Are strategic plans of cities focusing on sustainability?: An analysis of the use of indicators

For the last two decades many cities have proposed strategic plans to guide their development. A review of strategic plans of 32 cities obtained searched through Google, and , shows that almost half of them are just general... [ view full abstract ]

For the last two decades many cities have proposed strategic plans to guide their development. A review of strategic plans of 32 cities obtained searched through Google, and , shows that almost half of them are just general proposals. Eighteen out of the 32 strategic plans proposed using indicators. Most strategic plans are prepared under a strong sustainability focus; it is maintenance of natural capital is not substituted by human capital. However, they do not consider the impact of cities on their hinterland. Six major components extracted by a Principal Components Analysis grouped -quality of life, economic conditions, infrastructures, safety, basic needs, accessibility- grouped most of the 379 indicators of the 18 strategic plans. Only 8 out of 18 strategic plans have a quite even distribution of environmental, economic and social indicators. It has not been observed that cities with a high economic income have a more even distribution of indicators among social, economic and environmental. However, cities with better environmental conditions indicated by the air concentration of suspended particles, and human aspects, indicated by the human development index, have a more even distribution of indicators among the three classic dimensions of sustainable development.

Keywords: city, sustainability, strategic, plan, indicators