The
Regional Indicators Project is part of CMAP’s innovative
GO TO 2040 comprehensive planning campaign. In order to develop and evaluate strategies for implementing the
GO TO 2040 Regional Vision, CMAP is collaborating with
The Chicago Community Trust to create indicators for predicting and measuring economic, environmental, social, and cultural variables that affect quality of life.
An indicator is a quantitative measure that describes an economic, environmental, social or cultural condition over time. Examples include the unemployment rate, infant mortality rates, number of new business start-ups, or air quality indexes.
This fact sheet describes the methodology and rationale of the Regional Indicators Project. For more information or to participate, contact Drew Williams Clark (312-386-8770 or
awilliamsclark@cmap.illinois.gov).
Identification of Key Indicators
The overall purpose of the Regional Indicators Project is to track progress toward achieving the
GO TO 2040 Regional Vision. As such, indicators are divided into the major themes identified in the Regional Vision, with equity, sustainability, and innovation woven throughout. Ultimately, the Regional Indicators Project will consist of 150 key indicators used for tracking purposes.
Considerable time has been devoted to identifying indicators. CMAP contracted with independent firms to investigate and evaluate existing datasets to determine which will be most useful for measuring indicators. CMAP’s working committees identified potential indicators for their topic areas, including transportation, land use, environment and natural resources, freight, housing, human services, and economic development. This extensive indicator “wish list” will be reviewed and refined based on input from indicator workshops for stakeholders and decision-makers throughout the region.
GO TO 2040 Scenario Evaluation
Following the indicators selection, the centerpiece of the
GO TO 2040 campaign will be a scenario evaluation process. The scenario selection will depend on a reliable method that uses indicators to judge the effectiveness of different policies or investments relative to the regional vision. For example, because a strong economy is important to our future, CMAP and its partners will develop indicators that measure economic performance, such as unemployment rates or new business start-ups.
Dashboards for Decision Makers
In addition to the pivotal role it will play in development of the
GO TO 2040 plan, the comprehensive indicators system will be madeavailable into a publicly-accessible tool for regional decision-makers. Utilizing a user-friendly web interface, users will be able to create a personalized “dashboard” of indicators most important to them. Like gauges on a car dashboard, these indicators will be based on real-time data that can be viewed with the click of a mouse. There will also be tools to map, tabulate, and analyze them for different geographic scales — whether region-wide, or locally specific. In addition to getting regional stakeholder feedback on the indicators for the Plan, the workshops will provide an opportunity for these potential users to weigh in on which indicators will be most valuable to them on a dashboard.
Indicator Selection Considerations for GO TO 2040
CMAP is using the following criteria to determine which indicators will be selected.
Importance. The indicator measures an aspect of the region’s vision which most people would agree is important.
Policy Relevance. The indicator measures an aspect of the region’s vision which can achieve positive change through public decision-making and policies at the regional, county or municipal level.
Responsiveness. The indicator responds relatively quickly and noticeably to real changes in the region, as revealed by changes in the direction or slope of the indicator’s trend line.
Validity. If the indicator’s trend line moves either upward or downward, most people would agree on whether the region is improving or declining.
Understandability. The indicator measures an aspect of the region’s vision in a way that most citizens can easily understand and interpret, in relation to their own lives.
Representativeness. Taken together, the indicator set, and the indicators within each vision theme, cover all the major dimensions of the region’s quality of life.
Clarity. The indicator uses clear measures that filter out extraneous factors (e.g., dollar indicators are reported in deflated, constant dollars; per-person rates are used where appropriate to factor out population growth; and raw numbers are used where total magnitudes are important).
Outcome Orientation. Where possible, the indicator measures a regional outcome — the actual condition of the vision (e.g., the crime rate). Alternatively, it measures an outcome of the region’s response to an issue (e.g., police response time), rather than the input of the response itself (e.g., number of police officers).
Asset Orientation. Where possible, the indicator measures a positive aspect of the region’s quality of life (community’s assets rather than its liabilities), so that an increase in the indicator’s trend line reveals community improvement (e.g., the high-school graduation rate rather than the dropout rate).
Anticipation. The indicator anticipates future quality of life conditions rather than reacting to past trends. A “leading” indicator (e.g., cigarettes sold) is more useful than a “lagging” indicator (e.g., lung-cancer deaths) because it allows a proactive community response.