The European Structural Funds and Sustainable Development

A Methodology and Indicator Framework for Evaluation

Bibliographic Data

ID12567572
AuthorsPaul Ekins (0000-0003-1975-434X, Policy Studies Institute, UK, corresponding author), James Medhurst (GHK, UK)
Year2006
Volume12
Issue4
Pages474-495
Publication date2006-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEvaluation (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1356-3890 • E-ISSN: 1461-7153
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1356389006071294
OpenAlexW2057004778
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited7

Sustainable development (SD) is now a broad policy objective in the European Union (EU). This article explores how the contribution to SD of the EU Structural Funds (SFs) might be evaluated. It suggests the use of a ‘four-capitals model’ of SD, and outlines how commonly accepted principles and dimensions of sustainability might be interpreted within such a model. The article then reviews various approaches to SD indicators, concluding that an indicator framework is preferable to the various methods of aggregation of indicators that have been proposed. It then relates the indicator issue to the framework for evaluation of the SFs set out by the European Commission. Out of this discussion an illustrative indicator set for such an evaluation, related to the four-capitals model of SD, is derived

Commission · Economic policy · Economics · Environmental economics · European commission · European union · Geography · Political science · Public economics · Regional science · Set (abstract data type · Sustainability · Sustainable development · Computer Science · Regional Development and Policy · Regional resilience and development · Sustainable Development and Environmental Policy