Indicators of Sustainable Development

by Alan AtKisson

INTRODUCTION

Regions and cities in the United States and around the world are developing new tools and strategies for linking the environment, and social equity to economic development.  It is increasingly recognized that overall quality of life is best measured where these intersect. 

Traditionally, indicators of economic performance are given precedence as the bellwethers of prosperity, whereas measures of long-term sustainability take a more holistic view of overall community.  For example, for much of the past, it was assumed that environmental progress and economic development were at odds.  Often, it was thought that environmental progress generated costs that came at the expense of wealth generation, industrial expansion, and jobs.  But, today, the environment and social equity issues are increasingly seen as a key element of economic development.  Across the world, many regions have sought to unify their economic development, social, and environmental agendas under the rubric, "sustainable development."

To both help motivate and monitor their ongoing efforts, regions are developing new measures, indicators and benchmarking systems - referred to as sustainability indicators - to chart their progress toward joint economic, social, and environmental goals.  Sustainable Pittsburgh recently identified more than 150 indicator projects across the United States, 35 of which were notable projects in large regions.

WHAT ARE INDICATORS?

Indicators of sustainability -- clear and compelling measures of key trends in the economy, environment, social systems, and human well-being, all graphically presented -- have emerged over the last ten years as a “best practice” for understanding and managing change at every level, from neighborhoods to nations. 

Indicators are tools for education, accountability, and strategic planning.  They provide feedback to both decision-makers and the public at large about past trends that are shaping the future. By bringing many different kinds of trends together in one broad picture, sustainability indicators often reveal systemic linkages that may previously have been overlooked.  They sound alarms and reflect success.  They make better and smarter decisions possible. 

 ABOUT SUSTAINABILITY

Since the 1987 publication of the seminal book, Our Common Future, “sustainable development” has emerged as the most widely-accepted framework for thinking about humanity’s progress.  Sustainability means “able to continue over the long term.”  In practice, that means having a coherent and integrated vision of environmental, economic, social, and individual well-being.  Thinking about sustainability helps us to create a positive vision of the future and to understand how all these dimensions are linked together -- and indicators help us to think about sustainability.

 ABOUT INDICATORS

Indicators are not a new invention.  From your fuel gauge to your doctor’s thermometer to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, we are surrounded by indicators every day.  Indicators translate changes in a complex system into a simple signal -- usually graphic or numeric -- that you can understand and respond to.  They help focus on what’s important. They alert us to the existence of a problem in time to prevent it from becoming a disaster.  And they can tell us, over time, whether what we are doing is making a positive difference or not.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF SUSTAINABILITY INDICATORS

The 1960s and early 70s saw the brief rise and fall of the “Urban Quality Indicators” movement in the United States.  The movement came and went because (1) it was too difficult and too expensive to manage the necessary data with the technology of the time, and (2) the practice was too closely identified with the liberal politics of the time, rather than with objective assessment.

In the 1990s, the rise of the information age, coupled with a rising (and far less partisan) concern for sustainable development, gave birth to the more successful “sustainability indicators movement.”  Personal computers, desktop publishing, and the web made it possible to manage complex data and present it in a compelling and readable format.  The focus on objective performance assessment, in the context of sustainable development, depoliticized indicators and placed them firmly in the realm of standard management practice.

A volunteer civic project called “Sustainable Seattle” introduced the concept of sustainability indicators for a metropolitan region with a pioneering report in 1993.  They were inspired by Jacksonville, Florida’s “Quality of Life” measures and the State of Oregon’s growth-oriented “Benchmarks.”  The volunteers of Sustainable Seattle were seeking to do something different:  measure progress towards true sustainability, or “long-term cultural, economic, and environmental health and vitality.”

Over the next several years, an explosion of indicator activity followed, with many projects (including the White House Sustainable Development Indicators Group) modeling themselves on the Seattle effort. Today, there are sustainability indicator projects -- sometimes using other words, such as “legacy” or “livability” or “healthy community” -- all over the world, in hundreds of towns, cities, counties, regions and states.

HOW SUSTAINABILITY INDICATORS ARE PRODUCED

Because they are multi-sectoral and inter-disciplinary, indicators of sustainability are always produced by relatively large teams of people, whose work is facilitated by a smaller coordinating group.

Most often, some public involvement process is also used to help define a sustainability vision, set goals, and identify potential measures.

At the level of local governments or regions, successful indicator projects get started in one of two ways:

(1) A civic coalition, outside of government but usually including government representatives, brings people together to start the process and carry it through to the publication of a first report.  After that, the project is sometimes housed for the long term in a trusted civic institution, and sometimes adopted by government.

(2) A forward-thinking government leader or agency initiates the project, but includes a highly participatory civic involvement process as part of the design, so that the final product is seen as being more than just a government report.

The production of an indicator report always requires a careful balance between complex technical data and clear public communication -- the world of science, and the world of politics and public relations.  Those in the lead of the project need to be comfortable in both worlds, and good at facilitating cooperation between them.

THE POWER OF INDICATORS

Indicators get results.  Sometimes the chain of events that ties the production of indicators to actual changes in a society can be very hard to see -- but that is precisely the power of indicators.  They promote change without seeming to do very much themselves.

This is because indicators change consciousness and culture.  Academic research has revealed that the mere process of developing indicators can change the way people think, talk, and act.  The process of developing indicators of human rights abuses, for example, changed the culture of the U.S. Department of State by making staff people far more aware of the issue.  Developing the Sustainable Seattle indicators led, indirectly, to the incorporation of sustainability ideas and language into that city’s comprehensive plan -- and the eventual creation of an Office of Sustainability in city government.

Indicators do not take the place of action, but they make the need for action far more visible.  In time, they become like an instrument on a dashboard -- something you reference automatically as you drive.  Eventually, and sometimes rather quickly, indicators become part of the basic structure of social reality -- like the telephone, a technology that you hardly notice, but use every day.  The Dow Jones Average, the Unemployment Rate, and the Gross Domestic Product are all fundamental to public thinking about the economy, shaping policy and opinion and action. Yet each of these indicators was once a bold new invention that few people understood.

Having the right sustainability indicator set is like having the right dashboard.  A good one helps us steer a course to better future, one we can be proud to pass on to the next generation.  Without it, we’re just flying by the seat of our pants.

A FEW CURRENT EXAMPLES

New Jersey Future -- With the strong endorsement of Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, this non-governmental but high-profile group produced a “Sustainable State” indicator report that quickly became a guiding document for the state’s planning efforts and the government’s internal performance evaluation.

Seattle and King County, Washington -- Since the publication of the ground-breaking “Sustainable Seattle” report, indicators have become common practice in both city and county government, and Sustainable Seattle has worked extensively with King County managers to provide training and facilitation on their development and application.

Orlando/Orange County, Florida -- A new kind of indicator report, designed by members of the same team that designed the original Sustainable Seattle project, has just been completed.  Called the “Compass Index of Sustainability,” it combines indicators into a simple compass-like display that show whether trends in Nature, Economy, Society, and Well-Being are moving toward or away from sustainability -- and how far they are from that goal.

United Nations -- The Commission on Sustainable Development has a comprehensive list of indicators that many nations are using to design their own national sustainability indicator reports.

The Corporate Sector -- More and more companies, from Nike to Interface, are starting to produce annual “Sustainability Reports” and a large international project called the “Global Reporting Initiative” is developing standards for corporate sustainability indicators.  Even Dow Jones now publishes a “Dow Jones Sustainability Index” of companies based on their financial and sustainability performance.

AN ADVANCING FIELD

While many cities, regions, states and companies are just getting started on sustainability indicators, the field has now been around long enough that rapid innovation is constantly taking place. 

The web is revolutionizing access to information.  New methods for aggregating indicators -- turning tables of data and catalogs of charts into simpler numbers and web-based displays -- are being developed by international think-tanks and consultancies.  New database technologies are making it possible to survey reams of information and distill it down into multiple simpler formats. 

The innovation is human as well as technical, as people learn to use indicators in more sophisticated ways.  Assessment tools are being developed to help make major investment decisions.  Software packages allow people to plug in data and consider multiple possible futures for their communities, based on which course of action they take.

In a relatively short time, sustainability indicators have become a new standard practice, especially at the level of local and regional government.  In years to come, they will become increasingly central:  just as economic indicators now guide economic decision making, sustainability indicators will guide planning, policy, and performance.

And the result, if all goes well, will be greater sustainability:  clean environments, prosperous economies, strong societies, healthy and fulfilled people.