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Exploring the role of local community perceptions in sustainability measurements

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posted on 2023-08-30, 16:37 authored by Nikoleta Jones, Chrisovaladis Malesios, Maria Aloupi, Marina Proikaki, Thomas A. Tsalis, Maria Hatziantoniou, Panayiotis G. Dimitrakopoulos, Antonis Skouloudis, Jens Holtvoeth, Ioannis E. Nikolaou, Athanasios S. Stasinakis, Olga I. Kalantzi, Georgia Gatidou, Eirini Zkeri, Michael Koulousaris, Konstantinos I. Evangelinos
Measuring sustainability is an integral part of decision-making processes in order to promote sustainable development. The present paper focuses on sustainability indicators as these are measured on local level and explores two main issues: firstly, the subjective measurement of indicators focusing especially on social dimensions of sustainability, secondly, the incorporation of local perceptions in sustainability assessments. These two issues are explored in the Asopos River basin in Greece, an area where significant environmental degradation has been observed in the past decades and is also under financial pressure due to the ongoing national recession. A large-scale research study was conducted measuring environmental, economic and social indicators while, at a second stage, a model was developed, estimating new indicators that incorporate local communities’ perceptions on what they considered as important for their area. The results of the study reveal that the most important indicators for the sustainable development of the area, according to locals’ perceptions, are environmental quality as well as quality of life. By contrast, trust in local and central institutions and also local enterprises were not considered as important by locals. These results illustrate the importance of combining global and national scale assessment with locally focused social measurements of sustainability in order to better understand what is important for local communities prior to embarking on public policy planning.

History

Refereed

  • Yes

Volume

26

Issue number

6

Page range

471-483

Publication title

International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology

ISSN

1745-2627

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

File version

  • Accepted version

Language

  • eng

Legacy posted date

2019-09-26

Legacy creation date

2019-11-19

Legacy Faculty/School/Department

Faculty of Science & Engineering

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