A Data-Driven Triple-Bottom-Line Sustainable Balanced-Reporting Framework for Small Municipalities

Abstract

This study focused on cities in the United States with a population maximum of 75,000. The first phase consisted of a qualitative study of current reporting frameworks to identify the current landscape of sustainability reporting and to create a foundation for a sustainable, balanced-reporting framework. The second phase was an analytical review of available primary data sets, and identified a set of non-redundant, holistically focused metrics for the creation of a standard, sustainable, and balanced-reporting framework. The third phase involved interviews of five participating municipal professionals from communities that implemented sustainable measures. This phase identified participants’ reported needs for successful sustainable reporting, and what strategies were used to obtain stakeholder buy in. In combining all three study phases, I developed a sustainable balanced-reporting framework and a recommended management solution that will provide a holistic, systems-based method of managing and reporting the results of a community’s environmental, economic, and social conditions.