From INGIS to NAMOS – operationalisation and contextualisation of sustainability at the local level

Due to its fuzziness the model of sustainable development has to be particularised and contextualised before any positioning with respect to the yardstick of sustainability. Based on a newly put forward conceptualisation of sustainability the realisation of both postulates is shown within the development of a local indicator system for two German cities. Initially, problems of urban development were identified in a bottom-up approach by local stakeholders. These problem areas were contrasted with a set of sustainability rules which had been systematically derived from the basic sustainability norm, stating minimum requirements for sustainable development. At the interface of local problems and sustainability rules indicators had been identified which provide information on whether the city is over time becoming closer to or farther removed from the respective sustainability goals in its problem areas. This paper shows how such sustainability monitoring system can indicate municipal problems and contextualise the sustainability norm into the administrative structures.