COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE APPROACH TO DEVELOPING URBAN SUSTAINABILITY INDICATORS

Ainhoa Gonzalez (), Alison Donnelly (), Mike Jones (), Judith Klostermann (), Annemarie Groot () and Margaretha Breil
Additional contact information
Ainhoa Gonzalez: School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
Alison Donnelly: School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
Mike Jones: School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
Judith Klostermann: Wageningen University and Research Centre, The Netherlands
Annemarie Groot: Wageningen University and Research Centre, The Netherlands

Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management (JEAPM), 2011, vol. 13, issue 04, 591-617

Abstract: In the urban context the quest to enhance economic growth and social well-being is challenged by the need to protect and manage natural resources. In order to promote sustainable urban planning, sustainability objectives are commonly embedded into planning policies, and the associated indicators used to evaluate planning interventions and monitor implementation of such objectives. The applicability of indicators is commonly tied in to their ability to address context-specific issues and monitor progress towards definite goals set at the local level. This paper presents the findings of a participative methodology applied in five European cities to develop a set of sustainability indicators with the aim of optimising their applicability for assessing planning alternatives affecting urban metabolism (i.e. the exchange of materials and energy within cities). The results indicate that engagement of researchers and practitioners through Communities of Practice (CoP) helped bridge the gap between science and practice, and facilitated the selection of consistent and meaningful indicators to be used as a tool for decision-making. However, the results also revealed that planning priorities can significantly shape the extent and scope of sustainability indicators, and that a CoP approach may not always be sufficient to guarantee continuity of collaboration.

Keywords: Communities of practice; indicators; sustainability; urban planning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S1464333211004024
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wsi:jeapmx:v:13:y:2011:i:04:n:s1464333211004024

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from

DOI: 10.1142/S1464333211004024

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management (JEAPM) is currently edited by Thomas Fischer

More articles in Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management (JEAPM) from World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Tai Tone Lim ().