Evaluation and Indicators for Sustainability: Tools for Governance and Resilience

Dear collaegues,

Sustainability in times of major transitions requires resilience, the ability of systems and all their stakeholders, beyond avoiding negative externalities, to continue to function and pursue their development objectives, regardless of shocks or environment changes. E.g., for territories, the capacity to cope with shocks but also to better adapt to and reduce chronic stresses. In order to allow a constructive dialogue with all specialists in the field (sustainable development, sustainability, adaptation, ecological transition, etc.), we opt for a broad definition of the term “resilience”.

Resilience, while becoming a key goal in governance, is difficult to assess. There is a large offer of quantitative techniques to evaluate financial aspects of technical projects, but not much to assess how policies and modes of governance can positively impact the resilience of territories in its multiple aspects.

Indeed, the effects are often cross-sectoral in nature, involving government and institutions, business, civil society and even users and academia. The setting up and management of such projects and adaptive innovation policies must take into account often systemic and qualitative effects that emerge in multiple temporalities, dimensions of value and forms of impact. For example, social cohesion is increasingly recognized as an essential factor.

Some tools for evaluation exist, which need to be improved, validated and disseminated; others need to be built. This Special Issue welcomes the presentation of tools, methods, indicators, processes or principles to design, evaluate and monitor the impact of projects on resilience at micro, meso and macro scales. We acknowledge that the very notion of indicators is limiting, and therefore we welcome ground-breaking and innovative contributions. We hope this Special Issue will be a landmark both for researchers and practitioners, and will feed the practice of decision-makers and their advisers.

Transdisciplinary and intersectoral—i.e., (co-)authored with non-academic experts—papers are welcome. Case studies are of course expected and welcome; they should include reflection on transferability and lessons learned beyond the specific case. Conversely, theoretical papers should include links to empirical material.

We expect this Special Issue will become a major reference on how to evaluate resilience. Hence, keep in mind when writing that your readers may be practitioners, consultants or leaders, or academics: readability and illustration with regard to concrete cases will be a plus.

Director, Paris Institute for Advanced Study
Chair in Social Psychology, London School of Economics and Political Science

Prof. Saadi Lahlou
Guest Editor

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