ABSTRACT
Sustainability indicators, like strategic plans, are a governance instrument considered critical for realization of urban sustainability. Berlin's experience with sustainability indicators highlights a lack of interest in sustainability among the city's political actors and scattered but generally ineffective efforts by outside actors to use indicators to incorporate sustainability principles into decision-making. In contrast to Berlin, Hamburg has seen a diverse and active use of sustainability indicators in its local policy debate. Heidelberg perhaps the most institutionalized use of sustainability indicators within local administrative and political decision-making processes, and thus an experience vastly different from Hamburg's and Berlin's. Performance measures are a central feature of New York's sustainability plan, as they focus the initiatives on causes that the city government can impact and provide concrete, measurable goals that can be evaluated by the public. Due to state-mandated comprehensive planning, the measures described in the Portland Plan are linked to policies and by law must be tied to policymaking in the city.
