Linked Visualizations in Sustainability Modeling: An Approach Using Participatory GIS for Decision Support

Why Community and Regional Sustainability Matters The World Commission on Development and Environment in 1987 published in Our Common Future that sustainable development is defined as the ability of humanity “to ensure that it [development] meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. Because water is such a fundamental resource and one of the first to be degraded during development, a Task Force of Civil Engineers explain in Sustainability Criteria for Water Resource Systems that “Sustainability is an integrating process. It encompasses technology, ecology, and the social and political infrastructure of society. It is probably not a state that may ever be reached completely. But is it one for which we should continually strive. And while it may never be possible with certainty to identify what is sustainable and what is not, it is possible to develop some measures that permit one to compare the performances of alternative systems with respect to sustainability.” In 1999, the National Research Council published in Our Common Journey: A Transition Toward Sustainability that While many definitions about sustainable development have appeared, each sharing a common concern for the fate of the earth, proponents of sustainable development differ in their emphases on (1) what is to be sustained, (2) what is to be developed, (3) the types of links that should hold between the entities to be sustained and the entities to be developed, and (4) the extent of the future envisioned.” Drawing those views into focus, we suggest a perspective about “community and regional sustainability”, making use of Farrell and Hart’s (1998) description about competing social, economic, and environmental objectives for communities that may or may not be considered together with carrying capacities, and Rees’ (1998) description about the importance of generational equity in sustainable community development. Bringing those concerns together, community and regional sustainability relates to growth management a necessary link if community and regional sustainability is to make progress within current institutional contexts, as many communities plan under growth management laws for guiding decisions to improve quality of life (see figure next page).