Routledge Handbook of Sustainability Indicators

This handbook provides researchers and students with an overview of the field of sustainability indicators (SIs) as applied in the interdisciplinary field of sustainable development. The editors have sought to include views from the center ground of SI development but also divergent views which represent some of the diverse, challenging and even edgy observations which are prominent in the wider field of SI thinking. The contributions in this handbook: • Clearly set out the theoretical background and history of SIs, their origins, roots and initial goals • Expand on the disciplines and modalities employed to develop SIs of various kinds • Assess the various ways in which SI data are gathered and the availability (over space and time) and quality issues that surround them • Explore the multiplex world of SIs as expressed in agencies around the world, via examples of SSI practice and the lessons that have emerged from them. • Critically review the progress that SIs have made over the last thirty year • Express the divergence of views which are held about the value of SIs including differing views about their efficacy, efficiency and ethics • Explore the frontier of contemporary SI thinking, reviewing anti/ post and systemic alternatives This multidisciplinary and international Handbook will be of great interest to researchers, students and practitioners working in sustainability research and practice.