Assessing multi-dimensional complexity through sustainability modeling: A whole community approach

This study engages sustainability thinking to better understand challenges faced by communities in the United States. Sustainability thinking recognizes that communities are complex systems in which economic development, social equity, and ecological integrity form the basis of resiliency, and those drivers should inform policymaking. To that end, this study develops a whole community sustainability (WCS) index that relies on complexity as a strength of the measure. Taking inspiration from the framework approach of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the authors identify 16 unique measures that capture different aspects of community sustainability. Using data from 2010 to 2014, each component of the index is calibrated using techniques from Qualitative Comparative Analysis and then combined to yield a robust index that can be compared across and within space and over time. After constructing the measure, we apply to the case of Oklahoma and find that rural Oklahoma counties outperformed urban counties on WCS during the time period. However, there is higher variability among rural communities relative to non-rural counties in Oklahoma for the overall index and its subcomponents, as both the highest and lowest performing counties are rural. Further analysis indicates that there are racial and class differences in counties that perform well compared to those that perform poorly. This study contributes to literature on sustainability and rural development by creating a replicable model that highlights the importance of a whole community approach. By recognizing the complexities that feed into the characterization of communities, policymakers and community leaders could utilize the WCS index to develop stronger approaches to community sustainability.