Collection

Community Indicators and Community Well-being

Submission status
Closed

Community indicators play a critical role in measuring and monitoring community wellbeing over time and are important tools for community engagement and future policy intervention. It could be argued that shared foundational thinking preceding community indicators can be traced back to early philosophers supporting democracy and enhancing eudaimonia, wellbeing and a good life. These concepts and dissatisfaction with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as the major representation of progress of societies have led to the early focus on sustainability (e.g., Sustainable Seattle’s 1991 Indicators of Sustainable Community) and quality of life (JCCI Quality of Life Reports starting in 1985) that have been re-examined in more recent times in light of a better understanding and a willingness that address societal inequities, particularly in the form of systemic racism. As a result, the focus of many community indicators has more recently changed to wellbeing and data are being disaggregated to the smallest possible level to ensure ever finer representation of different demographic groups.

This special issue was developed to highlight the different ways that community indicators applications, practices and perspectives can be used to support community well-being.

Editors

  • Melanie Davern Melanie Davern , 

    Melanie Davern

    RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia Prof. Melanie Davern has research interest and expertise in both public health and urban planning customised for direct application in policy, planning and industry. This has been developed through long standing interest and knowledge in the development of social, economic and environmental indicators, individual and community wellbeing derived from complex research investigating the connection between the social determinants of health, public health outcomes and urban planning and design.

  • Chantal Stevens Chantal Stevens  &

    Chantal Stevens

    Community Indicators Consortium, Seattle, USA

  • Luis Estevez Luis Estevez

    Luis Estevez

    St. Cloud State University, USA Dr. Luis Estevez' research experience and interest focus in master planning, affordable housing, land use regulations, and community indicators. His recent work focused on strategies addressing the need of neighborhood indicators, specifically for the assessment of quality of housing. Estevez earned his doctoral degree in urban and regional science from Texas A&M University.

Articles (6 in this collection)