by Hilmar Westholm, Michael Greif and Philip Rigley

The term "sustainable development" has become a fashionable phrase in the social sciences. In order to concretise this abstract formula, a set of indicators was developed by students in a research-based learning project under the guidance of a teacher for a municipality as part of its "Local Agenda 21", with which a sustainable development direction can be read for the social, development policy, economic and ecological areas of society.

The term "sustainable development" has become a hackneyed phrase among social scientists. To put this abstract term in a concrete form, a project was launched in which students - under the guidance of a lecturer - developed a set of indicators of "sustainable development" for a rural community participating in the Local Agenda 21 programme. The project was organised as a regular seminar and was aimed at determining the future direction in the areas of "social affairs", "third-world-policy", "economy" and "environment".

Sustainable development" is intended to describe a social process in which economic, social and ecological aspects are interlinked. At the same time, dependencies between production and consumption patterns in the highly developed industrialised countries and poverty, hunger and underdevelopment in the countries of the South are to be highlighted and changes called for. Development is sustainable if the needs of the present are satisfied without the risk of future generations not being able to satisfy their own needs. This formula was put into concrete terms at the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, where, among other things, "Agenda 21" was adopted, a programme of action for the world community of states for the coming century. The document devotes a great deal of space to the actors who are to realise this goal, as it is not assumed that it can be decreed "from above", as it were. In addition to women, trade unions, non-governmental organisations and entrepreneurs, local authorities are also mentioned because, as the political and administrative level closest to the citizens, they play a decisive role in informing, raising awareness and mobilising the public. A "Local Agenda 21" is to be developed at municipal level, which will initiate "consultation processes" with the participation of many citizens and various interest groups in order to draw up a mission statement and goals for future development, if possible by consensus, from which concrete action steps can be derived.The term "sustainability" has so far been interpreted differently by the various actors and therefore also needs to be concretised within the framework of "Local Agenda 21". Rules were developed for the ecological corner of the "economy-social-ecology" triangle, which were formulated as follows by the Bundestag Senate Commission "Protection of Man and the Environment" in its final report in 1998:

The rate of depletion of renewable resources should not exceed their rate of regeneration. Non-renewable resources should only be utilised to the extent that a physically and functionally equivalent substitute is created in the form of renewable resources or higher productivity of renewable and non-renewable resources. Substance inputs into the environment should be orientated towards the carrying capacity of the environmental media. The time scale of anthropogenic interventions in the environment must be in balance with the time scale of the natural processes relevant to the responsiveness of the environment. Unjustifiable risks to human health from anthropogenic impacts must be avoided.

It is unclear in both political and scientific discourse what sustainability means for the "social" and "economic" dimensions. For example, social goals are mentioned: More (political) participation, social mobility, social cohesion, cultural identity, equal educational opportunities and new forms of work. Growth (however defined), distributive justice and efficiency are then economic goals of sustainability. The development policy reference, which was still essential at the Rio Conference, only appears as a footnote in many national and municipal documents.

Simplifying complex interrelationships

In a long-term process such as Agenda 21, opportunities must be created to review the measures implemented to determine whether the desired goals can be achieved. As part of the project study programme, we investigated the question of how a municipality can monitor whether it is developing in a sustainable and future-oriented manner. To this end, a sustainability indicator set was developed for a rural municipality (Ganderkesee, Oldenburg district, 30,000 inhabitants) as an example.

An indicator should summarise information in a targeted manner with the aim of presenting complex relationships in a simplified and precise manner. When selecting suitable indicators, the focus should be on their usefulness for those who will later deal with them. Closely linked to this are the requirements for measurability, costs of measurement and comprehensibility, as each user group has different requirements in this respect. Other important criteria are scientific soundness as well as political and awareness-raising relevance. The question of selectivity is also crucial: the value of an indicator must be able to be clearly assigned to the "positive" or "negative" area of the system under consideration. These requirements make it clear that sustainable development cannot be fully described with indicators: Qualitative factors, for example, can hardly or not at all be included due to the required measurability and the low cost of the measurements.

Each indicator in the developed indicator set is structured according to a specific scheme: It begins with a description in which it is first explained and its relationship to sustainability is clarified: The following definition sets out the basis for measurement and the sources. This data basis is described in detail in the subsequent interpretation; recognisable developments are condensed into trend statements and explained as far as possible. In the subsequent evaluation, the data found are assessed from the point of view of sustainability. Finally, the links are shown. These are primarily dependencies on other indicators, but also general connections. As a "conclusion", the sustainability trend can be drawn from the indicator (if the corresponding data is available), i.e. the statement as to whether the development of the indicator is sustainable or non-sustainable.

A set of indicators developed according to these standards has various functions and tasks. In addition to the analytical function, which takes centre stage, the communication function should be emphasised above all: The agenda process is dependent on broad public involvement. The basis for the necessary broad constructive discourse is access to comprehensibly prepared information, which can be guaranteed with the help of such a set. Furthermore, undesirable developments should be highlighted at an early stage (warning function) and opportunities for comparison with other local authorities should be made possible (coordination function).

The first sustainability indicators at municipal level were developed in the early 1990s. One example is the city of Seattle (USA), where the "Sustainable Seattle" organisation has been working together with people from politics, business, environmental groups and local government since 1990. After a broad discussion process, it published its first set of indicators in 1993. The set of around 50 indicators has since been revised and updated twice (in 1995 and 1998).

In the UK, a national authority drew up a list of 200 indicators from 13 subject areas, from which the participating local authorities can select those relevant to them.

In Germany, for example, a scientifically based system was developed in Heidelberg, which covers the areas of ecology, economy and social affairs and at the same time enables a comparison between urban and rural areas.

Finding indicators with the citizens

Since the summer semester of 1997, our project has been working on the implementation of Agenda 21 at local level as part of our project studies. In consultation with community representatives, guideline-based interviews on the one hand and workshops with interested citizens on the other were to form the information basis for the research. The concept, timetable and objectives were put up for public discussion in the community before the study began.

In the next step, 16 in-depth interviews were conducted with people representing different areas of society in order to identify the characteristics, strengths and weaknesses of the municipality as well as visionary and concrete goals for possible future development. The development goals derived from the interviews were categorised into five overarching areas:

Culture, education & social issues Village community Environment Economy Politics & administration

The workshop groups planned to supplement the catalogue of objectives were cancelled due to a lack of participation, so that the concept for developing the set of indicators had to be changed. The results of the interviews now formed the basis for the development of the indicators, alongside existing examples from other municipalities. The present set contains some indicators that are specifically tailored to the municipality, but most of the indicators are also transferable to other municipalities. However, these must then be adapted to the specific circumstances.

The 36 indicators are organised according to the core areas of sustainable development (see the overview of indicators): Ecology, Economy, Social and Society, Development Policy. Numerous indicators have a cross-cutting character - for example, the topic area "transport" has links to social, economic and ecological issues, and the corresponding indicators can therefore be found in all three areas. This results in an extensive interconnectedness of the indicators. They are closely interlinked in that almost every indicator has a direct or indirect impact on one or more others. Looking at individual indicators in isolation therefore falls short; the set of indicators is only conclusive and meaningful in its entirety. In this sense, it reflects a principle of sustainable development - the realisation that only a cross-sectoral, interdisciplinary approach can be appropriate to the complexity of social problems. For example, it can be seen that ecological sustainability goals for dealing with non-renewable resources can collide not only with the economic objectives of growing commercial development. Social demands for the preservation of the village community through the creation of building opportunities for young members of the community also come into massive conflict with ecological goals. This potential for conflict makes it clear that the development of indicators should be accompanied by a broad consultation and discussion process on the development goals of the community. Here, value decisions must be made, priorities set and thus the path to a sustainable community outlined.

Stimulus for discussion

The set of indicators is designed as food for thought in order to raise the question of what sustainable development could look like for this municipality. The indicators are largely based on suggestions and objectives from the community itself, but the broad participatory basis is still missing. The aim of further work on the indicator set must be to create this basis. On the one hand, it seems necessary to initiate as broad a public discussion as possible on the municipality's development goals and mission statements. Within this framework, conflicts of objectives should be discussed and the direction of the municipality's future development should be formulated. On the other hand, it is advisable to set up a working group made up of various community stakeholders (associations, politics, administration, agenda plenum) to further develop and adapt the set of indicators and translate the development goals into indicators. These should then be regularly updated with the participation of the public in order to stabilise the process and raise awareness in the community for the sustainable shaping of its own concerns.

The set of indicators ultimately aims to sharpen the focus on the future - it is not about making a judgement as to whether the municipality is sustainable or unsustainable today. As part of a highly developed industrialised society, a municipality like Ganderkesee also faces far-reaching challenges and a long road ahead. Indicators can help to move in this direction - if they become part of the political discussion.

The authors

Dr Hilmar Westholm, lecturer at the Institute of Social Sciences II in the Department of Social Sciences, studied social sciences and political science in Berlin and Oldenburg, coordinated and taught on the further education course in ecology/environmental sciences from 1987 to 1994, obtained his doctorate in environmental education and environmental policy in Oldenburg in 1995, then taught and researched in Hamburg. Today he works in the elective subject "Environmental Policy and Planning", specialising in European and international environmental policy and participation research. - Michael Greif and Philip Rigley are studying for a Diplom degree in social sciences in Oldenburg, specialising in environmental policy and planning. - Other students on the course "Implementation of Agenda 21 at local level" were involved in the development of the indicator set.