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Visualization of Sustainability Indicators: A Conceptual Framework

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Abstract

Due to complex, interwoven entities in the science of sustainability, an effective strategic approach that allows issues to be examined from various angles is needed to successfully integrate sustainability into public policy processes. Indicators can be an effective method for providing simple assessments of sustainability, however, there has been little research of indicator organization or visualization techniques to meet the unique information needs of public decision makers. There are numerous models for defining and organizing sustainability indicators but only a few provide defined methods of weighting and aggregation. There is also much published work on developing visualization methods and tools for decision making. However there is little research on how sustainable indicator visualization systems can be structured to meet the specific information needs of public decision makers as they address a wide range of issues at various spatial and functional scales. This article examines the current sustainability indicator and relevant visualization literature and proposes a theoretical organization and visualization framework for sustainability indicator data that blends data organization with flexible and simple information visualization.

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Quay, R., Hutanuwatr, K. (2009). Visualization of Sustainability Indicators: A Conceptual Framework. In: Hagen, H., Guhathakurta, S., Steinebach, G. (eds) Visualizing Sustainable Planning. X.media.publishing. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-88203-9_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-88203-9_13

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-88202-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-88203-9

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