The Use of Indicators in the Processes of Territorial Planning

The use of indicators in the processes of territorial planning

A. ~icollo',G. ~aldizzone~& S. zanella3 I Dip. Te.Ris.(University of Genoa), Italy 2 Environmental Consultant, Italy 3Province of Imperia, Italy

Abstract

The Province of Imperia is elaborating its own Territorial Plan of Coordination (PTC). Contextually, the Province of Imperia has decided to plan its own process of Agenda XXI, starting from the elaboration of the Report on the State of the Environment (RSA), which is even in support for the planning of the PTC. So we have tried to use the indicators of Agenda XXI in an integrated way, attempting to create a set of indicators developed on the model "Pressure-State-

Response (PSR)". We have structured a database of support to the RSA and we have used it as a transversal tool to meet the needs described. As a tool of synthesis, we based on the experience of the JRC (dashboard software), which allows a complete and simplified vision of the environmental situation of the considered area.

1 Introduction

Sustainable development is one hundred per cent temporal as implied by the term itself "development". Whether sustainable or not, development is also one hundred per cent spatial or territorial, since every kind of development takes place at a certain spot on Earth, which can be represented by X, y (and z) co- ordinates. Thus, for a region, whether a local administration, country, transboundary region, continent or all over the world, there can be important spatial heterogeneity or differences, which in many cases deserve special attention. Surprisingly, the spatial dimension has often been neglected or little considered by groups preparing environmental or sustainable development

indicators. The reasons for this are several. One main reason is missing or low

capacities and slulls to handle georeferenced data and information among those in charge of indicator work. This is increasingly becoming a reduced concern with the advent of more user-friendly GIS software, and also with the increasing tendency of merging traditional GIS software with commonly used "office type" software.

2 The Report on the State of the Environment (RSA) and the process of Agenda XXI

The editing of its own RSA allows the administration to define a picture of the state of the environment, but above all it allows to develop an organized and totally available data base that constitutes the starting point of a systematic amplification and consolidation of the environmental knowledge. Beyond the theoretical approaches, it can be affirmed that the definition of a Local Agenda XXI is constituted by three essential elements: - the predisposition of the Report on the State of the Environment, first fundamental step of the process of Agenda XXI; - the constitution of the Forum of the social actors involved at a local level. The coordination of the Forum allows the definition of the course of

elaboration of the Agenda XXI; - the definition of objectives, financial resources and time of realisation. The Agenda XXI has been judged as a transversal tool that does not lie within the usual logics of territorial planning, and which transversally links all the sectors of planning. It can be considered as a tool of integration, correlation and strategic development. The RSA constitutes a fundamental element of the process of Agenda XXI, with strong correlations with the tools of planning (PTC, PRG). Once the RSA becomes a "system" inside the administration, with its own procedures of acquisition and data processing, it assumes a strong value as an objective tool for the politicians and for the decision makers. The RSA, as shown in Figure 1, represents a central element in the activities of planning, strategic analysis and evaluation, as well as in monitoring. With such a tool, the local administration can look for a better understanding and can know and communicate the following information to the citizens: - the fundamental environmental problems in their area; - the causes of these problems; - the effects of the developed and programmed actions on the environmental

situation; - the areas in need of interventions.

Sustainable Development Policies

Figure 1: The RSA and its relationship.

This system allows the RSA and Agenda XXI to be: - a tool of contemplated information - a tool for the planning of the PTC

- a tool of monitoring

3 Decision support system software tool

As tool of synthesis and decision support, we based on the experience of the JRC (dashboard software), that allows a complete and simplified vision of the environmental-economic-social situation of the area interested by the present study.

We present a set of indicators in a simple pie chart format based on three principles, the "language" of the Dashboard: - the size of a segment reflects the relative importance of the issue described by the indicator; - a colour code signals performance relative to others: green means "good, red means "bad"; - the central circle (IPI, Imperia Performance Index) summarizes the information of the component indicators. This "language" may seem a straight-jacket for many indicators; however, it is the only way to present very heterogenous indicators in a common format. Today, about one hundred economic, social and environmental indicators are available at a global scale; the Dashboard makes them accessible to laypersons and to experts from other disciplines, and allows a comparison between different political themes. We have structured a database of support to the RSA and we have considered it as a transversal tool to meet the needs described before. The Imperia Performance Index (IPI) scores are based upon a set of core "indicators", each of which combines different variables. The indicators and

variables were chosen through a careful review of the literature and available data combined with extensive consultation and analysis. - The IPI permits cross-local administration comparisons (for example among Taggia, Sanremo and Airole) of sustainability progress in a systematic and

quantitative fashion.

Figure 2: Imperia Performance Index using the Dashboard Software (JRC).

In Figure 2 six indices are aggregated to an "Imperia Performance Index" (IPI), and presented as a pie chart organised in two concentric circles as follows: - the two levels contain: I) one overall index (IPI), 2) six sub-indices for

"Economy" (Eco), "Social Care" (Soc), "Environment" (Env), "Turism" (Tur), "Transport" (Trans) and "Urban qualityn(Urb). Each sub-index is the aggregation of sub-sub-indices or "simple" indicators such as GDP, inflation, waste and protected area. The size of each segment reflects the importance (the "weight") of this issue for politics;

- the colour of each segment reflects the judgement of current performance on a colour scale, i.e. green for "good" and red for "bad". The inner level is the aggregated valuations of the segments (i.e. the "yellow" = "medium" IPI shows the average of the underlying valuations "good-I-bad+very bad").

This approach represents the first step towards a more complete analysis of single local administration in the Province of Imperia. The IPI enables: - or identification of iusses where single municipality results are above below expectations; - policy tracking to identify areas of success or failure; - benchmarking of environmental, economic and social performance - investigation into interactions among environmental, economic and social

performance.

Figure 3: The IPI for single local administration in the Province of Imperia.

4 The next goal: common base indicators

Most of the statistics that can be found in international databases are available only at a national level. However, for the purpose of enriching debates on national policies, it would be desirable to "dig deeper", and look at a sub- national disaggregation of indicators. Dashboard software allows such disaggregation, but often the data are not available in comparable formats- developing common indicator sets is a major challenge, given the widely differing views on what are urban issues worthy of monitoring.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Dr. Jochen Jesinghaus, Joint Research Center (JRC), Ispra (Italy) and Prof. Giancarlo Albertelli.

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