Resources on Sustainability and Indicators

Provided by Maureen Hart and Kirvil Skinnarland, January 4, 2006

The following resources could be useful to the AWGESC participants as they continue to work on developing more sustainable cities and measure progress towards that goal.

Sources for Information on Sustainability Principles and Indicators:

  1. Bellagio Principles– A set of principles developed by an international group of practitioners and researches to serve asa guideline for the process of assessing sustainable development including the choice and design of indicators, their interpretation and communication of the result. The Principles are intended for use in starting and improving assessment activities of community groups, non-government organizations, corporations, national governments, and international institutions. Specific URLs related to the Bellagio Principles include:
  2. – information about the principles in general
  3. – the full list of the principles
  4. - Assessing Sustainable Development: Principles in Practice. by Peter Hardi, Terrence Zdan, IISD, 1997. Case studies of how the Bellagio Principles have been applied in a number of specific instances of developing indicators of sustainable development.
  1. Sustainable Water Resources Roundtable (SWRR) – one of four natural resource roundtables in the USA. The Water Roundtable is developing indicators of sustainable water resource use and management in a collaborative effort involving several levels of government (national, regional and local), corporate and non-government organizations. The Roundtable is “an open forum for exchanging ideas and information to foster collaboration on ways to manage water resources in such a way that the resource and its uses may be sustained over the long term. Roundtable participants are committed to interdisciplinary, inter-jurisdictional, and cross-ownership collaboration that identifies and supports national, state, and field-level activities to sustain water resources. Roundtable discussions and activities will focus in part on criteria, indicators, and methods for assessing the sustainability of water resources, as well as exploring, promoting, and improving how this information is used to promote sustainable water resource management.” Specific URLs related to the SWRR include:
  2. - the main page of the web site
  3. – the conceptual framework used by the SWRR in developing their indicators
  4. – a powerpoint presentation describing the overall structure of the SWRR indicator system.
  5. – the September 2005 preliminary report of the Roundtable including the draft set of indicators for sustainable water resource use and management.
  1. International Sustainability Indicators Network (ISIN) – a network of people and organizations around the world that are working on sustainability indicators
  1. Guide to Sustainable Community Indicators. Maureen Hart. 1999. The guide explains both sustainability and indicators, and encourages the reader to begin to use indicators or improve indicators already in use. The audience for the guide includes people working on community economic development, grassroots activists, municipal and state agency staff, nonprofit organizations, and businesses both large and small. Most of the material in the hardcopy as well as a training manual is available online at http:.// A copy of this is being sent directly to a number of the participants who expressed interest in receiving it. Additional copies could be made available if it were thought to be useful although if the number desired was more than a few, it would help to have at least the shipping costs covered.
  1. International Institute for Sustainable Development in Canada maintains a database of indicator projects. It is called a compendium and can be searched by keywords. At present, there are about 700 entries. Some entries for projects are out of date and some are current. Since, it is a voluntary program, it is up to program sponsors to update their information. The URL is

Sources for Information About Designing Measurement Programs

These are resources that provide detailed guidance about how to design effective measurement and evaluation programs.

  1. Sustainability Institute. This institute was founded and run by Donella Meadows until her death in 2001. She was one of the most visionary leaders of the sustainability movement and she was an expert in systems thinking. She wrote an excellent report about indicators and sustainable development. You can download a copy for free at Click on Tools and Resources in the left hand column, then on Papers, then scroll down until you get to the report titled: Indicators and Information Systems for Sustainable Development, Donella Meadows, September 1998, This report can be downloaded at
  1. Urban Institute. This is a large non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. It has a large program called the National Neighborhood Indicators Program (NNIP). Their website has a list of publications that can be downloaded for free. A good one is Building and Operating Neighborhood Indicator Systems: A Guidebook, G. Thomas Kingsley, March 1999.

On the home page for NNIP, you’ll see a list of partners. These are the local programs from around the country that are part of the program, and include some of the best indicator programs in the U.S. The URL is

  1. The Kellog Foundation’s Logic Model. The Kellogg Foundation funded the preparation of a logic model guide that helps you to understand how to use measurement tools to evaluate programs. It is called The Logic Model Development Guide, W.K.

Kellogg Foundation, December 2001. This report can be downloaded at Look under publications.

Our Favorite Indicator Programs

There are many cities and states that have developed measurement programs. Many of these programs have been developed by grassroots organizations and are only loosely linked to the governance structure of the cities. However, there are some that sponsored and managed within government agencies. These programs could provide useful models to the AWGESC.

Many of the government sponsored programs include both measures of the effectiveness of their programs (performance measures) as well as measures of outcomes at the citywide or statewide level (system condition indicators).

Here are some of our favorites:

Sponsored by Government:

Santa Monica, California -

Santa Monica has had sustainabilty indicators for over 10 years and is tracking results on a regular basis in the areas of Resource Conservation, Environmental and Public Health, Transportation, Economic Development, Open Space and Land Use, Housing, Community Education and Participation, Human Dignity

San Diego, California -

San Diego has indicators for measuring progress in a number of areas includingtraffic, safety, energy use, water use and quality, income and civic engagement.

King County, Washington, Department of Natural Resources, Measuring for Results Program,

This is an excellent example of a local natural resources agency using performance measures to help improve its programs to protect natural resources.

Oregon Benchmarks Program

This is a statewide, comprehensive set of indicators used by the state government of Oregon. This program has been in existence for many years.

City of Seattle, Environmental Action Agenda

The City of Seattle is working to ‘green’ its own operations as a city government as well as to improve environmental quality in the city. This action agenda describes and programs and activities, and the measures to evaluate results.

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada – Vision 2020 –

Includes indicators and actions in the area of solid waste, energy, air, natural areas, land use and transportation.

Port Phillip Sustainable Community Progress Indicators, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

List of indicators in economic, social, environmental and cultural aspects and what the city council is doing about things.

Sponsored by Civic Organizations alone, or Partnerships with Government

Jacksonville Indicators Program

This is the oldest indicator program in the United States. It covers a small region in the State of Florida. Their indicators are comprehensive and are designed to monitor trends in overall quality of life.

Boston Indicators Program

This program is a partnership between the Boston Foundation, the City of Boston government, and two other regional governments. They have a large and comprehensive set of indicators. They are at the forefront of the field in using indicators as a basis for developing a shared civic agenda for the Bostonregion. This civic agenda is based on the trends in the indicators and is the result of extensive participation by citizens in all sectors (business, government, civic).

Pittsburgh Indicators Program

This is a newer program that is very promising. They have a comprehensive set of indicators. Their reports are worth looking at because they provide a good example of how to explain results.

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