What are Sustainability Indicators? Advisory Board to Houston SI Project Methodology Project Goals Project Experts Main Indicators Sustainability Indicators Online Resource Center Links H S I - Urban Sustainability Indicators The Urban Sustainable Development procedure (UrbanSD) was developed in 2006 by Lester O. King, Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Planning and Environmental Policy, as a practical procedure to incorporate the tenets of sustainable development and contemporary urban planning. The UrbanSD concept relies on a procedure of identifying main indicators, then defining mirror indicators which reflect the impact or relationship of the main indicators to the three (3) sectors in sustainability (Social, Economic and Environmental Sectors). The mirror indicators are defined based on the contemporary planning ideas of Smart Growth, New Urbanism, and Transit Oriented Development. UrbanSD indicators can be considered composite-integrating sustainability indicators based on the definitions of sustainability indicators by Virginia Maclaren (1996). Click here for more information. SOCIAL SECTOR ECONOMIC SECTOR ENVIRONMENTAL SECTOR Public Transportation Unemployment rate (Transit2) *% of commute trips made by transit (Transit1) Accessibility of transit system (Transit3) . Air Quality # of Complaints (Air2) Median Housing Value (Air3) *Air Pollution Exceeding federal standards per monitor (Air1) . Government and Leadership *Voter Turnout in municipal elections compared to number of registered voters (Gov1) Average household income by quintiles(Gov2) Access to public facilities(Gov3) . Infrastructure Provision and Maintenance Number of complaints (Infra2) CIP funding (Infra3) *Survey of infrastructure conditions(Infra1) . Economic Development Unemployment rate (Econ2) *Jobs created (Econ1) Developable Land(Econ3) . Roads and Congestion *Vehicle Miles Traveled (Road1) Cost to operate Private Vehicle (Road2) Housing Density(Road3) . Health Care *% of population with insurance (Health1) Income of Health Care Workers(Health2) Access to healthcare (Health3) . Flood Management # of people living in flood zone areas (Flood2) Cost of flood insurance (Flood3) *Area of Superneighborhood (Flood1) . Steward of Water Resources *Gallons of water used per person (Water1) Cost of water (Water2) Amount of water available (Water3) . Clean City Percent Change in Crime Statistics Annually (Clean2) Cost of garbage pickup (Clean3) *Amount of litter (Clean1) . Suburban Development Population Growth (Suburb2) Average household income by quintiles (Suburb3) *Density and development of town centers in the suburbs (Suburb1) . Urban Development Population (Urban2) *Property value increases inside the City of Houston vs. outside of the City (Urban1) Distance from CBD (Urban3) . Parking Number of vehicles (Park2) Median Housing Value (Park3) Percent of acreage devoted to surface parking compared to acreage of new development (Park1) . Development Impact Ethnicity (Develop2) *Dollars devoted to infrastructure needed for new/infill development,i.e. drainage, streets, sidewalks, parks (Develop1) Impact from subcenters (Develop3) . Long Range Planning Existence of Superneighborhood Council (Plan2) *Dollar amount of CIP spending that relates to identified long term priorities of the City(Plan1) Developable Land (Plan3) . Neighborhood Preservation *% Public expressing safety (Neighbor1) Median Housing Value (Neighbor2) Access to k-12 Schools (Neighbor3) *-Main Indicators . 2008 | Notice| General Information - info@houston-indicators.org Webmaster - webmaster@houston-indicators.org