Sustainable development assessment from a capitals perspective: Analytical structure and indicator selection criteria

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Social Science
• Urban Planning

Background:

• Sustainable development assessment traditionally considers environmental, social, cultural, and economic dimensions.
• Existing indicator systems often lack adequate analytical structures, hindering assessment quality and speed.
• Representing these dimensions through natural, social, and built capitals offers a novel perspective.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a structured framework for sustainable development assessment.
• To enable identification, prioritization, and meaningful use of key aspects and indicators.
• To utilize the perspective of sustainable development capitals for a more robust assessment.

Main Methods:

• Content analysis of international papers and technical reports.
• Identification of relevant analysis elements and their hierarchical order.
• Development of a four-tier framework: capitals, categories, subcategories, and attributes.

Main Results:

• A four-tier framework comprising three capitals, seven categories, 19 subcategories, and 52 attributes was developed.
• Criteria for selecting locally relevant indicators were compiled, focusing on political, management, data quality, and economic relevance.
• The framework aims to reduce analytical ambiguity, overlapping, and gaps in indicator systems.

Conclusions:

• The proposed framework enhances the structure of sustainable development indicator systems.
• It improves the representativeness and analytical clarity of future sustainable development assessments.
• This structured approach facilitates more effective and less ambiguous evaluations.