Title: Monitoring for sustainable development: a systemic framework

Authors: Ali Bagheri, Peder Hjorth

Addresses: Department of Water Resources Engineering, LTH, Lund University, P.O. Box 118, S-221 00 Lund, Sweden. ' Department of Water Resources Engineering, LTH, Lund University, P.O. Box 118, S-221 00 Lund, Sweden

Abstract: |Sustainable development| is a widely used, but less practised, complex term. Using the idea of |Viability Loops| (VL) based on a System Dynamics (SD) approach and considering sustainability as an ideal for development efforts, this paper argues that sustainable development should be considered as an unending process rather than a state. Thus, a systemic framework is proposed to |monitor| systems for sustainable development, rather than |measuring| their sustainability. Then, it is shown that a set of theoretically anticipated VL, in the form of a market-technology balancing mechanism, do not function in practice owing to a lack and/or distortion of information.

Keywords: Iran; measuring; monitoring; system dynamics; Tehran; viability loops; sustainable development; sustainability; water use.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSD.2005.009576

International Journal of Sustainable Development, 2005 Vol.8 No.4, pp.280 - 301

Published online: 01 May 2006 *

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