Developing Sustainable City Indicators for Cambodia through Delphi Processes of Panel Surveys

Abstract

Currently, Cambodia does not have sustainable city indicators, and green and clean city indicators are also limited compared to UN Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG 11) indicators. Therefore, this research aims to develop sustainable city indicators for Cambodia and to address the questions “Are the green and clean city indicators limited in terms of sustainability?” and “Are the UN SDG 11 indicators suitable for Cambodia?” Delphi processes of panel surveys were conducted to develop the indicators in Round 1, pre-validate the indicators in Round 2, and validate the indicators in Round 3. The results showed that 69 initial indicators were obtained from Round 1; 41 pre-validated indicators were obtained from Round 2; and finally, 32 validated indicators were obtained from Round 3. All of the 32 indicators reached consensus. Based on the consensus indicators, the green and clean city indicators were found to be limited in terms of sustainability, and the UN SDG 11 has nine indicators suitable for Cambodia. These findings could be useful for applying the UN SDG 11 indicators to Cambodia and transforming the green and clean city indicators to sustainable city indicators. The 32 consensus indicators could be used as alternative sustainable city indicators for Cambodia.