CAREER: Integrated Local Sustainability Strategies, Capacities and Performance Management

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Local governments of all sizes are facing increasing threats to their fiscal and economic health, community well-being, and environmental resources. Addressing these challenges requires a litany of economic, ecological and societal governance adjustments. However, it also assumes local communities can either develop new organizational capacities or divert resources away from more traditional services and activities. This project aims to develop a better understanding of the processes through which local governments identify sustainability goals, find the resources needed to achieve them, and assess their performance. This requires a flexible research design to observe communities in both urban and rural contexts which fall along the entire spectrum of sustainability: those attempting to formulate long-term sustainability strategies; those attempting to develop the capacities needed for implementation; and those attempting to track their progress and adapt.This research will assess the integration of sustainability planning, capacity-building, and performance management in Indiana municipalities. Each of these elements alone represent a complex system in which external and internal factors interact to influence organizational processes, routines and decisions. However, these systems also interact, reinforcing or destabilizing broader patterns of organizational behavior through feedback. The empirical context and timing of the project is critical as these systems are still infantile and evolving. Three phases of mixed-methods and longitudinal research designs will be used over five years: first, strategic planning will be analyzed through automated text-analysis; second, surveys and interviews will be used to assess capacity-building and implementation; and third, case studies and experiments will examine performance management and adjustment. The project will build infrastructure for future research by developing a comprehensive database of variables generated across the three phases. Additionally, outreach will be conducted to involve rural communities through the Indiana University Center for Rural Engagement (CRE) and to participate in community workshops and webinars through the Indiana University Environmental Resilience Institute (ERI).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.