RESEARCH ARTICLE
Toward sustainable development: A methodology for evaluating environmental planning systems
Bastion Zeiger,
Thomas Gunton,
Murray Rutherford,
Bastion Zeiger
European Environment Agency, Copenhagen, Denmark
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Thomas Gunton
Resource and Environmental Planning Program, SFU, Canada
Correspondence
Thomas Gunton, Professor and Director, Resource and Environmental Planning Program, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada V5A 1S6
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorMurray Rutherford
School of Resource and Environmental Management, SFU, Canada
Search for more papers by this authorBastion Zeiger,
Thomas Gunton,
Murray Rutherford,
Bastion Zeiger
European Environment Agency, Copenhagen, Denmark
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Thomas Gunton
Resource and Environmental Planning Program, SFU, Canada
Correspondence
Thomas Gunton, Professor and Director, Resource and Environmental Planning Program, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada V5A 1S6
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorMurray Rutherford
School of Resource and Environmental Management, SFU, Canada
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
At the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, the world's national governments committed to preparing strategies to achieve sustainable development. This paper describes an evaluation framework for measuring the success of these efforts to achieve environmental goals in sustainable development. The framework evaluates two dimensions of sustainable development planning: the environmental planning system, and environmental outcomes. An application of the methodology to evaluate environmental performance in Germany illustrates that the proposed method is relatively easy to apply, transparent, and identifies the strengths and weaknesses of a country's environmental performance.
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