Sustainability and community indicator programs in the United States: Their nature, purpose, and caliber [microform]
- Bib ID:
- 3284272
- Format:
- Book and Microform
- Author:
- Blair, John M
- Description:
- 252 p.
- ISBN:
- 0493478132
- Summary:
-
The proportion of the global population already living in cities may have passed 50% in early 2001. Therefore, securing a stable global environment hinges on managing our urban centers effectively. One way of systematically monitoring our urban communities is to use community indicator programs (CIPs), as they are known in the United States (US). There are many towns and cities using suites of indicators in an attempt to measure economic and environmental trends and social well-being. The research presented in this document is about local governments' use of CIPs, especially about those that claim to be measuring progress towards sustainability. There has been no systematic investigation of the structure, internal logic, and general nature of existing programs and it is unclear whether they are capable of measuring community conditions accurately. There are three distinct lines of research in this dissertation.
One examines the existing literature on CIPs. The second conducts survey research by interviewing the managers of 11 CIPs. The third uses program evaluation techniques to examine two sustainability CIPs as case studies, the CIPs for Santa Monica, California, and Olympia, Washington. The tool of evaluability assessment (EA) is used. An evaluative framework was constructed to conduct the EA research. It is groundbreaking in its application of program evaluation techniques to examining the structure and plausibility of indicator programs, the sustainability attributes of indicator programs, and the creation of a mechanism for establishing the effectiveness of a CIP. The survey finds, for example, that CIPs are playing a more important role than the comprehensive plan in some respects and that sustainability is poorly understood, even by managers operating sustainability CIPs. The program evaluations pursue three specific research lines.
The first examines program plausibility. The Santa Monica CIP in particular is found to be a very plausible program. The second evaluation focus examines the sustainability attributes of the two CIPs. Both are found to be conventional rather than sustainability programs. The third research question looks at whether the program is effective in other ways, for example, whether the purpose of the program is achieved. Both programs perform better in this respect, the Santa Monica program significantly so.
- Notes:
-
- (UnM)AAI3035137
- Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 62-12, Section: A, page: 4358.
- Chair: K. David Pijawka.
- Thesis (Ph.D.)--Arizona State University, 2001.
- Reproduction:
- Microfiche. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms International.
- Subject:
- Urban and Regional Planning
- Other authors/contributors:
- Arizona State University
- Copyright:
-
In Copyright
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Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Literary Dramatic Musical
- Published status:
- Unpublished
- Creation date:
- 2001
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