ABSTRACT

We start with the topic of sustainability indicators, on which much work is being done around the world. Virginia Maclaren’s article from the Journal of the American Planning Association defines some key characteristics of these measures and discusses several leading examples. Next, we learn about the concept of ecological footprint analysis from two of its originators, William Rees and Mathis Wackernagel. This method has been used to dramatize the resource impacts of cities and metropolitan regions. In our third selection, from Allan Jacobs’ book Looking at Cities, we highlight careful, firsthand observation as a much-neglected tool through which planners and citizens can analyze urban environments and develop knowledge of their historical development and their future possibilities. Finally we consider the ultimate mechanism for sustainability planning – a constructive politics that can truly respond to long-term human and ecological needs. Though such a situation may be far off, Michael Lerner argues that many individuals are already working toward development of such a “politics of meaning,” and that this must be based on new understandings of interdependency and renewed spiritual commitment.