ABSTRACT
The cases of the State of Oregon, USA, and Santa Monica, USA, are then presented to demonstrate how indicators can be used effectively in sustainable development planning to measure performance and to promote positive change. The projects in Seattle, Washington; the State of Oregon; and the City of Santa Monica, California have all taken place during the same general period of time in a single region of the United States where there is considerable communication and cultural, institutional and legal homogeneity. The more recent case of Santa Monica's Sustainable City Program is presented, therefore, to illustrate how indicators can be effectively used as a management tool in achieving long-term targets at the departmental level. Change, in the cases of Seattle and Oregon and Santa Monica, is resulting from performance-driven leadership in key institutions, for which purpose all three governments considered indicators as an important management tool.
