Performance Measurement in Local Sustainability Policy

Without an honest and robust examination of both the effectiveness and the efficiency of local sustainability policies, the success of the entire sustainability movement in the U.S. is uncertain. This book provides readers with a comprehensive understanding of what constitutes local sustainability and why it matters. This book focuses closely on local sustainability policy covering everything from environmental initiatives, economic development issues, and social equity concerns. Each chapter delves into major aspects of sustainability and offers both an accounting of the policies being adopted and a close look into the performance measurement activities of cities in that policy area. Finally, readers are introduced to the metrics that American cities are using to measure the performance of their sustainability efforts. From the discussion of performance metrics, this book provides potential benchmarks and comparison statistics that may be used to develop and evaluate the performance assessment efforts in their own sustainability programs. Students of public administration, urban planning, and political science will find this book useful as they begin to understand the complexity of sustainability and local government. Public officials will find this book useful as they begin to approach their own challenges with sustainability--