| Sustainable development is a concept that has generated world-wide interest since its introduction by the UN in 1987. In general, the concept seeks to balance economic development with environmental protection and social equity. Various groups have tried to operationalize the concept at various scales including national, state and local levels. One of the ways that the concept has been implemented is through the creation of indicator projects that measure the economic, environmental and social trends at the urban and county level.; In this study I examined two non-profit, citizen-based organizations in two Florida cities that have been linked to the SD movement. Each used government funding to create indicator projects to measure the quality of life of its respective community. Using the epistemic community model, I hypothesized that the participants, both within the organizations and between the organizations, form an epistemic community in that they share core values and objectives. Furthermore, I hypothesized that in both cases the participants will belong to the same epistemic community of sustainable development. Using in-depth interviews and extensive archival work, I reconstructed the processes that went into the creation of these organizations and their respective indicators, as well as the motivations and world-views of the participants. In addition, I used a modified version of the New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) scale developed to measure the commitment of the participants to the sustainable development paradigm. The study concludes that the case studies do have elements that suggest that they are an epistemic community, although not the same one. Although each was influenced to some degree by the SD movement, only one can be described as approaching a true epistemic community devoted to SD. The other case is more appropriately identified with the so-called "good government" movement. |
