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Deriving indicators of sustainable development

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Abstract

Assessments of current and future development paths require comprehensive sets of indicators covering all essential aspects. From a holistic systems point of view, most currently proposed indicator sets are incomplete and deficient. Assessments of sustainable development require a full representation of the satisfaction states of the “basic orientors” (=fundamental interests) of constituent sector systems, and of their contribution to basic orientor satisfaction of the total system. Basic orientors are value dimensions (existence, effectiveness, freedom of action, security, adaptability, coexistence) emerging from a self-organizing system's interaction with its environment, and its fundamental properties (normal environmental state, scarce resources, variety, variability, change, other systems). Basic orientors are also reflected in human emotions, societal punishment, psychological and social needs, life styles, and values emerging in self-organization of artificial life. The relative weight assigned to basic orientors of partner systems is a question of ethics. Based on these concepts, a general scheme for finding a “complete” set of indicators of viability and sustainability is derived, and it is applied to deriving a comprehensive set of indicators of sustainable development for society and its sector systems (infrastructure, economic system, social system, individual development, government, environment and resource system). The method can be applied at different levels of complexity and regional resolution. A full set of regional indicators for sustainable development is presented, a method for compact assessment of development paths using orientor stars is described, and the approach for application at the community level is outlined.

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  1. Center for Environmental Systems Research, University of Kassel, D-34109, Kassel, Germany

    Hartmut Bossel

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  1. Hartmut Bossel
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Bossel, H. Deriving indicators of sustainable development. Environ Model Assess 1, 193–218 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01872150

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01872150

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