Accounting for sustainability : combining qualitative and quantitative research in developing 'indicators' of sustainability

Indicators-based projects are currently central to many local, city-wide, national and international sustainability initiatives. The quantitative basis of many such projects means that achieving sustainability through them is often undertaken as a technical task. The size, scope and sheer number of indicators included within many such projects means that they are often unwieldy and resist effective implementation. Arguably, the techno-scientific 'edge' inherent in them tends to blur the possibilities for bringing into question the structures of power and criteria by which values are translated into practice. It limits the way that a community may use indicators to support sustainable practices or to challenge unsustainable practices. The article discusses some of the methodological issues that arise when setting out to develop and implement qualitative indicators of sustainability that incorporate some quantitative metrics. This alternative approach involves people in actively learning and negotiating over how best to put sustainability into practice. The aim of such a research method is to engage citizens in the job of achieving sustainability as a task of itself, undertaken on terms acceptable to them in the context of the communities in which they live.