Methodology - Summary

Background

The current methodology is a unique approach that assists city leaders understand the inherit complexities of intractable urban issues. It is tailored to a city’s local context by providing a flexible framework for city leaders to re-think the ways that urban issues are governed and understood. It provides guidance and tools for cities to refine the way in which they design, manage, monitor, and assess the project and its outcomes.

The development of ‘The Circles of Sustainability’ has been developed by Global Cities Institute at RMIT University, following completion of an extensive international research exercise that investigated how people understand and measure the sustainability of our cities, communities and organizations.

The ‘Accounting for Sustainability Briefing Paper 1, Circles of Sustainability: An Integrated Approach to Developing Sustainability Indicators’ Draft Only publication, summarizes the limits of current practice and introduces an alternative approach, which responds to key contemporary issues of indicator sets, this being, the difficulty of harnessing clear links between the program development and creating actual change to decision-making and policy outcomes.

Draft_Accounting_for_Sustainability_Briefing_Paper.pdf

The ‘Circles of Sustainability’ is a two part approach that contains a self assessment exercise and a individually crafted questionairre. It moves away from the usual approaches such as triple bottom line accounting which places economics at the centre, to an approach that gives equal weighing to economics, ecology, culture and politics.

It is a value-based approach that draws upon the principles of the original Melbourne Model, which principally focused on the need for inter-sectoral engagement across the civil society, business and government to address intractable issues. To this end, the method provided a process for these sectors to collaborate and respond to complex urban issues. Member cities are fully briefed on the processes involved are given the opportunity to receive facilitated briefing sessions and workshops.

The ‘Coming Full Circle’ (2009) article provides a useful background and details its origins and value to decision makers and member cities.

Coming_Full_Circle_pg_1_of_3.pdf

Coming_Full_Circle_pg_2_and_3_of_3.pdf

Tools

The tools assist in ensuring the Local Secretariat approach and design their project in a way that can be sustained throughout the life of their engagement in the project. In consultation with the International Secretariat, these tools are to be made available to member cities, as required.

Each tool or exercise is part of an integrated process for exploring the social background to the issue on which the city has chosen to focus. The method is intended to sensitize the Local Secretariat to the broad domains of social life—political, ecological, economic and cultural. It is intended to support the refinement stage of the project development and to help cities to track their progress against desired outcomes.

Tools include:

• Strategic Workshop
project refinement exercise, identification of key stakeholders
(Circles of Sustainability: Level 1)
     

• Indicator Selection Exercise
(Circles of Sustainability: Level 1)

• Social Theme Exercise
(Circles of Sustainability: Level 2)

• Indicator Selection Exercise, 2
(Circles of Sustainability: Level 2)

• Sustainability Questionnaire

• Scenarios Planning Workshop

• Baseline Survey

Benefits & Outcomes

This method has a number of benefits:

Firstly, it provides a basis for the identification of key people who should be involved in design and implementation of a project, drawing in necessary expertise, champions and advocates from across the social spectrum.

Secondly, it outlines a process for collaboration and management of the project supported by the Cities Programme International Secretariat and associated international experts.

Thirdly, it encourages a comprehensive and holistic consideration of all relevant angles and viewpoints, identifying gaps in previous assumptions and actions.

Fourthly, it provides cities with specific tools for refining and monitoring the project, including the following:
• A base-line self-assessment exercise for ascertaining the sustainability of the city
• A way of framing and choosing a useful set of indicators that enables cities to monitor and report on progress.
• A questionnaire, already used in many cities across the world, which can be used to monitor progress and make global comparisons.