in a changing world. The author uses the lens of culture to examine how humanity understands and attempts to manage change within its sphere of influence. How can we best measure the cultural well-being of our societies, our organizations, and ourselves? The overarching notion of global/local sustainability provides the grounding point for considering how best to foster a 'culture of sustainability‘.

- by Macia Blazquez-Salom
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- Development Studies, Sustainability Indicators, Tourism Geography, Majorca

Citation: Malek, J.A.; Lim, S.B.; Yigitcanlar, T. Social Inclusion Indicators for Building Citizen-Centric Smart Cities: A Systematic Literature Review. Sustainability 2021, 13, 376.
Abstract: Despite the rhetoric of "citizen-first," which has been tokenized in recent years by the smart city administrations, what it means has long been unclear to many, including the public at large. Put simply, this rhetoric concerns the mindset of the members of a local community and places them at the heart of the smart city initiatives. In order to bring further clarity to this issue under the current neoliberal urbanism, this study aimed to identify the key indicators of citizen-centric smart cities from the perspective of participative governance practices and citizens' responsibilities. To achieve this aim, this study involved a systematic literature review of the social inclusion indicators for building citizen-centric smart cities. The social inclusion indicators that were formed were verified by practitioners to suit the local contexts of an emerging and developing country, in this case, Malaysia. The findings of the review revealed that: (a) the acceptance of social inclusion indicators was mainly limited to the realm of democratic developed countries, leaders' understanding of citizenship, the delegation of decision-making power in governance practices, the participative culture of societies, and individual citizens' self-discipline; (b) the social inclusion indicators may not be welcomed in emerging and developing countries; (c) in the long term, these indicators would shed light on the rise of self-organizing cities that will gain popularity in potential city developments, be it in developed or developing countries.

- by Seng Boon Lim
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- Social Indicators, Sustainability Indicators, Urban Planning, Urbanism

O estudo se trata de pesquisa bibliométrica, com intuito de identificar o estado da arte sobre índices de desenvolvimentos sustentáveis em municípios a partir de atividades científicas ou técnicas desenvolvidas
e publicadas no Portal de Periódicos da Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES). Buscou-se analisar os termos diretamente compreendidos neste estudo – índice e indicadores – que por muitos são utilizados erroneamente como sinônimos. Os itens considerados relevantes e tabulados
durante a pesquisa foram: tipo de trabalho científico, instituição acadêmica e localidade (UF) do(s) autor(es); ano de publicação do
trabalho, a cidade a que a publicação se refere e o periódico em que foi publicado.

Natural resources are limited. The circular economy is one of several different concepts that has been useful in the quest to understand how resources can be used most efficiently. It proposes that closing loops and repeatedly using resources has the potential to procure maximum eco-efficiency. To track society's progress towards a circular economy, indicators and measures are needed. The majority of these aim to capture the circularity of resource flows, yet fail to simultaneously consider the length of time for which a resource is in use. More recently, a longevity indicator has been proposed, but similarly, it fails to take into account how many times a resource is used. Both longevity and circularity are needed for sustainable resource use, but to date, no measure that combines both approaches is in use. Based on existing measures we develop and further develop indicators for both circularity and longevity that focus on the contribution that organisations and other resource users make to the sustainability of resource use. By combining both indicators we enhance their explanatory power.

- by Frank Figge and +2
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- Corporate Social Responsibility, Social Indicators, Ecological Economics, Sustainability Indicators

An organization's long-term viability and competitiveness should not be evaluated solely in terms of financial measures. Investors, policy makers, and other stakeholders increasingly seek to evaluate performance with respect to sustainability -the environmental, social, and economic performance of an organization. But measuring and improving the sustainability performance of supply chains is challenging. We introduce a framework to help evaluate sustainability performance of supply chains. We have collected sustainability data on food supply chains within the United Kingdom. These data are then transformed into indicators. In addition, as part of this benchmarking framework and to more accurately determine performance of food supply chains, we have utilized food supply chain experts' opinions about which factors contribute the most to sustainability. Using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), these opinions are translated into importance ratings. The indicators are weighted by these importance ratings to generate an overall index of sustainability. Stakeholders can use the index to evaluate supply chains, and supply chain members can use this approach to guide improvement efforts.

- by Natalia Yakovleva
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- Food Systems, Sustainability Indicators, Food Supply Chain

The Global Affairs Canada suite of Results-Based Management guides, tools and checklists are among the most practical guides available for the design, management, monitoring and results reporting for projects funded by any international agency. And, of course, they are essential for anyone bidding on or implementing projects funded by Global Affairs Canada. As strong as the project-level RBM guides are, however, the agency-wide results framework for GAC is surprisingly weak. This article reviews the most recent changes made to the GAC RBM system between 2016-2020, considers how flexible the GAC Results-Based Management system is, in practice, and looks at the state of agency-wide Global Affairs Canada results reporting, in early 2021.

- by Greg Armstrong
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- Sustainability Indicators, Project Risk Management, Canada, Project Planning

Cite this paper: Bartniczak B., Raszkowski A.: Environmental education and ecological awareness – Polish experience, in: The Impact of Economic Actors’ Decision-making on Socio-economic Development, Pohulak-Żołędowska E. ( ed. ), WUEB, Wroclaw 2020, ISBN 9788376958101, ss. 68-81. For the purposes of this study it can be adopted that education represents the system of learning, acquiring knowledge, skills and attitudes. Education can be divided into a formal and a non-formal one. Formal education stands for the process conducted in educational institutions, such as kindergartens, schools, universities and carried out in the form of professional trainings, based on the developed core curriculum. Non-formal education is a lifelong learning process, as it commences at birth, with its first sources being the family and the immediate milieu. Non-formal education can be provided by institutions, organizations, foundations, NGOs and governmental associations through campaigns and social actions. At this point it is important to observe that today the media, including the Internet in particular, remain a very strong and dominant source of non-formal education.

- by Andrzej Raszkowski
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- Management, Marketing, Environmental Engineering, Landscape Ecology

It is generally recognised that indicator-based research forms a substantial part both of the everyday practice and of the current theoretical pursuits in an extensive set of different scientific fields that relate to the socio-economic and the environmental sphere. However, the lack of an endogenous indicator's theory hinders the enhancement of indicator's research into an autonomous scientific field and subdues the indicators study to the broader ecological, social, or economic context. Thus, scientists are often bounded to the study of indicators within their specialisation area, as evidenced by the very limited number of interdisciplinary studies on the use of indicators that have been published. Based on this deficiency of the current literature, the paper elaborates on the use of indicators in the socio-economic and the environmental area, focusing on fields in which indicators are essential to their practice. Namely, the paper reviews quality-of-life, macroeconomic, environmental, welfare and sustainability indicators in order to detect similarities and differences, pertain to their practice and to the theoretical frameworks in which indicators are utilised. The study concludes that quality-of-life, welfare and sustainability indicators are supported by weak theoretical foundations, as a result to the choice of the respective fields to exploit the possible benefits of an empirical interdisciplinary perspective, a fact that leads the use of indicators to methodological inconsistencies. In contrast, macroeconomic and environmental indicators are supported by a coherent theoretical body, which is reflected in their well-organised structure and leads to their sound practice. Last but not least, the study suggests that the way the aforementioned two fields utilise indicators can provide useful guidance to the formation of future objectives in the quality-of-life, welfare and sustainability indicators’ research. Specifically, their corresponding fields should moderate their interest on composite indicators and, instead, their future research should be focused, so much on the identification of their field's key indicators that play a crucial role to the interpretation of the complex phenomena studied, as on the identification of the relationships that link these key indicators together.

- by Ioannis Pissourios
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- Environmental Science, Welfare Economics, Macroeconomics, Threshold concepts

L’articolo si propone di illustrare l’attuale critica al modello dominante di sviluppo, incentrato sulla crescita della produzione, in favore di un nuovo concetto di progresso sociale e ambientale basato sul benessere sostenibile delle persone.
A tal fine, nella prima parte del lavoro si presenteranno alcuni indicatori di sviluppo alternativi o integrativi del Prodotto Interno Lordo (PIL) che consentono di inserire la valutazione della qualità ambientale in quella economica e sociale; nella seconda parte si metterà in luce il ruolo centrale svolto nella determinazione del progresso dalle fonti rinnovabili e dall’efficienza energetica, in quanto fattori capaci di coniugare le istanze della tutela dell’ambiente con quelle della crescita economica, valorizzando il capitale complessivo (naturale, umano, sociale e fisico) da cui le società traggono le risorse per costruire il proprio benessere.

- by serena rugiero
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- Sociology, Economic Sociology, Welfare State, Sustainability Indicators

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) aims at encouraging changes
required to promote sustainable development. Sustainable development includes
three dimensions, i.e. social and economic developments, along with environmental
protection, each one involving several interacting variables. Therefore,
adequate tools are required to help monitor and evaluate those changes with
regard to ESD at local, national and regional levels. Within this perspective,
monitoring and assessment instruments related to ESD indicators are relevant to
clarify which educational approaches are necessary (in particular, in formal education)
and to evaluate the quality of these approaches in terms of their relevance
to promote sustainable development. As the integration of ESD in formal education
and in each geopolitical context has been recognized as important, it is vital
to clarify the meaning of ESD indicators (ESDI), as well as the criteria underlying
their selection. By allowing evaluation the extent to which education, in each
particular subject, is aligned within ESD perspectives, the use of ESD indicators
is crucial to help implement the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). In this
chapter, the purposes and meanings attributed to ESDI are analyzed, the criteria
adopted by some countries and regions are outlined to help select a set of ESDI
for the European geopolitical context, specifically for the formal science education
sector. These ESDI selected are meant to be used by educational policy
makers, science curriculum developers, science teacher educators, science teachers,
school leaders and researchers, specially in countries where ESDI indicators
have not yet been developed. Therefore they are regarded as a starting point to
assess and monitor progress in ESD that would be adjusted and improved as they
are used and evaluated through research.

Business and human rights indicators, ratings and indices have proliferated in the past few years. Yet, measuring respect for human rights by corporations is not an easy task. This article offers an overview of the most prominent business and human rights measurement initiatives and draws attention to the normative, methodological, practical and political challenges related to the production of valid and emancipatory measures of corporate respect for human rights. The objective is to move the debate forward, from the if (should we use indicators?) to the how (how to create better initiatives?).

Il presente capitolo tratterà di alcune esperienze, sia europee che italiane, concernenti la gestione, da parte delle pubbliche amministrazioni, del possibile ruolo di strumenti innovativi nella gestione del flusso informativo/comunicativo, con particolare riguardo verso tematiche tendenti ad incrementare processi di sostenibilità, sia attraverso politiche di integrazione delle nuove tecnologie con i mezzi tradizionali si con politiche volte ad incrementare l’efficienza della macchina amministrativa, la sua trasparenza e a processi democratici sempre più allargati.
Il tentativo è volto, quindi a ricercare quelle condizioni che possono promuovere una politica tendente alla sostenibilità economica e sociale.
Da un punto di vista generale si distinguono quattro tipologie di approccio nelle politiche urbane e volte a favorire l’accesso alla ICT da parte del maggior numero di cittadini. Ovvero:
1. un approccio strutturato sulla creazione di punti di accesso alla ICT, ed in particolare accesso ad internet;
2. fornitura, gratuita, di accesso ad internet operata attraverso gli edifici pubblici;
3. fornitura, a carattere gratuito per tutti, dell’accesso ad internet;
4. fornitura dell’accesso ad internet operata a carattere locale e su porzioni di territorio, in particolare le periferie, dove maggiori sono i divari sociali ed economici.
Nel seguito verranno analizzate le differenti esperienze europee che daranno una sintesi delle applicazioni della ICT nell’ambito locale.

- by antonio caperna
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- Sustainability Indicators, Sustainable Development, Urban Planning, ICT

Giving a perspective on recent publications such as the Monitoring Manual & Menu from the University of Sydney, the new CBR Indicators Manual from WHO and the package for Participatory Inclusion Evaluation. Questions addressed: How do we choose indicators for our projects? How do we measure Disability? How do we measure Impact? How do we choose measuring tools?

- by Johan Velema and +1
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- Participatory Research, Disability Studies, Social Indicators, Sustainability Indicators

Background: This paper presents a review of the literature and trends related to social values and sustainable development and describes a set of case studies from a variety of community-based projects which illustrate the advantages that social values bring about as part of efforts to promote sustainability. Three approaches were used to develop this study: a bibliometric analysis of the topic "social values and sustainable development", an analysis of case studies that concretely present 1 community projects addressing social values and sustainability, and the development of a framework linking up bibliometric clusters and the cases studies. Results: While the bibliometric analysis revealed clusters where social values are strongly connected with sustainable development, the case studies indicated the lack of a common terminology and understanding of the relation between social values, sustainable development, and community-based projects. Conclusions: The study concludes by suggesting a set of measures that could be deployed to better take social values into account when planning policies or making decisions related to community projects.

- by Todd LeVasseur and +1
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- Community Development, Sustainability Indicators, Sustainable Development, Environmental Sustainability

Achieving sustainable, equitable and resilient societies is humankind’s challenge for the 21st century. In pursuit of this ambition, the international development community needs a shared, universal framework to work more closely together. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the obvious answer, but a number of technical, political and organisational challenges prevent development co-operation providers from using them as their common results framework. Based on seven case studies, this publication identifies two critical factors and one game changer that can help overcome those challenges. First, country leadership needs to be supported by the international community. Second, development partners need to change their set-ups in order to deliver on the SDGs. Finally, by forcing governments and development partners to reset their long-term strategies and rethink their internal systems, the COVID-19 pandemic provides them with a rare opportunity to use the SDG framework collectively as a roadmap to recovery: this can be a game changer.

Indicators-based projects are currently central to many local, city-wide, national and international sustainability initiatives. The quantitative basis of many such projects means that achieving sustainability through them is often undertaken as a technical task. The size, scope and sheer number of indicators included within many such projects means that they are often unwieldy and resist effective implementation. Arguably, the techno-scientific ‘edge’ inherent in them tends to blur the possibilities for bringing into question the structures of power and criteria by which values are translated into practice. It limits the way that a community may use indicators to support sustainable practices or to challenge unsustainable practices. The article discusses some of the methodological issues that arise when setting out to develop and implement qualitative indicators of sustainability that incorporate some quantitative metrics. This alternative approach involves people in actively learning and negotiating over how best to put sustainability into practice. The aim of such a research method is to engage citizens in the job of achieving sustainability as a task of itself, undertaken on terms acceptable to them in the context of the communities in which they live.
Key words: sustainability, community, qualitative and quantitative research, mixed methods, indicators.

- by Paul James and +1
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- Development Studies, Social Indicators, Sustainability Indicators, Sustainable Development

Over the past 10 years, firms, government and the public have increasingly focused on measurement tools to assess the environmental aspects of sustainability. While there are numerous lists of environmental performance indicators (see, for example, International Organizations for Standardization's ISO 14301, Global Reporting Initiative, and World Business Council for Sustainable Development), these lists provide little insight into how firms might revise the indicators they currently have to more accurately measure sustainability. The Lowell Center for Sustainable Production at the University of Massachusetts Lowell has developed a tool to enable companies to evaluate the effectiveness of sustainability indicator systems. The tool includes a framework that consists of five levels for categorizing existing indicators relative to the basic principles of sustainability. The purpose of the framework is not to rank indicators as better or worse, but rather to provide a method to evaluate the ability of a set of indicators to inform decision-making and measure progress toward more sustainable systems of production. In its current state, the framework focuses on environmental, health and safety aspects of production. Work is underway to expand it to include social and economic aspects. 

- by Vesela Veleva
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- Sustainability Indicators
- by Natalia Yakovleva
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- Sustainability Indicators

Sustainability of the open pit mining and technical system (MTS) is one of its key goals in the changing conditions of the external and internal environment. All MTS’s subsystems must function in concert to achieve this goal. The structure of the MTS is formed by many subsystems and elements, which are evaluated by a significant number of indicators. A comprehensive assessment of the MTS for all possible indicators is a complex and time-consuming task. However, each subsystem and element of the MTS has a different effect on the sustainability of this system. The MTS’s parameters change significantly during transition periods, for example, at a new stage of open-pit mining or when switching to an open-underground method of developing mineral deposits. The MTS’s sustainability declines during the transition periods. Changes in the parameters of technological processes during these periods can have a negative impact on the state of the economic and social subsystems of mining enterpris...

Neighbourhoods are increasingly gaining attention as planning units of great potential for contribution to sustainable development. Many assessment tools such as LEED-ND, BREEAM Communities and CASBEE-UD have been developed to examine the sustainability of neighbourhood development projects. Some of these tools are claimed to be suitable for assessment in different contexts, and LEED-ND has already been utilised in various countries. This study investigates the viability of using global standards through a series of comparative case studies. One certified case from each of the aforementioned tools is chosen and evaluated against its non-corresponding assessment tools. Selected cases are, respectively, Hoyt Yards, MediaCityUK and Koshigaya Lake Town. Results of this study provide evidence that casts doubt on the viability of using global standards. The paper concludes that neighbourhood sustainability assessment should be regarded as a pluralistic practice. This implies that any realistic and reliable assessment should take account of the specificities of specific locations and varying needs of different stakeholders.

Residential housing is often evaluated against single or at best a limited number of similar criteria. These include quantifiable indicators such as energy use and its associated greenhouse gas emissions. It might also include material consumption from an embodied energy or resource use perspective. Social factors or qualitative indicators may be evaluated but are rarely placed or juxtaposed alongside these quantifiable indicators. A one-dimensional approach will be limiting because sustainable development includes both environmental and social factors. This paper describes the methodologies that have been developed to assess housing developments against five quite different criteria. These are: energy use, resource use, neighbourhood character, neighbourhood connectedness and diversity. In each case, high and low sustainability practice has been identified so that ranking is possible. These methodologies have then been tested by evaluating a typical precinct (approximately 400 m by...

- by Huei-Min Tsai
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- Sustainability Indicators