SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS SEMINAR CCDR ALGARVE, 2007

Transcription

1 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS SEMINAR CCDR ALGARVE, 2007 Sustainable Communities and the Delivery of Development: Establishing Programmes and Evaluating Progress Professor Peter Roberts Chair of the Academy for Sustainable Communities and Professor of Sustainable Spatial Development, University of Leeds, UK.

2 INTRODUCTION Close links exist between the sustainable development and sustainable communities agendas. In both cases it is essential to provide comprehensive background research and analysis to inform policy and programme design, detailed monitoring to measure progress, and detailed evaluation to assess achievement. But the provision of baseline material, monitoring and evaluation cannot be achieved by quantification alone most elements are best suited to qualitative measures. It is also essential to tailor measures to the condition of individual nations, regions or localities.

3 CONTEXT Developing and evaluating policies and programmes for the promotion of sustainable development and sustainable communities represent challenging tasks. The difficulty is that some aspects of the sustainable development and sustainable communities agendas have run ahead of theory - we know some things work, but we don t always know why role for research, including reviews of best practice and of the ways in which policies and programmes operate. Sustainable development and sustainable communities principles can be applied to places at various stages of development new places, regenerating places, evolving places and at various spatial scales. The first two categories of place imply significant intervention, the final category can be seen as the ordered management of change this is the core business of regional and local planning and development. The sustainable development and sustainable communities agendas are important at all levels in the European Union from local to European scale.

4 SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES Regenerating Places Evolving Places New Places

5 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES Much of the sustainable communities agenda will be familiar it brings together theory and practice from many sources and challenges academics and professionals. In reality, sustainable communities are the spatial manifestation of the sustainable development agenda making places for people and delivering such communities is an essential task now recognised by the European Union. Sustainable communities are places where people want to live and work, now and in the future. It is also important to recognise that the sustainable communities programme and approach is not a fixed target. it is an agenda for change, and the implications are an essential consideration at all spatial levels, from the European Union to the neighbourhood.

6 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Social Dimension Inter-generational Equity Intra-generational Equity Places Economic Dimension Environmental Dimension Politics and Applications

7 SO WHAT DOES THIS IMPLY? The delivery of sustainable development through the creation and management of sustainable communities suggests that the characteristics of such communities should form the basis for establishing and implementing policy. In turn, this implies the use of agreed sustainable communities characteristics as a basis for establishing judgemental criteria this provides an objective-based assessment system that can be used for programme design, monitoring and evaluation (both ex ante and ex post). At regional local level it is important to consider both the design and discharge of specific sectoral tasks and the overall performance of the entire programme (the placemaking activity). These requirements suggest the need for an integrated framework for assessment e.g. a regional functional matrix.

8 WHAT IS A SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY? Eight Key Component Elements: Active, inclusive and safe fair, tolerant, cohesive Well run effective and inclusive participation Environmentally sensitive caring for the environment and resources Well designed and built quality environment Well connected good services, access and links Thriving flourishing and diverse economy and jobs Well served good public, private and voluntary services Fair to everyone just and equitable

9 WHAT IS A SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY? And an extra essential component placemaking, the process and skills of bringing the components together in a particular place and managing the development and implementation of a strategic corporate plan delivery is essential. The principles can be used to guide the creation of new communities or retrofitted to existing places regeneration and the normal process of evolution. The principles can also be developed as judgemental criteria.

10 KEY COMPONENTS

11 A FUNCTIONAL MATRIX FOR REGIONAL DELIVERY AND ASSESSMENT X Minor Role XX Role XXX Major Role Key point to note is the degree of overlap between areas of interest and responsibilities this implies importance of partnership and capacity building. Regional Planning Agency Regional Local Government Regional Economic Agency Regional Environment Agency Natural Resources X XX Energy Use XXX XX XXX Economic Development XX XX XXX X Social Inclusion XXX XXX X

12 TWIN TASKS: PROCESS AND CONTENT As well as providing a basis for assessing the progress of the content of a sustainable communities programme, it is also essential to track the process itself. This is because the design and implementation of a sustainable communities programme is a learning exercise in itself. Learning by doing is a way of ensuring that a community: develops engagement and ownership, develops capability and capacity, avoids the imposition of external preconceptions As a consequence it is now realised that establishing appropriate tools, skills and institutions is vital the Bristol Accord and Leipzig Agreement endorse this.

13 TOOLS, SKILLS AND INSTITUTIONS Need to distinguish between tools and skills the former are of little value without the latter, but both are essential for creating and maintaining sustainable communities. Also essential to identify appropriate institutions and processes. Tools included in this category are: Visioning, strategy and implementation tools Management tools, including engagement Technical and technology tools expert systems, ICT, others Thinking machines Patrick Geddes diagrams Skills includes understanding and application: Generic skills participation, leadership, communication Specific skills professional and other applications Organisational skills spatial planning and management Institutions and Processes Essential for full ownership and engagement Efficiency and effectiveness Accountability, equity and justice

14 ASSESSING CONTENT Each of the sustainable communities characteristics/criteria is capable of detailed specification e.g. active, inclusive and safe: structure of social groups crime levels opportunities for sport and leisure antisocial behaviour Some of these criteria can be assessed using quantitative measures, others demand qualitative measurement. In all cases it is essential to avoid stereotyping areas, consider the establishment of appropriate benchmarks, and distinguish between contextual and influenceable indicators and targets. Too many evaluation systems and indicators are: pseudo-scientific quantification overly economistic monetary dominated by experts elite views

15 EXAMPLES OF SMART SYSTEMS GRIDS guidance system for regional development - an INTERREG project concerned with identifying and assessing good practice embryonic system UK Local Evaluation 21 a self-assessment tool for designing, monitoring and evaluating sustainable development (and sustainable communities) a semi-mature system that allows for flexible implementation and tailoring to places. Scottish Enterprise measurement framework a mature tool that is tailored to the situation of individual activities and establishes agreed goals that can be monitored. Emerging work by ASC on community condition checklists simple system for regular review that can be applied by nonexperts.

16 SCOTTISH ENTERPRISE EXAMPLE Example of energy saving strategy this provides basis for formal evaluation and a learning community. Energy Saving Strategy Agency uses national/eu indicators to specify target sectors Agency negotiates targets with organisations Organisations monitor and report achievements Targets and achievements Agency identifies that y energy savings agreements will be negotiated over x years. Agency meets first set of targets by negotiating agreements Organisations meet Individual targets and agency meets targets

17 LEARNING COMMUNITIES Essential to promote learning organisations this involves: Creating structures with feedback loops Providing opportunities for individual and collective reflection Capturing and assessing practice good and bad How can learning organisations be encouraged? Extending generic skills availability at all levels from school, through formal education and training, to continuing development for professionals and other stakeholders Encouraging interchange and sharing of experience within and between communities Making monitoring, evaluation and dissemination integral to all projects and programmes Financial final payment for learning activities Local and regional capacity building Support local initiatives, but don t encourage isolationism community networking Mentoring and placements Learning laboratories places that offer a range of experiences and facilities Guides, expert diagnostic and policy tools, intelligence Driving down decisions and actions to lowest appropriate level make issues relevant to communities.

18 FINAL THOUGHTS Skills and knowledge dimension is an important part of creating more meaningful sustainable communities programmes and evaluating progress. Evaluation systems need to move away from a reliance on one-size-fits-all approaches this reflects the established view that communities differ significantly. Learning from doing is essential and this implies the need to develop skills of professionals and other stakeholders. Evaluation systems and indicators should be: Communal rather than censorial Integral to a programme Inclusive, open and accountable Common in part, but also tailored to place Concerned with enhancing engagement Concerned with institutional learning Finally, indicators should reflect aspirations and help establish a pathway to future success.