Is there a method in our measurement? The use of indicators in local sustainable development planning

Brugmann, Jeb

doi:10.1080/13549839708725512

Cited by 103 publications

(60 citation statements)

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“…Moreover, this approach discourages solutions that build on synergies and symbiosis (Birkeland, 2007, p. 4). These arguments are also valid for many larger-scale applications of indicator systems, as discussed by Bossel (1998), Brugmann (1999 and Meadows (1999). Kohler (2002) raises a number of shortcomings about a formulaic approach to sustainability based on metrics and checklists.…”

Section: A Profitable Sustainabilitymentioning

confidence: 75%

Towards a regenerative paradigm for the built environment

Plessis

2012

Building Research & Information

219

155

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The concept of regenerative design and development is situated within the broader theoretical context of sustainability. The emerging regenerative paradigm is contrasted with the two current sustainability paradigms -internationally negotiated 'idealistic' public policy and private sector 'Ecological Modernization' -that seek to maintain the status quo. Each of these sustainability paradigms is explained though a brief historical narrative to illustrate their response to broader social pressures, the main critiques of each and some commonalities. It is argued that the dominant sustainability paradigms are reaching the limitations of their usefulness due to their conceptual foundation in an inappropriate mechanistic worldview and their tacit support of a modernization project that prevents effective engagement with a complex, dynamic and living world. The regenerative paradigm provides an alternative that is explicitly designed to engage with a living world through its emphasis on a co-creative partnership with nature based on strategies of adaptation, resilience and regeneration. It provides a foundation for a sustainability paradigm that is relevant to an ecological worldview.

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Section: A Profitable Sustainabilitymentioning

confidence: 75%

Towards a regenerative paradigm for the built environment

Plessis

2012

Building Research & Information

219

155

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“…It is important that project outcomes feed into sustainable development policy and this should include an assessment of performance on the part of implementing agencies (Brugmann, 1997b;Guy and Kibert, 1998). Learning in itself does not necessarily lead to change (Brugmann, 1997a), but it was noticeable in both the Malta and Lebanon projects that no frustration set in amongst participants, even though the eventual usage of the SIs generated as an output is, at the time of writing, uncertain.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Delivering sustainability therapy in sustainable development projects

Bell

Morse

2005

Journal of Environmental Management

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This paper explores the apparent contradiction between the 'linearity' of most Sustainable Development projects, with time-bound and defined outputs achieved at a fixed cost, and an implied 'circularity' of the theory whereby there is no 'end'. Projects usually have clear parameters within which they are implemented, and the inclusion of elements such as the need for accountability, measurable impact and 'value for money' have grown in importance. It could be argued that we live in a 'projectified' and therefore linear world. The paper explores the potential contradiction between 'linearity' and 'circularity', and suggests that one way around this is to frame the project within a form of the Kolb Learning Cycle heuristic. This will facilitate a rationalisation from those implementing the sustainable development project as to why decisions are being made and for whom. If these questions are opened up to the project stakeholders, including beneficiaries, then the Kolb cycle could encourage learning and understanding by all involved. It could also provide Sustainability Therapy to those trapped in processes which they find orthogonal to their own perceptions. It is suggested that such learning, therapy and reflective practice should be a valid output of the sustainable development project, although typically the focus is only upon the final outputs and how they feed into policy. Ironically funders would be well advised to take a broader perspective in order to achieve true 'value for money' within such projects, even if learning is not an easily measurable or tangible outcome. These points are explored within the context of the wider literature and experience with a sustainable development project undertaken in Malta.

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“…A multitude of works on the environment and sustainability employ the term 'local', but the vast majority of such works do not engage with the recent developments in the politics of scale. As Saha's (2009) review suggests, most research on local sustainability governance (4) focuses on how sustainability has been adopted at the local scale, including through the use of tools such as indicators (Brugman, 1997;Holman, 2009;Rydin et al, 2003;Turcu, 2012). As Marvin and Guy (1997, page 312) note, " [c]onceptually, the local is seen as a socio-spatial container in which the sum of institutional, social and physical relations necessary to achieve a more sustainable future can be found.…”

Section: The Rise Of Local Sustainabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Scalar Politics and Local Sustainability: Rethinking Governance and Justice in an Era of Political and Environmental Change

Lawhon

Patel

2013

Environ Plann C Gov Policy

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Abstract. The local was institutionalised as a key scale for environmental action at the Earth Summit, and remains salient in discourse, policy, and action. However, given both real changes and geographical insights into the politics of scale in the past twenty years, we suggest it is time to (re)consider this focus. We assess local sustainability through the lens of scalar politics, arguing for the need to consider what challenges particular scale frames foreground and which they silence. We focus on three changes which have occurred in the last twenty years-the growing salience of the Global South, shifts from environmentalism to sustainability, and new governance patterns-and reflect on the significance of these changes for local sustainability. We suggest the local frame occludes questions of international responsibility and justice, and that the changes since Rio require that we reconsider the scalar frame of local sustainability. We conclude by questioning who benefits from the local frame, and when, where, and for whom a focus on local sustainability may be relevant and ethical.

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Is there a method in our measurement? The use of indicators in local sustainable development planning

Cited by 103 publications

References 1 publication

Towards a regenerative paradigm for the built environment

Towards a regenerative paradigm for the built environment

Delivering sustainability therapy in sustainable development projects

Scalar Politics and Local Sustainability: Rethinking Governance and Justice in an Era of Political and Environmental Change

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