Devising Local Sustainable Development Indicators: from technical issues to bureaucratic stakes. The Greater Lyons experience

The paper will draw on the experience of Greater Lyons (France) in the development and implementation of air quality indicators in the framework of an environmental monitoring body, created in 1992. The analysis shows a patent discrepancy between the strength of the political support enjoyed by the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Local environment 2003-12, Vol.8 (6), p.615-626
Main Authors: JOURNEL, CHRISTELLE MOREL, DUCHENE, FRANC¸OIS, COANUS, THIERRY, MARTINAIS, EMMANUEL
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air quality
Environment
Environmental policy
France
Humanities and Social Sciences
Indicators
Local government
Measurement
Natural resources
Sustainability
Sustainable development
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Summary:The paper will draw on the experience of Greater Lyons (France) in the development and implementation of air quality indicators in the framework of an environmental monitoring body, created in 1992. The analysis shows a patent discrepancy between the strength of the political support enjoyed by the monitoring body at its creation and its gradual confinement within the administrative structure of Greater Lyons. In fact, developing and using indicators raises not only technical issues but also political and bureaucratic stakes. The experience provides food for thought as regards the emergence of sustainable development issues within large and complex structures such as that of Greater Lyons. The paper points out that if indicators are hybrid objects, monitoring bodies, which are supposed to devise and promote them, are hybrid as well: their management, in terms of aims, means and position within the administrative body, is at least as important as their so-called 'technical' function.
ISSN:1354-9839
1469-6711
DOI:10.1080/1354983032000152725