Measuring Sustainability Learning From Doing

Measuring the sustainability of development is crucial to achieving it and is one of the most actively studied subjects in the field. To date, most studies of measurements or indicators have been largely theoretical. This book presents valuable practical advice on how to develop measurements that will work in real-life development contexts. It describes and analyzes how to derive, validate and apply indicators in the course of an actual development project - in this case the Mediterranean Action Plan. The authors explain the trade-offs and constraints involved and how to combine the more open-ended and flexible perspectives of sustainability with the linear process and fixed targets of specific projects, demonstrating the pragmatic and reflexive methodology involved

' Measuring the sustainability of development is crucial to achieving it, and is one of the most actively studied issues in the area. To date, most studies of measurements or indicators have been largely theoretical. However, this book, a follow-on to Bell and Morse's highly influential Sustainability Indicators (1999), presents valuable practical advice on how to develop measurements that will work in real-life development contexts. It describes and analyses how to derive, validate and apply indicators in the course of an actual development project - in this case the Mediterranean Action Plan in Malta. The authors explain the trade-offs and constraints involved and how it is possible to combine the open-ended and flexible perspectives of sustainability with the more linear processes and fixed targets of specific projects through the use of pragmatic and reflective methodologies.

Preface * Part I The Brave New Frontier of Sustainability: Where are We? * Part II Sustainability Indicators: A Brief Review * Part III Systemic Sustainability Analysis and Prospective * Part IV Doing SPSA: Some Reflective Experience * Part V New Frontiers of Practice * Part VI The End of a Journey? * Appendix 1: Systematic and Prospective Sustainability Analysis (SPSA) in Malta * Notes * References * Index

Simon Bell is Senior Lecturer in information systems at the Open University. Stephen Morse is Reader in development studies at the University of Reading and co-author of Science, Agriculture and Research: A Compromised Participation (Earthscan, 2002).