,. . n o , -.‘. a . .o . . o v . _ n D '» o n a . . I ‘n a , I - . . a . ‘ - . «we —_ Mm‘ ~- ~ v<:o~;o‘a~-. . * 4 . . . on , .. r n‘ ' .. . a c .. . ... . 'I' . .. - .. ~ .. . ,. , .. 1 c‘ I - I... . _______—‘ _ -‘--'-‘.“‘." 9' "-""---"“"°" “ "'°""‘ ""'°"- ...r~-.ro- .o.---.-- oqccov-(Qooowodlmvov-WW‘V'VVW . WAN ADVANCEMENT INDICATORS: . . : ' .. A NEW APPROACH 1'0 MEASURING _ . ; ; THE QUAUTYOFLIFE . x , _ . m mamamcmm. w r - Thesis fort e Degree of M. (LP, _ _ - Mic-Hi STATE umveasm -- ~ _ . . " '.'MKCHAELJ;HARROLD 'I . T — " - _ . ~u .- n ‘ o o . . r v I I , a . u . .. It I 0 I" _ a. . _ . . I . ._'. v ' ' ...‘.r 4100'. ‘0 0' a , ,,».‘.J‘ .‘n ...- o. l -. . ..'~°n4'-I-‘l' ‘ ‘ ' . .. . A .c .v-,!. '0 .- -v ' ’ ' ‘ ., .... ' .'.- .al-’-o-v‘-vo Aun- . ..~ . .. pot-Clooro. ,o.. . ‘va .. -.. . . 1 1 . . . .. . n . ., .. .. 0‘ - on- . , . . o . . ."'OOD"‘ 9. '0' nv ' ‘ o: . .*~ - . A . cpor..v.. . c- C :v - to 0‘ o - "no‘o‘ “.h.:.-4. . .“.'.‘.‘~‘.5.~{‘.II‘< D'ov‘.‘ ~. ‘._..,. y“. +u-Im‘ ABSTRACT HUMAN ADVANCEMENT INDICATORS: A NEW APPROACH TO MEASURING THE QUALITY OF LIFE IN LANSING, MICHIGAN BY Michael J. Harrold Urban planning and municipal government Operation are activities which rely heavily upon the gathering of information and statistical data which describe the char- acteristics, nature and resources of the city. In the past, this data gathering has largely encompassed physical things in quantitative terms and has generally reflected this nation's traditional interest in measuring tangible items, such as fiscal expenditures, doctors graduated, housing units built, teacher/pupil ratios and the like. This quantitative orientation in our record- keeping, however, has obscured our view of the results of our efforts in terms of improving the quality of life enjoyed by the peOple of the city. Our statistical indi- cators are almost entirely restricted to measuring what we have done about meeting our needs and problems but not how effective these efforts have been. For example, we 1 Michael J. Harrold have measures of the money spent for public education, but we do not know if the quality of that education is improving. The term "human advancement indicators" desig- nates those measures which attempt to describe the living conditions of peOple in a qualitative sense and which reveal the end result of public and private efforts. This term is used in place of the better known term "social indicators," a recently emerged wording which pretends to serve as a parallel to the "economic indicators" published by the federal government and various economic institutions. The term social indicators is not used here since "social" refers more properly to group or institutional inter— actions than individuals. This thesis, then, postulates that measures of individual human progress are needed in order to accurately assess the degree of success or failure of public and pri- vate endeavors to meet human needs. The recent years of unrest and confrontation have forcefully demonstrated that measures of economic and physical factors are inadequate for understanding and knowing the state of the complex organism that is the city. Additional and more relevant information is needed. Human advancement indicators will attempt to provide this information. 2 Michael J. Harrold In preparing this thesis, the nature of existing data-gathering activities has been examined, and federal and State of Michigan proposals for new types of reporting have been described. The new types of data herein proposed for the City of Lansing have been organized with respect to a framework of goals and policies which needs to be devel- oped in order to properly administer an indicators program. Examples of goals and their related indicators are then set forth in two areas of interest, housing and health, along with commentary on the gathering of the needed data and the intended benefits to be derived from such inquiry. Finally, the application and feasibility of an indicators program in Lansing is discussed. This thesis finds that there is presently a sig- nificant lack of organized and readily usable information relating to the quality of life in Lansing. While a great amount and variety of information is gathered, this infor- mation is widely scattered throughout public and private agencies in many different forms and with no coherence in definition, a real reference, periodicity or interpreta- tion. In addition, there are gaps in data gathered within and between the specific areas of interest investigated by these agencies. Michael J. Harrold The development of an indicators program would draw together some of this diverse information--and seek new information as well--within a framework of goals and enable the users to draw conclusions as to the extent of goal achievement and improvement in the quality of human life. Such a program was found to be feasible and poten- tially of major significance to the direction of urban development, the establishing of priorities and problem- solving in Lansing. HUMAN ADVANCEMENT INDICATORS: A NEW APPROACH TO MEASURING THE QUALITY OF LIFE IN LANSING, MICHIGAN BY .-s', ,J Michael JEJHarrold A THESIS Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF URBAN PLANNING Department of Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture 1971 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The preparation of this thesis was aided through the efforts of many people. First, I would like to thank my advisor, Sanford Farness, whose interest in the subject matter and suggestions as to scope and content of the work were very helpful in making this a rewarding learning experience. Also, I would like to thank my colleagues at the Lansing Planning Department for their interest in this project and for their initiative in calling my attention to relevant resource material. Finally, a special debt of gratitude is owed to my wife, Jeralyn, whose quality of life during the past two years has been less than she deserved. ii Chapter I. II. III. IV. ON TABLE OF CONTENTS "PROGRESS" AND ITS MEASUREMENT . . . The Atmosphere of Social Dysfunction The Role of Planning . . . . . . . . Postulating a Need for Indicators . The Chapters Ahead . . . . . . . . . DEFINITION, DESCRIPTION AND RATIONALE . Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Definition of "Social" . . . . . Human Advancement Indicators . . . . The Difference Between Data and Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . Categories of Indicators . . . . . . Examples of Indicators within Categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rationale and Need . . . . . . . . . HISTORY OF DEVELOPMENT OF CONCEPT . . . Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . The Rise of Economic Indicators . . The Emergence of Social Indicators . Recent Developmental Progress . . . The Federal Effort . . . . . . . . . The Michigan Approach . . . . . . . Indicators for Lansing? . . . . . . THE LOCAL CONTEXT FOR INDICATORS: OPPORTUNITIES AND BARRIERS . . . . . . Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . Opportunities . . . . . . . . . . Barriers . . . The Outlook . iii 14 14 16 18 20 22 25 27 33 33 36 39 45 46 47 51 51 59 65 71 V. INDICATORS AND GOALS . . . . . . . . . . 73 Questions at the Starting Point . . . 73 The Problem of Goal Establishment . . 76 The Relationship of Goals and Indicators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 VI. TOWARD AN INITIALSETMOEMINDICATORS . . 90 Selecting Sample Areas of Interest . 90 HouSing O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 92 Health I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 106 Notes on Operation and Maintenance . 118 VII. CONCLUSIONS: THE APPLICATION AND FEASIBILITY O O O O O O I C O O I O O C 121 Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Feasibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 BIBLIOGMPHY O O O O O O O O O O O O O O I C O O 138 iv CHAPTER I ON "PROGRESS" AND ITS MEASUREMENT The Atmosphere of Social Dysfunction The United States enters the decade of the 1970's faced with a strange and pervasive paradox. As a nation, the United States has progressed at a tremendous rate in its relatively short history. Americans have landed men on the Moon, built a trillion-dollar economy, forged mag- nificent communications systems, conquered many dreaded diseases, harnessed atomic power and otherwise provided themselves with the highest standard of living in the world. Yet for all this, a deepening sense of social crisis has characterized this country over the past few years. Newsweek, in its 1970 Fourth of July issue, wrote, "This Independence Day finds the nation in a recession of the spirit--a psychic downturn so pronounced that the mood may in itself constitute a kind of American crisis."1 After years of dedication, determination, hard work and unbounded 1Peter Goldman, "The Spirit of '70," Newsweek, LXXVI (July 6, 1970), p. 19. confidence, Americans have of late been called upon to face the serious moral problems presented by an "unpopular" war, racial turmoil, campus uprisings and political assas- sination. While these are not new situations, they seem to be magnified and made more urgent through the dramatic impact of mass communications and the increasing free time each individual has to contemplate the world around him. The American peOple are being forced to examine themselves and their cherished way of life with an unaccustomed crit- ical eye. This awakening has been a painful and unsought chore. Compounding the problems is the growing feeling of frustration as to what can be done. In reference to America's tradition of inventiveness and ingenuity, Time_ magazine wrote, "Despite the triumph of the moon voyages, that spirit now seems suddenly unequal to mundane problems: they are beyond the powers of technological or scientific tinkering."2 The steady urbanization of America has led to a concentration of dysfunction, these "mundane problems," in the cities. Air and water pollution, crime, traffic snarls, power failures and physical deterioration and blight are all facts of life in every major city. Ill 2Henry Greenwald, "Thoughts on a Troubled El Dorado," Time, VC (June 22, 1970), p. 18. health, poverty, unemployment and racial discrimination are also major problems in the city, though they are not its exclusive province. One response to these problems has been to run away from them. The explosive growth of the suburbs in recent years has in large measure been in response to the syner- gistic multiplication of the city's problems. As the quality of city life deteriorated, many people who had the financial capability to move to more pleasant surroundings did 80. Those left behind were predominately the poor, the marginally subsisting, the elderly with meager resources and the minorities. As a result, those best equipped to help solve the city's problems removed themselves to new areas so as to enjoy the "good life." Another response, this on the part of city govern- ment has been the evolution of two parallel attempts to cope with the problems. The first has been a marked increase in the number and variety of governmental activities. These have involved both the intensified regulation of private develOpment and the direct provision of public facilities and services. The second has been a new level of partici- pation in the developmental processes previously left almost entirely to the private sector of the economy, such as public housing and urban renewal. This increasing governmental activity in directing urban development has severly strained our traditional mechanisms for handling urban problems. In addition to being overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the urban system, we have been bewildered by its complexities, unable to see clearly just what has been occuring or how to unravel the mysteries of cause and effect. Urban planners have found it difficult to pin down the context for planning, particularly because the urban system has been changing so rapidly even as they have been immersed in it. The Role of Planning Professional city planners have been on the job for over fifty years, yet the cities are still lambasted for their ills. Certainly, this is due in part to the American cultural trait of impatience with imperfect situa- tions. Cities are, in general, better places to live today than they were at the turn of the century. Air pollution, blight, crime, congestion and poverty are not recent arrivals on the city scene; they have been there for a long, long time. What makes the city seem to be regressing is our increasing awareness that these problems, whether improved or further deteriorated, continue to exist. The modern news media with their skilled newsmen and photo-journalists are able to show us our problems with much greater impact than ever before. The Introduction to Toward a Social Report helps bring our paradoxical situation into finer focus: It is not misery, but advance, that fosters hope and raises expectations. It has been wisely said that the conservatism of the destitute is as profound as that of the privileged. If the Negro American did not protest as much in earlier periods of history as today, it was not for lack of cause, but for lack of hOpe. If in earlier periods of history we had fewer programs to help the poor, it was not for lack of poverty, but because society did not care and was not under pressure to help the poor. If the college students of the fifties did not protest as often as those of today, it was not for lack of evils to condemn, but probably because hope and idealism were weaker then.3 The very fact that progress has been made gives rise to hopes and demands that more be made. The aspects of our society that have been ignored or overlooked have suddenly come rushing to the forefront now that the money and the knowledge to meet the needs seem to be in our grasp. Thus, the fact remains that whatever our progress at improving the cities, we still have very great problems to face. If planning is to be criticized for its lack of success, i.e., complete resolution of problems--an unreason- able expectation, this criticism should rest on the fact that the profession has too long equated physical planning 3U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Toward a Social Report (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, January, 1969), p. xii. with city planning. This concept is acceptable as an early stage in its maturation process, but today's urban disharmony clearly shows the limited utility of purely physical planning. The scope and complexity of the urban system dictates a need for a triadic approach involving physical planning, economic planning and social (including human development) planning. Such an approach would constitute true compre- hensive planning. Unfortunately, the term "comprehensive planning" as it is commonly used today relates only to physical planning and thus misleads many people. Kent defines the comprehensive plan as one which (1) deals with all essential physical elements of the urban environment, (2) takes into account the larger geographical setting, and (3) consciously relates to the social and economic forces that it pr0poses to accommodate.4 Most of the present com- prehensive plans reflect this concept and would more appro- priately be called comprehensive physical plans. While physical planning has been a positive force in most instances, it has provided only partial treatment. In an attempt to fill in some of the gaps, a confusing pat- tern of related but autonomous programs has proliferated. Many of these programs crisscross the domains of already established agencies and programs and frustrate effective 4T. J. Kent, The Urban General Plan (San Francisco: Chandler Publishing Co., 1964), p. 98. coordination. In discussing this situation, Holleb writes that, The growth and complexity of these new pro- grams has raised difficult questions relating to the scope and role of comprehensive planning in municipalities. The degree to which the tra- ditional urban planning agencies can and should attempt to embrace all of these burgeoning activ- ities in cities is still problematic.5 Regardless of the degree of involvement on the part of planners, however, there remains the larger question of the responsiveness of municipal governments to the needs of the people. If government wishes to be responsive to these needs, it then follows that it must be aware of the needs. This means more than simply knowing that there are problems. It involves differentiating and specifying prob- lems, understanding their scope and extent, relating causes and effects, and devising and selecting alternative approaches to amelioration and, if possible, solution. The contribution of urban planning in modern govern- ment is described by Fagin as "the deliberate coordination of the activities of many individuals through disciplined research and creative invention."6 He states further that 5Doris B. Holleb, Social and Economic Information for Urban Planning (Chicago: The Center for Urban Studies, 1969), p. 11. 6Henry Fagin, "Organizing and Carrying Out Planning Activities within Urban Government," Journal of the American Institute of Planners, XXV (August, 1959), P- 109. "the purpose of organizing and carrying out planning activ- ities within the framework of urban government is to enable the urban community to make intelligent and coherent decisions about its own physical, social and economic evolution."7 The role of planning thus can be conceived of as contributing to the formulation of urban developmental and Operational policy throughout the broad spectrum of govern- mental interest, responsibility and activity. In this capacity, planning is comprised of five functions: research and information gathering, general goal formulation, specific plan making, coordination and the furnishing of assistance and advice.8 In both physical and economic planning, these five functions have been well-developed and widely implemented. The same cannot be said for social or human development planning. It has been only recently that social planning and extensive social welfare programs have become accepted govern- mental concerns. Public policy long tacitly assumed that the automatic process of the free market, reinforced by thrift and the acquisitive instinct, would insure economic growth 71bid. 81bid. pp. 110-111. and increasing prosperity.9 Thus, social or human develop- ment planning was deemed unnecessary at best and downright un-American at worst. Only now are the forces of reality beginning to erode this concept. Postulating a Need for Indicators As urban planners enter--or are pulled-~into the comprehensive planning arena, they find a dichotomy between their aims and their policy instruments. The former are social and economic and aesthetic while the latter are largely advisory and regulatory. As a result, there are dilemmas and ambiguities in the implementation of complex programs of broad scope. It has become painfully obvious, however, that the outcome of physical development projects for cities is closely linked with the incomes, education, values, health and expectations of the people. Likewise, it should be clear that physical planning depends for its success upon supporting social and economic policies and programs which reinforce rather than contradict the aims of physical plan- ning. 9Lyle C. Fitch, "Social Planning in the Urban Cosmos," Urban Research and Policy Planning, ed. Leo F. Schnore and Henry Fagin (Beverly Hills, California: Saga Publications, Inc., 1967), p. 335. 10 These policies and programs, in turn, depend upon information gathering, its synthesis and analysis and its interpretation. The process of physical planning has long emphasized this data-oriented approach, and planning agencies devote a great deal of time and resources to this task. Most of the data gathered, however, relates to physical planning, and there has been very little serious effort made toward systematically accumulating information which is descriptive of the condition of people within the city. As planners, we know of population counts, retail sales, capital improvements budgets, street traffic volumes, school attendance, racial composition, community facilities needs and many other measures of the functioning city. Yet for all this information, we know relatively little about the quality of the life of the individual in this country. For all the effort and the money being expended, we still lack a clear understanding of the human condition. Bauer writes that, "For many of the important tOpics on which social critics blithely pass judgement, and on which policies are made, there are no yardsticks by which to know if things are getting better or worse."10 10Raymond A. Bauer, "Detection and Anticipation of Impact: The Nature of the Task," Social Indicators, ed. Raymond A. Bauer (Cambridge, Mass.: *The M. I. T. Press, 1966), p. 20. 11 There is a need for such yardsticks if we are to be able to understand the workings of the human settlement and to plan rationally and effectively for its improvement. In recent writings, these yardsticks have been referred to as "social indicators," i.e., measurements which indicate the quality of life within our social system and the changes one way or the other. There are two basic reasons for being concerned with the develOpment of these indicators. First, they could give more visibility to human problems and thus bring about better informed judgments about priorities. Second, this increased awareness might ultimately make possible better evaluation of the public programs which are, osten- sibley, aimed at solving our problems. The existing situation in areas with which public policies must deal is often unclear, not only to the man in the street, but to public officials as well. In the routine processes of daily life it is impossible to gain a complete and balanced view of the condition of the indi- vidual within society. Different problems have different degrees of visibility. This visibility often depends, for example, upon the newsworthiness or potential drama of the problem. In addition, some segments of our society are well organized while others are not. The result is that the 12 problems of some groups are forcefully articulated and publicized, while the problems of other groups are not. Problems also differ in the extent to which they are immediately evident to the casual viewer. A killing smog over New York City or a lOO-car smash—up on a crowded freeway are immediately obvious, but an inadequate school system or the alienation of a minority group may go un- detected for many years. Along with measuring living conditions, we must also determine how these measurements are changing in response to public programs. If we mount a major public safety prOgram, does the rate of violent crime go down? If we enact new anti-pollution ordinances, does the pol- lution level decline? Changes in conditions cannot, of course, be defin- itely attributed to public programs. Major problems are influenced by many things besides governmental action, and the effects of different causal factors stubbornly resist a sorting out. But one way of getting the needed informa— tion is by developing these indicators of existing condi- tions. When we have measures of the conditions we care about, we can try to see how our situation changes in response to changes and innovations in public programs and to the increased public awareness and comprehension of problems. In the long 13 run, evaluation of the effectiveness of public programs will be improved if we have the indicators to tell us how and to what degree conditions are changing. The Chapters Ahead In the remaining chapters, the need for these indicators and the task of developing them for the City of Lansing is explored. The aim of this work is to demonstrate the value of an indicators program and outline an approach to establishing and operating such a program. Basically, the research involves four areas. Chap- ters II and III examine the present state of the art in this field of inquiry and the events which have led us this far. Chapters IV and V survey the existing conditions in Lansing relative to the develOpment of these indicators and set forth a need for official goals and policies as a valuable framework for a measurement program. Chapter VI then explores the areas of housing and health in presenting sample goals and indicators as a dem- onstration of the concept. The final chapter outlines the application of an indicators program and comments on its feasibility. CHAPTER II DEFINITION, DESCRIPTION AND RATIONALE Definition The term "social indicators" is being used with increasing frequency as governments and educational insti- tutions find more and more need to examine the quality of life our citizens enjoy. As with most phrases drawn into common usage, however, the definition has tended to broaden into generality. Thus a basic definition is necessitated for the purpose of this writing. The Department of Health, Education and Welfare, in its initial publication on social reporting, Toward a Social Report, defines a social indicator as "a statistic of direct normative interest which facilitates concise, comprehensive and balanced judgments about the condition of major aspects of a society."1 The report further states that, lU.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Toward a Social Report (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, January, 1969), p. 97. 14 15 It is in all cases a direct measure of welfare and is subject to the interpretation that, if it changes in the 'right' direction, while other things remain equal, things have gotten better, or people are 'better off.‘ Thus, statistics on the number of doctors or policemen could not be social indicators whereas fig- ures on health or crime rates could be.2 It is, then,important to remember that it is the condition of the people rather than the activities of public and private organizations which are the subject of measure- ment. In order to use these indicators as a measurement and management tool, three major steps or implementation processes are required: (1) Regular trend series of indicators, which facilitate comparison from time to time, need to be established. If possible, they should be designed for further comparison with indicator systems of other governmental units so as to provide an outside frame of reference. (2) Mechanisms for gathering the raw data must be organized and established. Ibid. l6 (3) The means of reporting the information with apprOpriate speed, in usuable form, to interested agencies must be worked out. Thus, the term "social indicators" denotes, for practical application, not only the indicators themselves but the implementational framework as well. The develop- ment of a system for gathering and reporting these indica- tors is similar in process to the building of urban data banks which is being accomplished in many larger cities. These data banks, however, are largely concerned with the physical artifacts comprising the city and the basic popu- lation characteristics, while the indicators of social con- ditions focus on the qualitative aspects of life as carried on within that physical setting. The Definition of "Social" It is unfortunate that the literature in the field of social indicators has not evolved a more precise term for the subject. The word "social" is commonly used in a broad general sense in referring to man's activities in all situations. More specifically, however, it refers to his group activities, i.e., within the set of institutions which form the relationships between and among men. This 17 social system is superimposed over the individual human being and structures and guides his daily life. The word "social" is defined as "of or pertaining to society as an organism or as a group of interrelated, interdependent persons."3 Here also, the term is used as referring to men in the aggregate form, interrelated by their institutions, e.g., family, religion, law, education, government, economic, etc. Indeed, the social system is totally comprised of the set of institutions which exist. Use of the term "social indicators" evidently emerged as a phrase to supplement and parallel the widely used "economic indicators" developed for the measurement of economic activities. What the term fails to recognize, however, is that economic activities a£g_social activities, and therefore social activities are not the Opposite or human counterparts, of economic activities. "Social" refers to the institutional activities and relationships of people, of which the economic are only one aspect. Put another way, there is nothing "social" about one person alone because there must be more than one indi- vidual involved for the word "social" to have any meaning. The word depends upon the existence of interpersonal rela- tionships and exchange as a basis for definition. 3Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary (Springfield, M3880, G. CO Merriam C00, 1958)! p0 8030 18 The term "social indicators," then, would be more appropriate for describing the qualitative aspects of insti— tutional behavior and effectiveness and would best be reserved for use in their study and evaluation. Other terms, such as "human welfare indicators," "human advancement indicators," or "human development indicators" would be more appropriate for evaluating the well—being of the individual. It is for these reasons that the term "human advance- ment indicators" is used in this work rather than the less definitive "social indicators." Human Advancement Indicators Human advancement indicators are those measures which refer to and describe the living conditions of people, such as housing quality, freedom of choice in housing locaé tion, adequacy of health care, etc. Some of these indicators will indirectly reflect how well the social institutions are meeting human needs, but they are not designed specifically for that purpose. When they are teamed with indicators of institutional activity and effectiveness, we will then be provided with a revealing picture of how well our society is functioning and where modifications and improvements are needed in order to avoid further harmful or violent dys— functions within the society. 19 Human advancement indicators will be a necessity if "social planning" is to be a meaningful endeavor. If we conceive of social planning as planning for changes and adaptations of various institutions within society--which are already rapidly undergoing profound and confusing changes, then all urban planners are involved in social planning. In fact, they have no choice. The very purpose Of physical and financial planning is to benefit the indi- vidual, but unless these narrow confines are discarded by planners, including all public policy makers, individual human advancement will be needlessly slow and disjointed. The implementation of a human advancement indica- tors system would allow governmental units to have a much more precise and usuable picture of their constituents' way of life and thus enable them to increase the relevancy of their programs and efforts. If the indicators point out failures of the market place, then governments must have the courage to try to fill in the gaps. The federal and state governments have recently made significant progress in this area, but further efforts must be made at the local level. It is at this level that human progress is most readily and realistically observable--and most difficult to achieve. Federal and state governments set the stage for human progress through social policy legislation, but the major burden of improving conditions falls upon local 20 governments. Therefore, local evaluation of existing con- ditions is mandatory for the prOper design and carrying out Of programs for human advancement. It is foolish to say that local government has no concern with social or human advancement because this is the primary reason for having government in the first place. Schools, police and fire protection, libraries, streets and all facilities and services provided by local government are aimed at the advancement of the people. The only ques- tion is where do we draw the line in fostering advancement, or should we draw a line? The traditional concepts of this question and its answers are now hotly debated. Regardless of line-drawing, however, human advance- ment indicators will be extremely beneficial tools of govern- ment, if not in solving problems then at least in under- standing and anticipating them in terms of planning and establishing priorities. The Difference Between Data and’Indicators Statistics are gathered not out of a general sense of curiosity, but rather because it is presumed that they will be guides and monitors for planning and action. Unfortunately, many of the statistics gathered by urban agencies only presume to describe the quality of life enjoyed 21 by the citizenry. In addition, the simple availability of statistics regarding the society (in the general sense) does not ensure that they will be used and studied as indi— cators in any attempt to sum up the state of the city. In parallel with this situation, there appears to be a high degree of interaction between judgments of the importance of a phenomenon and the existence of measure- ments of it. Biderman notes that "we attempt to observe and comprehend those aspects of reality that are important to us, but, at the same time, the aspects that we are best able to Observe and comprehend seem to be those that become important."4 In developing human advancement indicators, there is a need to distinguish and seek out those measures which specifically relate to the human condition while using sur- rogates5 as little as possible. For example, the teacher- pupil ratio is not a reliable indicator Of the quality of education because it does not tell us if today's students 4Albert D. Biderman, "Social Indicators and Goals," Social Indicators, ed. Raymond A. Bauer (Cambridge, Mass.: The M.I.T. Press, 1966), p. 97. 5Gross defines a "surrogate" as an indirect indi- cator that serves as a quantitative substitute for, or representative of, a phenomenon we want to measure. For example, the price one pays for something is a surrogate measure of the human satisfaction derived from that object. Bertram Gross, "Social Systems Accounting," SocialIndicators, ed. Raymond A. Bauer (Cambridge, Mass.: The M.I.T. Press, 1966), P. 267. 22 with a low ratio are learning more than their predecessors who had a higher ratio. The difference between data and indicators, then, is the difference between the descriptive facts or the resources being expended in a given situation and the measureable results of the efforts, i.e., empirical evidence of changing conditions. There are literally mountains of data concerning our educational institutions but very little on the extent to which they have achieved their purpose. The teacher-pupil ratio is only a weak surrogate in this situation. This does not mean that surrogates can be even gen- erally avoided. Many phenomena cannot be directly quantified, such as human aspirations and satisfactions. In such cases, surrogates will be the best we can do. They can perform valuable service for us, but they can also be misused when they are taken too seriously. Users of surrogates must be fully aware of the relationship of the surrogate to the phenomenon being investigated in order that the data may be suitably weighted in interpretation. Categories of Indicators If the project of developing human advancement indicators is to be pursued, the basic question to be 23 answered is, "What is to be measured?" Out of necessity dictated by time and resources, planners and evaluators concentrate their attention in specific areas of activity instead of dispersing their attention to all aspects of human activity. However, they must also have a comprehen- sive view as a background for their strategic selection of activities and programs. In other words, we must know our universe before establishing priorities. The great value of human advancement indicators is that they can provide legislators and planners a conceptual and informational basis for economically scanning the universe and selecting those problem areas that are most relevant and pressing given the particular circumstances. It is also true that a completely comprehensive set of indicators is far beyond our present capabilities and probably always will be. The task, then, is to ascertain which aspects Of human life are most important and realis- tically within our capabilities to affect and improve. To this end, the U. S. Department of Health, Educa- tion and Welfare identified seven categories or areas where it feels indicators can and should be developed: 1) Health and Illness 2) Social Mobility 3) Physical Environment 24 4) Income and Poverty 5) Public Order and Safety 6) Learning, Science and Art 7) Participation and Alienation6 At the state level, Michigan has identified six categories for study and evaluation in a similar manner: 1) Demographic Indicators 2) Health Indicators 3) Economic Indicators 4) Lawful Behavior Indicators 5) Education Indicators 6) Environmental Indicators7 These two sets of indicator areas provide a good example of the kinds of subjects which are thought at high government levels to be the most important aspects of human life and those which can be positively affected by govern- mental action. The items of the two separate lists closely correspond, and it is not mere coincidence that these are 6U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, op. cit. 7Center for Urban Studies, Wayne State University, Social Reporting in Michigan: Problems and Issues, Tech- nical Report A-37, State of Michigan, Office of PIanning Coordination, Bureau of Policies and Programs (Lansing, February, 1970). 25 the subjects which lie at the heart of the national crisis atmosphere. It will be the task of the local governments to follow the examples set by higher governments by establishing appropriate categories of indicators which reflect local problems and areas of conern as well as those which con- tribute to a better overall understanding of local issues. Just how broad this array of categories should be will depend at first on the resources and skills available to the agencies involved. As experience increases and serious gaps become evident, additional categories can be added. Examples of Indicators within Categories The types of indicators derived for each category may come from two sources. First, some indicators will be readily available in the established regular series of statistics used by local agencies, both public and private. Health departments, school boards, law enforcement Offices, insurance companies, industrial firms and planning agencies themselves are examples of record-keeping organizations which could be much more usefully linked through the estab- lishment of an indicator system. The routinization of the exchange of information would benefit all agencies involved. 26 Typical of this type of indicator are health data, such as births (total and illegitimate), mortality (by causes), morbidity, mental illness and disability, and employment and poverty data, such as incomes, employment and job vacancy. This type of data is already well- developed; however, breakdowns by age, race, sex and marital status are not necessarily available in all cases. The effectiveness and utility of the indicator system will depend to a large extent upon the degree of specificity of this data and how well it facilitates analysis by geograph- ical area. The second source of indicators will be the minds of those people devising the system. New indicators series will have to be identified, developed and implemented. In addition, new research techniques may be required in some cases. For example, if we are concerned with measuring environmental quality, we may want to develop indicators Of noise and odor pollution, space utilization, accessi- bility and physical aesthetics in addition to air and water pollution. Scientific measuring devices may be needed in some cases to investigate pollution levels, while perform- ance standards may have to be established for judging space utilization. The human advancement indicators developed in this category may then be contamination, noise and odor 27 levels (by area), space utilization ratios, physical blight identifications and other similar findings. The existing scattered statistical indicator data brought together with newly devised indicators will begin to form a coherent framework for the monitoring and evalua- tion of human conditions within the geographical unit. The extent of this framework will depend upon the needs of the unit, the resources which can be devoted to it and the polit- ical atmosphere encompassing the development of the entire indicator project. Rationale and Need The unprecedented prosperity which has been witnessed by the twentieth century Americans has led to the birth of a widely held legend of national techno-economic omnipotence. With only seven per cent of the world's land area and six per cent of its population, our nation's output accounts for about one third of the world's total industrial production.8 A record of dramatically expanding production on short notice for two world wars, the absence of a major depression since the thirties and the emergence of stunning scientific achievements such as atomic energy, computers, practical use 8Leonard A. Lecht, Goals, Priorities and Dollars (New York: The Free Press, 1966), p. 19. 28 of orbiting satellites and manned space travel have helped create this notion of omnipotence. Our progress is appar- ently spectacular. Or is it? DO we really know? Are we so enamored of GNP statistics, space achievements and the splendid luxury of television and the private automobile that we fail to stop for a moment and take orderly stock of our situation? DO we mistake the success of the "thing-oriented" aspects of our society for a sound indication of the overall advancement of the individual? This is certainly the case in some measure and probably inevitable, for we are cultur- ally attuned to the pervasive philosophy of attaining the new and improved product. Yet what represents progress for the individual? The weight of the evidence supporting the legend is in many ways offset by the rising pressures of unmet needs and the calls for an examination of our way of life and the curious goals and priorities it has unsystematically evolved. Indeed, our entire value system is being called into question, and the role of values is central to the question of progress. It is impossible to know progress without the orienta- tion provided by values. In the introduction to The Dimensions of Values, Mukerjee states that, "Man's mind is the locus of hierarchical dimensions and polarities," and that due to this capacity to comprehend polarities, "he always 29 moves to and fro between the sensory-existential and the ideal-transcendent dimension and derives values from both."9 Thus, he experiences tensions between survival and perfec- tion, impulse and reason, id and conscience, egoism and altruism, self-expression and self-regulation. In the pro— cess, he becomes conscious of the polarities between actual- ities and possibilities, and "as he choses the dimension of possibilities rather than actualities, he creates values and realizes human eidos, essence or being. Values are concomitants of self-actualization and self-transcendence."lo C. J. Herrick, as Mukerjee quotes, observes that, "The thing that is most distinctive about man is the pattern of his growth and the instrumentation of it by a rationally 11 directed desire for improvement." Mukerjee follows by stating: Such a directive quality of adjustment of organ- ism to the environment at the dimension of human social evolution is called 'values' which influence the course of evolution towards greater individuality and Openness of self and purposive direction of self and environment. The qualitative improvement of man may be defined as increase in the range and variety of values as a means of better control of both self and environmental resources for a freer, richer and more harmonious living.12 9Radhakamal Mukerjee, The Dimensions of Values (London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1964), p. 10. loIbid. llIbid., p. 15. 12Ibid. 30 Mukerjee sees the human system of values as not only shaping and transforming man's biological nature but also enabling him to control his environment anddirect his evolution and progress according to his own conceptions of all-around freedom and wholeness as revealed by his intell- igence, imagination and intuition. Thus, our concept of potentialities is a model of value-creation and value- orientation. The concept of progress, then, depends upon the implicit or explicit recognition of values and is facili- tated by the embodiment of these values in some sort of functional framework which serves as a standard for measuring the results of activities and efforts. The problem facing America is the need to critically examine our values as a society and as individuals in an attempt to re-orient our- selves toward working together for overall human advancement. Of course, we have a general notion that progress is being made even without a codification of values--our nation's poor, for example, would hardly qualify for sympathy in the world's underdeveloped countries. We just "know" that pro- gress is being made because in America, the quality of life is supposed to be good, good for everyone. We ascribe special powers to the artificial political boundaries which outline our shores. We don't stOp to evaluate how the pro- gress is distributed. Our faith in the market place assures 31 us that it is here for everyone to enjoy if each individual will do his share. Only very belatedly are we being jarred into awareness of the differing rates of progress at the various levels of our society. The national crisis atmosphere has revealed this to us. We are now beginning to understand that progress toward achieving a full and rewarding life is uneven, that it will take an organized and coordinated approach to our problems if they are to be solved in time to prevent the total break- down of our society which looms before us. This will require a thorough examination of our values, our methods of estab- lishing priorities and our expenditure of available resources, as well as a perhaps painful self-analysis and recognition of the nature and scope of the local urban problems. In recent years, this organized approach has begun to take form in the rise of policy planning and the establish- ment of goals and objectives programs for entire governmental units. By systematically formulating goals, we face up to the fact that there will be competing claims on our resources. We know that we can make substantial progress in some areas and probably some progress in most others, but that we can- not accomplish all of our aspirations at the same time. Confronted with the need to make sense of the diverse claims on our system, we face the options of increasing our resources or utilizing them more effectively and setting feasible 32 targets for our Objectives. In addition to the question of which goals to pursue, we must at the same time decide the questions of how much, in what quantitative combinations and how soon. Now, as the formulation of goals, objectives and policies more and more becomes an accepted process Of government, human advancement indicators need to be developed, both to facilitate the goal-priority-policy evolution and to measure subsequent progress toward goal achievement once the course has been selected. Our indicators need to be those which continually focus our attention on the extent of human progress being derived from our efforts and which fully reflect and take into account the basic underlying issues facing the com- munity. In the process, we may well discover some things about ourselves we hadn't realized before. CHAPTER III HISTORY OF DEVELOPMENT OF CONCEPT Introduction During the middle third of this century, the United States made major advances in developing regular, well- ordered and increasingly reliable economic data. These advances provided some help to public and private decision- making in meeting the challenges of the Depression and World War II. They have been of increasingly greater help since the end of the War when the passage of the Employment Act of 1946 created the Council of Economic Advisors and provided for the President's annual Economic Report and the Council's monthly publication, Economic Indicators.1 Now, as we enter the last third of this century, a significant shift is beginning to occur in the informational aspects of decision-making. This shift is associated with a variety of attempts to outline and map out almost every aspect of our political, social and economic life. Acquiring the social intelligence required to accurately detail these maps may prove to be the most challenging and important tasks facing us. 1Bertram M. Gross and Michael Springer, "Developing Social Intelligence," Social Intelligence for America's Future (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Inc., 1969), p. 3. 33 34 Interest in such programs has long been building and is now widespread. Among the historical sources of this interest are such factors as: l) 2) 3) 4) 5) The increasing maturation of the social sciences during the first two-thirds of this century, with increasing attention to quantitative methods; The emergence of corporate executives with information-oriented styles of management and broader social perspectives; The entry into public positions of a broadening array of intellectuals, professionals, modern-style managers, technologists and natural and social scientists; The acceptance of the "new economics" by both conservatives and liberals, with increasing attention by both to social as well as economic objectives; and, Continuing efforts to provide more rational bases for political decision making.2 Ibid., p. 17. 35 As a result of these occurances, social indicators and human advancement indicators have gained legitimacy in government and academic circles and have led to research and inquiry in disciplines ranging from statistics and mathematics to sociology and political science. Many uni- versity research institutes, government agencies and non- profit service organizations have contributed to the growth of the still-emerging field. Acting as a spur to the academic and private research efforts, government interest at all levels has led to the first attempts at practical application and stimulated expanded research. Since human advancement indicators can describe all the basic aspects of human life, they have begun to generate interest in many areas of government beyond the legislative and executive offices. Line agencies can benefit not only from improved policy-making and legislation by superiors but from the availability of new and better infor- mation as well. Where in the past economic data and routine record-keeping have been primary bases for government decision- making, human advancement indicators can provide much more additional relevant data. As a recent innovation, human advancement indicators come as the latest step in a long history of data gathering by governing bodies and have evolved from the continuing search for new ways to understand and therefore improve our 36 society. Only a few years ago, such a program would not have been feasible due to the political atmosphere of the country and to technological limitations. But today, com- ments Michael Springer, they are ideas "whose time has come, because they are needed."3 The Rise of Economic Indicators The history of the measurement of human concern reaches back even to Biblical times. Joseph's forecast of seven fat years and seven lean years, based on his inter- pretation of the Pharaoh's dream, led to the measurement of all Egypt's land so that during the seven fat years the corn harvested from one-fifth of the land could be stored in 4 The Book of Numbers preparation for the famine to come. also tells Of the first census taken, its primary purposes being to count the number of warriors and to determine a basis for taxation.5 We also know that Mary and Joseph happened to be in Bethlehem for the purpose of being counted in the census. 3Michael Springer, Social Indicators, Reports and Accounts," The Annals of The American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 388 (March, 1970), p. 13. 4Genesis, XLI. 5Numbers, I. 37 The term "statistics" comes from the Latin TEETO status and the Italian ragiono QT state, terms which came into use during the Middle Ages to designate the study of practical politics, as distinguished from historical and philosophical views of state activity.6 The use of numbers and measurement flourished during the Renaissance, and in 1770 the term "statistic" first appeared in English, trans- lated from the German statistik.7 It is only recently that quantification has become an essential element in the definition of statistics. Biderman states that the "rise of numerical study of society is said to stem from the gradual growth of the influence of the seventeenth-century school of thought known as 'political arithmetic,'" but that now a reversal has occured in that treating numbers as relevant to the "condition of the state" no longer has definitional relevance for statistics.8 The U. S. Constitution called for statistics in requiring a decennial census and a periodic Presidential 6Albert D. Biderman, "Social Indicator and Goals," Social Indicators, ed. Raymond A. Bauer (Cambridge, Mass.: The M. I. T. Press, 1966), p. 75. 7W. F. Wilcox, "Statistics, History," Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences (New York: The MacMillan Co., 1934), Vol. 14, p. 356. 8 Biderman, loc. cit. 38 report to Congress on the "State of the Nation." Thus, the framers of the Constitution recognized the information function of government and the need for significant data. Statistics presented in the State of the Union address have been predominantly oriented to economics,9 and now two additional messages supplement it, the Budget Messages begun under the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 and the Economic Report established by the Employment Act of 1946. National economic accounting is of course one of our government's major tasks today. The evolution of these indicators dates back to the 1600's when governments were greatly influenced by the use of business accounting in the great trading companies and by Jean Colbert's historic work in develOping accounting methods for governmental use.10 The preparation of statistical tables for tallying the total output and income of a nation was further developed by the "classical" economists, including most recently John Maynard Keynes. In the United States, a great surge in national economic analysis occured at an accelerating pace during the Depression, World War II and the postwar period of 91bid., p. 92. oBertram M. Gross, "Social Systems Accounting," Social Indicators, ed. Raymond A. Bauer (Cambridge, Mass.: The M. I. T. Press, 1966), p. 162. 39 reconstruction and expansion. During each of these periods, national economic indicators were seen as instruments of national economic planning, and the sophistication involved went far beyond its immediate practical usefulness. Today, the pervasive domination of the economic rationale is slowly beginning to give way to the notion that economic indicators are inadequate for assisting in the formulation of new and innovative social policy and indeed can be misleading in this area. The Emergence of Social Indicators Our society, like most modern societies, has become future-oriented. We have become increasingly aware Of the multiple impacts of social change and in so doing have accepted the fact that our complicated society demands care- ful and soundly-based planning. As part of this planning,* we have to anticipate social change, assess its consequences and decide what policies are necessary to facilitate desir- able changes and inhibit the undesirable. The idea of developing indicators to help bring about this type of planning has a relatively long history and originally arose in the earliest reflection on the con- sequences of private economic activities. These principally involved the recognition of the divergence between the 40 private costs borne by a firm as an individual entrepre- neur and the costs to others as a result of the activity, i.e., the concept of social cost. In his New Principles of Political Economics (1819), the socialist writer Sismondi first made the idea explicit. He argued that man, not wealth, is the true object of economics and advanced his own concept of a social security program supported by employers. It remained until 1920 for A. C. Pigou, in Economics and Welfare, to integrate the idea of social costs into the conceptual systems of equil- ibrium economics. He distinguished between "marginal social product" and "marginal private net product" and pointed out that the investment of additional resources may place costs upon peOple not directly concerned, e.g., pollution of the air and water due to industrial processes. Thus, the mar- ginal net social product of a given unit of investment may be considerably smaller than the marginal private net pro- duct.11 Later exploration into welfare economics has tended to play down the idea of social costs by conceiving of the welfare of the community in terms of the sum total of utilities of individuals. Nevertheless, the idea of meas- uring social costs (also referred to as "externalities" or 11Daniel Bell, "The Idea of a Social Report,": The Public Interest, 15 (Spring, 1969), pp. 73-75. 41 diseconomies") is an important aspect of the trend toward creating social indicators and human advancement indicators. Another pioneering figure in this area was William F. Ogburn who produced a vast amount of work on the measure- ment of social change. He promulgated the development of statistical series which could be correlated and projected into the future and viewed such series as necessary for effective social planning. His major contribution, however, was made while serving as the Director of Research for the President's Research Committee on Social Trends, created by Herbert Hoover in 1929 to study "where social stresses are occuring and where major efforts should be undertaken to deal with 12 Ogburn was the key man behind the them constructively." Committee's massive (29 chapters) publication of 1933, ' Recent Social Trends, which was the major precursor to any contemporary social report. This volume was the outgrowth of five volumes edited by Ogburn, as annual reports, entitled Social Changes in 1928, in 1929, in 1930, in 1931, in 1932. The intention was to continue this annual reporting, but the project fell victim to the pressures of the depression.13 12Springer, op. cit., p. 7. 13Ibid., pp. 75-76. See also: Michael Springer, op. cit., p. 7. 42 Later in that decade, The National Resource Plan- ning Board developed substantial monographic studies on technology, population and the cities which were intended to be guides for the preparation of public policy. These were published as World War II unfolded and were ignored in the resulting tumult. The effort was not resumed after- wards. In view of these early projects, it is surprising how long a re-emergence of interest has taken. During the 1940's and 1950's, sociologists neglected social-trend analysis, and the federal government was chiefly involved with the shaping of macro-economic data and the formulation of the economic advisory process in the Council of Economic Advisers. Since the late 1950's, however, interest in human social conditions has begun to grow once again. As a part of the national introspection precipitated by Russia's Sputnik in 1957, President Eisenhower created the Commis- sion on National Goals to study and report on what our goals should be and to recommend appropriate policies to achieve them. The Commission's report, Goals for Americans,14 was published in 1960 and received widespread notice. While this effort has been called conservative and backward l4American Assembly, ed., Goals for Americans (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1960). 43 15 it nonetheless called attention to the need for looking, major new efforts in self-analysis. During the Kennedy Administration, with the rising concern with domestic social problems, the interest in social measurement and trend-analysis truly reawakened. Economists using cost-benefit analysis methods became aware of the difficulty in measuring social costs and social benefits. Planning-Programming-Budgeting Systems (PPBS) were formulated by political scientists and economists as a means of rationalizing diverse governmental programs and guaging the effectiveness of alternative approaches. Socio- logists became interested in long-range forecasting for purposes of social planning. Today's interest in social indicators has been one result of the confluence of all these concerns. It remained until Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society" programs for the idea of measuring the quality of life to take on an operational form. Richard N. Goodwin, in a Washington, D. C., address on July 20, 1965, set the stage: The Great Society looks beyond the prospects of abundance to the problems of abundance. . . . Every- where there is growth and movement, activity and change. But where is the place for man? . . . The task of the Great Society is to ensure our people the environment, the capacities, and the social structures which will give them a meaningful chance to pursue their individual happiness. . . . Thus the 15Michael Springer, op. cit., p. 8. 44 Great Society is concerned not with how much, but how good--not with the quantity of our goods but the quality of our lives.16 The idea and the hope were there, and considerable research on social reporting was accomplished. Yet, even the Johnson Administration found the process difficult to put into action. It was not until the last day of his term of Office, January 20, 1969, that the book, Toward a Social Report was published. The book represented the first federal effort to try to devise a system of human advancement indi- cators at the national level and spurred interest in the concept at state and city government levels. The idea has had serious consideration in Congress. Through the efforts of Senators Walter F. Mondale (D-Minn.) and Fred B. Harris (D-Okla.), "The Full Opportunity and Social Accounting Act" was introduced in two consecutive sessions of Congress. This bill called for the creation of a council of social advisors, an annual social report of the President, and a joint committee on the social report. On July 13, 1969, the Nixon administration committed 17 itself to the idea Of annual social reports. However, no further federal work on indicators and reporting has 16Quoted from Gross, "Preface," op. cit., p. xii. l7Springer, op. cit., p. 3. 45 been published. Judging from the Republican administra- tor's approach to dealing with social problems, it appears that the continuation of meaningful research and the imple- mentation of social reporting will have to await a new Democratic administration or the reintroduction and passage of the Full Opportunity Bill. Recent Developmental Progress The field of applied social or human advancement indicators is of such recent origin that very little in the way of research or basic program outlines for specific units of government has been published. In fact, only the above-mentioned federal document and the State of Michigan's Social Roporting in Michigan are readily available for study. Springer reports that the states of New York and Missouri (in addition to Michigan) and the cities of New York, Boston, and Detroit have "explored the possibility of social reporting."18 Correspondence with each of these governmental bodies, however, revealed that none has pro- ceeded far enough to provide any material useful here. Apparently, these "explorations" either have not progressed to any significant degree or have not reached the point where material for public inquiry has been prepared. 18Ibid. 46 The federal and State of Michigan programs on social reporting are discussed in the remainder of this chapter in order that the reader may have some understanding of the approach of these pioneering efforts in developing indicator systems. The Federal Effort The document Toward A Social Report does not pur- port to be a social report. As the title implies, it is an attempt on the part of social scientists to look at several important areas of social concern and digest what is known about progress toward generally accepted goals. The document treats six areas: health, social mobility, the condition of the physical environment, income and pov- erty, public order and safety, and learning, science and art. A seventh area, participation and alienation, is examined, but the authors state that little more than "asking the right questions" can be attempted with this subject. In each of the six areas, the study discusses the status of our nation and cites general sub-areas for which indicators should be devised. Basically, it outlines the types of data which are already available to start the continuing assessment of the society and sets forth the needs for new types of data to round out our picture of 47 ourselves. A principal aim of the study appears to be to draw attention to the biases and weaknesses of present statistics and indicators and to demonstrate how and why we should go about correcting these deficiencies. While this study accomplishes these rather general aims, it makes no attempt to present a basic set of indi- cators for each major area. However, the document was actually prepared to provide a point of beginning for a major federal commitment to development of a social reporting program on a scale approaching that of the economic reporting establishment. As such, it serves as an introduction to the field and Opens the door to a vast new area of inquiry into the true nature of the state of human welfare in this country. The Michigan Approach The State of Michigan published its first document in this field in February 1970, approximately one year after the federal study was published. This document, Social Reporting in Michigan: Problems and Issues,19 was pre- pared by the Center for Urban Studies at Wayne State 19Center for Urban Studies, Wayne State University, Social Reporting in Michigan: Problems and Issues, State of Michigan Office Of Planning Coordination, Bureau of Policies and Programs, Technical Report A-37, (Lansing, February, 1970). This document was prepared for and is available from the Office of Planning Coordination. 48 University of Detroit under the coordination of Dr. Eugene D. Perle. The Michigan study differs greatly from the federal study. While the Michigan document also outlines the need for reporting and the problems involved, it goes on to dis— cuss present reporting activities, the varieties Of data available and a method for organizing the data. Most importantly, however, this document suggests and attempts to Operationalize actual indicators within six substantive areas: demography, health, the economy, lawful behavior, education and environment. The emphasis in each area is upon the assessment of conditions of life for individuals or households. The report focuses on the outcome or presumed results of public and private programs rather than on inputs or measures of the programs themselves. It also evaluates the range of existing information, data inconsistencies and data incom- parabilities and pinpoints data gaps. In spite of the problems acknowledged in the report, the authors believe that indicator programs should begin now since we cannot wait for "better information" to become available. Their view of the situation is clearly spelled out: . . . it is naive to believe that all of the infor- mation required for a comprehensive information system of socio-economic indicators could be specified 49 a riori either now or in the foreseeable future. Thus t ere appears to be no justification for waiting for 'better information.‘ In fact, starting a regular program of public reporting will do more towards accelerating efforts to get and use better information than will be the rhetoric associated with avoiding such a commitment. Not enough infor- mation exists for all pertinent indicator categories to be covered in any reporting system begun at this time, nor is information available from as small geographic units as would be Optimal. These defic- iencies can be corrected as the annual reporting system is developed. Indicators for Lansing? The Michigan report forcefully articulates the State's needs while admitting that initial efforts will, by necessity, be relatively modest. In the case of cities, and particularly smaller cities, the needs are at least as great, and the problems to be encountered in developing suitable programs are probably greater. In the City of Lansing, for example, quality of life indicators could be extremely useful to policy-makers and planners. Yet such a program would be a major undertaking, making major demands for funds, staff time and specialized expertise. Political and public acceptance of such a program could also be dif- ficult to achieve. The following chapters attempt to explore the feasibility of a human advancement indicators program for 201bid., p. 277. 50 the City of Lansing and to devise an approach to estab- lishing an initial set of indicators. The emphasis is on the problems of establishing a suitable program design rather than on the technical and mechanical aspects of operating such a program. CHAPTER IV THE LOCAL CONTEXT FOR INDICATORS: OPPORTUNITIES AND BARRIERS Introduction Lansing exists today as a city with great potential for organized growth and a steadily increasing quality of life for all its residents. This potential is based on several major factors. The city is prosperous, having a relatively stable and diversified employment pattern as a basic support. It has a central location within the most heavily urbanized area of the state and serves as the State Capital. It is well served by a regional transpor- tation network. The average household income for the city is high,1 and the average school years completed by residents exceeds 12 years.2 Skill levels of the labor force are steadily 1In 1968, the Lansing area ranked 52nd in the country. Lansing, Planning Department, Community Renewal Division, Community Needs: A Program for the Future (Lansing, 1969), p. 7. 2 Ibid., p. 8. 51 52 being upgraded to higher and medium skilled occupations,3 and job Opportunities are expanding. Moreover, regional studies project significant continued increase in all of these areas.4 All these factors augur well for the future of Lansing. Yet the problems which confront the nation as a whole also threaten to seriously endanger the well- ordered progress of the city. The same growth which has brought prosperity and advancement to most of the city's residents has also brought frustration and disillusionment to others in the community. Unemployment and underemployment still plague less fortunate citizens. Many of the vital industrial firms have sites that are now hemmed in and exert a blighting influence on some older neighborhoods. The railroads and trucks which tie the industries to their markets now snarl traffic and degrade residential areas. Lansing's pleasant inner-city neighborhoods of earlier years have been allowed to deteriorate and are now increasingly becoming a dumping 3Lansing, Planning Department, Community Renewal Division, Employment Analysis, Working Paper No. 4 (Lansing, 1966), p. 2. 4Ibid.,pp. 5-7. See also: Tri-County Regional Planning Commission, The House We Live In, An Introduction to the Comprehensive Regional Development Plan (Lansing: The Commission, 1968). 53 place for the poor and the minority groups who find it virtually impossible to escape. As in many other cities, the Opportunities of growth and progress have also provided the city with a challenge. Yet, the response has been inadequate in many cases. The Lansing master plan of 1921 cited problems which sadly remain after half a century: The present city shows evidence of haphazard- ness, carelessness, uncoordinated effort. The best city that could have been built upon the site has not realized. A large part of the natural beauty of river and woodland, undoubtedly impressive in the early days of the community, has been permitted to disappear. The fact of its being the capital is but very slightly reflected in the appearance of the city. The regularity and order of the street layout Of the early "Town of Michigan" has not even been continued. Streets end abruptly, make jogs and vary in width without reason in the areas outside the original town. There is consequent disruption of traffic flow and loss to industry, commerce and eventually to the resi- dents of the city. All the railroads operate through the city at grade, their crossings being both dangerous and wasteful. Separate rights-of-way are used and no effort is made to simplify Operation or combine for efficiency and better service. A belt line railroad has been built . . . but its location was ill-advised with reference to tendencies of growth and an orderly residential expansion. Already the constrictive effect of the belt is being felt. . . . Parks and play areas, furthermore, have not kept pace with other growth. The pronounced industrial character which Lansing has lately assumed should dictate a more thorough interest on the part of the city in such facilities. Too great dependence has heretofore been placed on the generosity of individual citizens. As a consequence Lansing is missing the beneficial effect of a well-rounded system of recreational facilities. In housing the city is more fortunate, but still the standards and safeguards are imperfect. There are no substantial guarantees that present conditions will continue. . . . In its present state Lansing is a strange mixture of factories, 54 stores and homes with certain individual units of each type preempting space properly belonging to another use. Conflict of interest has resulted and incidentally property values have suffered unneces- sary derangement.5 Only a cursory examination of the state of the city today is needed to find that most of these comments remain appropriate even after 50 years of trying to COpe with the problems. In the mid—1960's, the Lansing City Council recog- nized the continuation of serious problem situations within the city and on June 25, 1965, directed that a thorough study of the city's problems and needs and a program to resolve them be undertaken. The Lansing Community Renewal Program (CRP) was the response to this order. Since that time, the CRP analysis has shed a great deal of light on the conditions of the city. A thorough housing conditions survey in 1966 revealed that approximately 50% of the housing supply, over 20,000 units, was substandard, and that nearly 6,000 units, or 15% of the total supply, had deteriorated to the point where it is doubtful that they could even be rehabil- 6 itated. This serious deterioration of housing units has 5Harland Bartholomew, The Lansing Plan (St. Louis, Mo., 1921), pp. 13-14. 6Lansing, Planning Department, Community Renewal Division, Community Needs: A Program for the Future (Lansing, 1969), p. 10. 55 been accompanied by an out-migration of middle-income families to the suburbs and a corresponding in-migration of lower-income and minority groups families, primarily in the inner city. Major factory expansion, Interstate Highway con- struction and expansion of the State Capitol complex resulted in a loss of nearly 2,000 housing units, mostly low-value homes, during the six-year 1963-1968 period.7 While the city gained an additional 4,500 units during this period,8 most of the units were designed primarily for upper middle-income groups. The nearly 1,200 units of moderate-income and low-income public housing9 which were built helped ease the situation, but demand continues to be far in excess of supply. While substandard housing conditions are found in the greatest number around the older inner city area which develOped prior to 1920, there are also pockets of deteriora- tion in more recently develOped areas, particularly low- income areas which were carelessly develOped in the town? ship and then later were annexed to the city. The environment 7Ibid., p. 12. 81bid. 9Lansing, Planning Department, Community Renewal Division, Lansing's Community Renewal Program (Lansing, 1970), p. 6. 56 in these substandard areas is characterized by traffic volumes which exceed street capacity and which result in noise and air pollution. Land uses are intermixed with no single identity discernible. School and park facilities are also inadequate. Furthermore, these con- ditions are having a detrimental effect on adjacent areas, and these blighting influences are gradually spreading, threatening stable neighborhoods and property values. The CRP studies also indicated a strong relation- ship between the physical deterioration Of the city and its social problems. Areas with a high incidence of social problems (e.g., crime, juvenile delinquency, unemployment, welfare cases, etc.) were generally found to correspond 10 with the areas which were physically blighted. The Community Renewal Program directly addressed itself to this relationship: There are individuals, families and neighbor- hoods with serious social problems, sometimes overwhelming ones. Just renewing and upgrading the physical plant will not make the city a sig- nificantly better community unless something is also done to eliminate or alleviate social and personal problems. This suggests the importance of locating social blight as well as physical blight. It also indicates the need for dealing with social blight at the same time that efforts are made to correct physical b1ight.11 10Lansing, Planning Department, Community Renewal Division, Community Needs: A Program for the Future (Lansing, 1969), p. 30. 11 Ibid. 57 Thus, the local context for developing a human advancement indicators program is a mixture of positive and negative factors which make up the physical, social and human character of the city. The call for locating those negative factors which the report labels as "social blight" perceptively provides for a direct entry into an indicator program at the city level. The human advance- ment indicator program should serve as both an investiga- tive tool and a diagnostic process which operates in con- junction with continuing physical evaluation programs. A meaningful measurement of human advancement in selected areas of interest could assist in the physical renewal process as well as enabling the decision-making hierarchy to recognize successes and short-comings in public pro- gramming and identify new areas where treatment programs are needed. Lansing, then, has reached a point in its history where both strengths and weaknesses are publicly recognized, and more importantly, where there are individuals who are willing to take the steps to counteract the negative fac- tors before the advantages of the positive factors are hopelessly outweighed. The Community Renewal Program has also pointed up this situation: 58 The problems that we face in Lansing, in terms of magnitude, are perhaps smaller than some major cities, but many of these cities have also reached the point where they simply cannot solve their problems. They are beyond their ability to do so. Fortunately, we have not yet reached this point. Whether we proceed with solving our problems, or do nothing, will depend upon effective leadership at the local level. The federal and state govern- ment will provide tools, but it is go at the local level who must carry out the programs. We are the ones who will determine success or failure in Lansing.12 In attempting to come to grips with the problems facing the city, the stage has been set for broad scale improvement programs which will embrace many facets of urban life. At present, however, no formal commitment has been made to establishing a human advancement indica- tors program. This is not surprising since the concept is only in its earliest stages Of development even in much larger cities and higher levels of government. There is little previous experience to draw upon, and the problems involved in such a project are only partially understood. Nevertheless, such a program promises the city fresh in- sight and understanding of the nature of the lives of individuals in the city and offers the chance to explore new territories of urban research which are largely un- charted. 2Lansing, Planning Department, Community Renewal Division, Lansing's Community Renewal Program (Lansing, 1970)! Pp. 14-15. 59 The institutional array in Lansing presents both opportunities for and barriers to establishment of a human advancement indicator program. The remainder of this chapter attempts to identify these Opportunities and barriers and relate them to the feasibility of such a program. Opportunities The most unique Opportunity Open to Lansing is represented by the proximity of the state government establishment. As Michigan is the only state government which has made significant progress toward a system of social reporting (in the sense of assessing living con- ditions of individuals or households), assistance in developing a local indicator program is close at hand. Even Wayne State University, which provided the state with the basic research and concept formulation for the project, lies within easy driving distance for consultation if neces- sary. These agencies represent valuable expertise available in the local area, and hopefully they will continue to attempt to Operationalize a statewide indicator system. 13 In the state document discussed earlier, the point is made that a great deal of local data reporting 13Center for Urban Studies, Wayne State University, Social Reporting in Michigan: Problems in Issues, Technical 60 is done, but that "it is difficult to assess the infor- mation that has been developed and the extent to which it is unused. Sponsorship of improvement in local reporting 14 This efforts would appear to merit state attention." type of commitment by the state, if it materializes, could help forge a state-local partnership in developing compat- ible systems. And what better place for the state to begin than the capital city itself? Perhaps Lansing could even serve as a pilot project area with state funding assistance. The city could only benefit from participating in such a program from its inception, and few, if any, cities have such an obvious locational advantage. Lansing also has a good opportunity to develop an indicator program by virtue of its participation in a wide range of federally-assisted urban development projects Offered by the U. S. Departments of Housing and Urban Devel- opment and Health, Education and Welfare. Many such pro- grams provide enough flexibility to include funds for the development of an indicator system, and this type of en- deavor could be easily justified in view of its potential value to the city. Such federal grant projects as the 701B Report A-37, State of Michigan, Office of Planning Co- ordination, Bureau of Policies and Programs (Lansing, February, 1970). l4Ibid., p. 14. 61 Comprehensive Planning Assistance Renewal Programs could be structured so as to include development of components of an indicator system. The existence of a strong Model Cities organization in Lansing represents another Opportunity. A human advance- ment indicators program could provide information extremely valuable to the Model Cities operation, and a joint funding/ staff assistance arrangement should be possible between this agency and the City Planning Department (or other designated program‘sponsor). In the federal document Improving the Quality of Urban Life: A Program Guide to Model Neighborhoods in Dem- onstration Cities, two important basic program guidelines are included‘which are particularly relevant here. (First, it states that programs "should coordinate federal, state and local efforts" to overcome fragmentation of effort.15 The development of an indicator program should meet this criterion. The second states that programs should "demonstrate new and imaginative proposals, . . . designed to develop new approaches to solving long-standing problems."16 . 15U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Improving the Quality of Urban Life: A Program Guide to Model Neighborhoods in Demonstration Cities, HUD PG-47, (Washington: U. S. Government Printing Office, December 1967), p. 4. 16 Ibid. 62 The indicator program should qualify under this criterion as well. While Model Cities is an action-oriented program, basic research into the quality of life should be a pri- mary interest of the organization. Moreover, the program achievement standards discussed in this document cite several areas of concern which could coincide with the indicator program, e.g., education, health, housing, income, employment, crime and delinquency and physical environment.17 The indicators would serve to provide valuable measurement tOols needed to assess the effectiveness of Model Cities programs and enable the program participants to thoroughly investigate living conditions in the Model Cities area. The existence of an established city planning depart- ment with motivated personnel and adequate funding also represents an Opportunity for operationalizing an indicator program. While this department would not necessarily have to be the sponsoring agency, it wOuld appear to be the best suited in terms of work orientation, expertise, philosophic background, and staff training. The department's experience in operating federal grant programs for complex projects which involve broadly based data-gathering segments and large-scale reporting l7Ibid., pp. 6-15. 63 efforts provide a basic foundation which probably would not be sufficiently developed in other city agencies. While others could provide extremely beneficial staff assistance with specialized expertise and links to outside resources, the Planning Department would appear to be the logical program sponsor. Another Opportunity, related to the above discus- sion, centers on the City's entry into data processing activities for the various municipal Operations (e.g., pay- roll, tax statements, assessor's records, etc.). The Plan- ning Department has already spent two years working toward developing an urban data information center which will con- tain basic information pertaining to physical characteris- tics Of the city (e.g., parcel description, land use, land values, zoning, CRP data, etc.). Experience in working with this data system will serve to familiarize the staff with this type of operation and help establish procedure for designing and implementing the human advancement indi- cator data system. Furthermore, the ready availability of the physical data (and related fiscal data) will allow for the compar- ison of various types of information so as to assist in correlation of findings and eventually to identify causal relationships among the prevailing forces and conditions. This type of research activity is presently being accomplished 64 manually, and the use of computers will greatly facilitate the entire data use and analysis process. A final major opportunity, at least potentially, is represented by the proposed revision of the City Charter to create an Office of Urban Development. The purpose of this office would be to coordinate the services, activities and information related to urban development, to provide financial and technical assistance to the various urban development activities of the city, and to assist in the effectuation of programs and projects meeting the urban 18 It is initially proposed develOpment needs of the city. that this office would be created within the executive branch of the city government and headed by an administrator appointed by and serving at the pleasure of the mayor. This administrator would be a person prepared by professional training and experience in urban management and development.19 United within this office would be the present Plan- ning Department, Model Cities, Urban RedevelOpment, Housing Office and Human Relations Office, plus the Federal Programs Coordinator. The combined power and resources of these agencies would facilitate the inauguration of an indicator program by placing under unified leadership all activities 18Adley Associates, Inc., The Development Process/ Lansing (Lansing, 1968), p. 47. 19 Ibid., p. 48. 65 which have a major stake in such a program. This closer coordination of offices could bring together a wider range of knowledge and expertise, a variety of outlooks and expectations and more broadly based support for imple- mentation and operation. Wider acceptance and use is also more likely due to the size and prestige of this agency. The Opportunities for develOping a human advance- ment indicators program for Lansing appear to be extensive. In fact, it is surprising that more thought has not been given to measuring the improvement of the condition of the individual resident in light of the major programs which have been and continue to be mounted for the purpose of improving the community. Failure to pursue these oppOr- tunities would be to abdicate a responsibility to all tax payers and citizens and to ignore the problem of measuring the success or failure and the service or disservice of public and private activities within the community. Barriers While the opportunities for an indicators system are significant, there are also barriers and limitations to be faced. The primary obstacle would appear to be the prevailing conservative philosophy in governmental and political affairs within the community. While Lansing is 66 the capital of what can be regarded as a progressive state, the city is perceived as "small and conservative" by many residents.20 A study of community leaders in Lansing found that four-fifths of these leaders were businessmen,21 and that they felt that the most influential and powerful organiza- tions were the Chamber of Commerce, labor unions, the local newspaper and the Board of Realtors.22 In specifying major community achievements with which they were involved, this group cited the Community Chest, Civic Center, hospital drives, Chamber Of Commerce programs, traffic and parking 23 While they were in almost com- improvements and others. plete agreement that metropolitan planning was the most important issue facing the area, this was largely envisioned as a physical problem. There was little or no expressed concern about social problems, such as full employment, race relations, housing, education, etc.24 20William H. Form and Warren L. Sauer, Community Tnfloentials In A Middle-Sized City, General BuIIetin No. 5, The Institute for Community DevelOpment and Services, Michigan State University (East Lansing: The Institute, 1960), p. 2. 21 Ibid., p. 3. 221bid., p. 13. 231bid., p. 12. 24Ibid. 67 A more outspoken approach to viewing the local 25 It found power structure was taken in a 1966 report. that, in general, politics in Lansing has been completely dominated by whomever dominated the business community. Until World War I, this control was open, but since then, top management has receded from public View, with second echelon men tending more and more to be visible representatives of corporations, and with small businesmen and second-rate lawyers tending to hold public office. Little practical control seems to have been relinquished, though power does not need to be exercised often. Policy decisions are made without their consent only if they are unin- terested, for since they have paid the tab (in taxes and in large donations to public causes) they call the tune, as always. Power is exercised through con- trol of the organizational structure and through repu- tations for power--this has been true since the turn of the century industrial expansion placed the vital interests of corporations in the national economy. Failure to hold public office has had twin advantages: since business is not publicly accountable for policy decisions it can pose as a community benefactor and polish its public relations image, and non-political controls are less time-consuming than public Office. The policy discussion arena seems to be the privacy of civic associations such as the Chamber of Commerce or even in private clubs. Historically Lansing has had--a) homogeneous and concentrated power structure, b) a lack of significant conflict or cleavage within the community, c) little initiative from government agencies, in keeping with business domination, and d) a consistent conservative bias to both electoral politics and political decisions. SO long as the historical socio-economic pattern is maintained, the above political characteristics will 25Paul H. Ray, Saghir Almad, William Ice, and Leon Shilton, A Political Profile of Lansing, Michigan, Internal Report #11 of the Urban Regional Research Institute, Michigan State University (unpublished report, East Lansing, August 1966). 68 be stable, unchanged both from structural inertia and from active resistance by community influen- tials.26 This profile of "community influentials" is hardly surprising or unusual. It does represent, however, a tra- ditional and conservative approach to community action which does not go unnoticed by local government. City govern- ment in Lansing generally reflects these traditional inter- ests, and Often views with a skeptical-—and defensive--eye any official program that tinkers with the social mechanisms in the community which have historically been the exclusive domain of our free enterprise system. Indeed, even the findings of Community Renewal Program studies have been met with varying degrees of disbelief, cynicism and hostility. In a situation where social inquiry is to some degree held in low esteem, and even feared, the proposal of a human advancement indicator program is certain to draw opposition. Its utility and cost are likely to be questions, and perhaps the motives behind it will be challenged. Nevertheless, a sound program with adequate backing should be able to with- stand such pressures. The problem will be to gain the con- fidence, or at least the tolerance, of the political Oppo- sition. This may not be a simple task, but it stands as probably the major barrier to instituting an indicator program. 26Ibid., pp. 4-5. 69 A barrier which has some relationship to the one above is the dual problem of fund limitations and lack of proper expertise. The develOpment of an indicator system will require a significant, though probably not major, expenditure of funds beyond the existing budget. This cost relates to four basic needs: designing the program, gath- ering the data, processing and manipulating the data, and evaluating and disseminating the data. Thus, the additional costs will be a function of increased demands for staff time (or consultant or subcontractor time), increased com- puter operations and the potential need for a staff special- ist to prOperly administer the indicator program. If these costs must be borne "in house," then fund limitation is a major barrier. If federal or state funds can be obtained (as all or part of a grant), then the importance of this barrier may be greatly reduced. Another barrier is presented by the availability of the needed data and the form of the data which is available. The problem here will lie in the discovery of the many various sources of data and the determination of the rele- vance, soundness, and limitations of the data which they collect. A significant amount of time will be needed to investigate all of federal, state and local public agencies and the private organizations in the area which are poten- tial sources. 70 While these sources are being identified and evaluated, the form and degree of availability of their data will have to be taken into account. Certain questions will have to be asked. Does the information lend itself to breakdown by geographic area? By sex, age, race or nationality, marital status, income group, etc.? How con- fidential is it? How is it stored and how can it be ex- tracted? How is it updated or how often is it gathered? How accurate is it? Can the gathering process be modified to gain additional valuable information? Must the infor- mation be paid for? The answers to these and other questions represent a barrier more to the utility of an indicator program than its feasibility. But if the problems encountered here are severe, then data-gathering projects will have to be initiated within the program itself and costs may be multi- plied. It would appear that the best approach would be to initiate an indicator program with the best data currently available and then build toward a comprehensive and inte- grated data-gathering function on a city or regional basis, with public and private cooperation. A final barrier centers around the city's lack of a formalized statement of goals, policies and objectives. This problem ties in closely with the develOpment of an indicator program, and the subject is discussed in detail 71 in the next chapter. Suffice it to say here that this lack does present a problem, not only in terms of pro- viding guidance to an indicator program but also in terms Of providing guidance to the entire governmental effort. The Outlook On the whole, the local context for developing a human advancement indicators program for Lansing appears to be promising. There is a growing need for the data which the program could provide, and the opportunities which can be utilized are numerous. The barriers, while formidable, do not seem insurmountable. The development demands of this dynamic and growing city call for a clear understanding of the condition of individual and family life on the part of all public and private policy makers. Since the city has the need and the tools are at hand, the outlook should be bright. The danger, however, lies in the political forces and establishment interests which may perceive a threat in a program that inherently seeks out information which will not always be pleasant to learn. There would, however, seem to be more threat inherent in a society in which human dissatisfaction is significant and growing. These forces must be convinced 72 that the era Of hiding or ignoring human problems is over and that the only answer to today's disillusionment and social unrest is getting problems into the open and de- vising solutions. If this point can be made, an indicator program for Lansing can be achieved. CHAPTER V INDICATORS AND GOALS Questions at the Starting Point In initiating work on a human advancement indica- tors program, we first need to ask very basic questions as to the nature of the task as it fits into the overall scheme of municipal acitivity. The answers to these questions will set the stage for gaining a clearer under- standing of the problems involved and will establish the framework of an orderly process for arriving at a useful program. The initial question we must answer is "what are we trying to learn?" We already know a great deal about the institutional establishment in Lansing, about the money spent, about the Operating programs and their intended benefits. What we really need to know, however, is the condition of life for the people living in and affected by this complex system. What is the range of these con- ditions? Where and for whom are conditions improving or deteriorating? 73 74 What must we do then to attempt to ascertain these conditions? The answer is to develop indicators which pro- vide quantitative data that serve as indices to socially important issues within the city. We must try to gather data which in some measure reveal the details of living conditions. The indicators need not necessarily be new types of data. They could, for example, be formed by the combinations Of existing but scattered and heretofore un- related data. New types of data may be needed in some cases of course, and here the task will be to structure the indicators program so as to point the way to these new areas of concern. We also need to understand clearly why we are under- taking this type of program. The answer to this question has been discussed at some length in Chapters One and Two. But basically it is because the effective planning and guid- ing of municipal activities demands a sensitivity to a wide range Of conditions which reflect the impacts of program or the lack of programs. Devising an indicator system is one way of establishing this sensitivity. It is an extremely valuable management tool which has always been needed but which only recently has become possible in terms of tech- nical expertise and popular acceptance. If government has the courage to face the possibility of finding failures, then the first step toward rectification has been taken. 75 In effect, the indicator program is an attempt to learn the good and the bad about life in the city. To govern and administer wisely, we must learn both. Many of the major problems of the nation are a result of our proudly pointing at the good while avoiding or failing to perceive the bad. This era of one-sided viewing ended with the 1960's. If a commitment to this type of thinking is made, what then is entailed? Carrying on an indicator program involves a systematic effort toward achieving a coherent grasp of the broad spectrum of human problems with full regard for their interdependence. To accomplish this it aims to provide pragmatic, empirical measures of key aspects of human life and social processes which can allow us to Observe change and to direct or adapt to these changes. Thus, the indicator program would enable us to prepare, i.e., plan, for the future and attempt to organize our efforts in such a way as to minimize the negative aspects of change and maximize the positive aSpects. Once such a program is instituted, how do we employ it? That is to say, how do we use the information so as to identify change? The task here is to develOp standards and goals in the substantive areas of concern. By so doing we can guage movement in the indicators according to estab- lished criteria for evaluation, and over a period of time 76 we will be able to draw conclusions as to the direction the city is moving in relation to efforts made. Thus, in order for the city to derive maximum benefit from an indicator program, it would be necessary to formulate a statement of community goals, Objectives and policies related to human advancement. This state- ment, hOpefully, would illuminate some problem areas and therefore help identify areas of interest to which the indicator program could be addressed. The goals-policies statement would also assist operating departments in structuring their activities and have a stabilizing influ- ence on the decision-making environment of the city by providing a common definition of the public interest. Even without an indicators program, Lansing has a very real need for a goals-policies statement. With the program, such a statement becomes almost mandatory. The Problem of Goal Establishment At present, Lansing suffers from a lack of a form- ally devised and popularly accepted statement of goals, objectives and policies. This is not an uncommon problem for cities, but it is a problem which is being faced by more and more cities across the country, including major cities such as Chicago, Minneapolis and Dallas. 77 The need for goals, however, cannot be considered self-evident. In some cases, goals may arise from facing a major problem that calls for more than a simple pro- grammed decision, but in these instances, goals are likely to be devised on the spur of the moment. These "ad hoc" situations can create problems, however, in as much as they are not necessarily designed to be compatible with other goals and policies which may be developed for other situations. Consequently, goals should be a product of some orderly and rational administrative process. In 1968, Adley Associates, an Atlanta consulting firm, evaluated the urban development process in Lansing and found no comprehensive statement of goals, objectives and policies relating to this subject. This lack of a formal, fully documented position regarding the appropriate goals and role of the City of Lansing has had several con- sequences according to their report: It has resulted in "de facto" delegation of basic policy decisions to subordinate boards and depart- ments and has placed this function beyond the reach of those directly responsible to the people, i.e., their elected representatives; It has led to decisions being made in Council and by the various boards without reference to basic guidelines and has resulted in conflicting "ad hoc" policies and programs that create a public image of internal inconsistency and inefficiency (as, for example, the commitment to strengthen the central business district versus the proposed major commer- cial development at the Kahres Farm site); 78 It has deprived the city of a central focus and direction that could assist coordinating the activities of diverse boards and departments; moreover, it contributes to the tendency of various departments to look exclusively to their boards for policy guidance rather than to bodies with broader perspectives and wider interests; It has contributed to the random pressures con- stantly being placed on the Mayor and members of the Council for statements of City goals and clarification of policy relating to urban develOp- ment; It inhibits effective administrative practice by impeding the evolution of staffing, budgeting, reporting, etc. out Of a rational pattern of purposes and preferences that must be based on foreknowledge of basic goals and priorities.1 It was the consultant's recommendation that the city should formulate and adopt public policies which specify long-range goals and prescribe priorities for the urban development processes of the city and that this state- ment should be communicated to all boards and departments.2 By doing so, all agencies would have the same guiding principles, and all levels of decision-making would be able to act in a more coordinated fashion. Relative to the decision-making activity, the con- sultant also found that the lack of goals and policies has contributed to the develOpment of unstable management pat- terns as outlined below. lAdley Associates, Inc., The Development Process/ Lansing (Lansing, 1968), p. 27. 2 Ibid., p. 28. 79 It has led to overlapping of function and authority between departments engaged in related activities 0 o o o I It has contributed to the bypassing of prescribed channels within city government . . -.7 It has created uncertainty as to which of several possible criteria is to be applied in a given decision-making situation, and uncertainty as to the respective authorities and responsibilities of various departments . . . ; It divides responsibility for making decisions among several units of government with consequent delay in reaching a solution and creates additional Opportunity for friction between the units . . . ; It forces up to higher echelons many decisions that should be precisely programmed and handled routinely at a lower level, depriving ranking officials of time and energy that could more profitably be spent in dealing with unprogrammed decision areas. From the consultant's evaluation of these problems which arise due to the lack of a statement of goals and Objectives, it is easy to see that these are problems which could be ameliorated through a sincere and determined effort to develop such a statement. Given the ever-present difficulties caused by municipal financial limitations, it would appear that the management improvements and operational efficiency increases to be gained from a goals statement would be sufficient reasons to develOp and adopt one. There are other less tangible benefits which might also accrue to the city as a whole. A goals statement that is develOped with a broad base of community support and adopted with suitable fanfare could engender some "team 3Ibid., pp. 31-32. 80 spirit" on the part of city agencies and induce more harmonious working relationships. References to the goals statement in public documents and news coverage would help keep it in the public eye. This type of statement could also spur more com- munity involvement and participation in municipal activ- ities as well as promote introspection on the part of all members of the community. Coordination with other non-governmental agencies might also be improved with the help of a goals statement, and perhaps it might even lead to a more effective align- ment of these agency's activities relative to city efforts. While the Adley report made many recommendations for improved municipal Operation, the suggested establish- ment of a goals statement is of major importance. The reasons why goals are important have been briefly touched upon above, but Altshuler has quoted four advantages which clearly spell out their usefullness: 1. Goals help to avoid confusion of basic issues with secondary questions of details and thus help to achieve clearer and more pointed discussions of each. 2. They can create a common ground of agreement which is so necessary when many individuals and groups are actually involved in preparing and achieving plans. 3. They can prepare the way for achievement by warding off unwarranted, johnny-come-lately criticism when the time comes to put a plan into effect. 81 4. Goals give direction to those reponsible for planning . . . , enabling them to prepare plans in closer accord with community desires. Obviously, goal formulation is a difficult task. It requires that a large group of people define what they want their future to be. Since, goals are an expression of values and a city represents a vast multiplicity of values held by its residents, it becomes an extremely com- plicated process to evolve agreement on any issue. While there may be broad consensus on general goal areas (e.g., full employment, equal Opportunity, crime prevention, etc.), there tends to be less and less agreement among participants as goals reach a higher level of specificity. The task, therefore, is to attain the highest level of Specificity of goals as can be formulated without the col- lapse of the project. In discussing social processes for rational calcu- lation, Dahl and Lindblom recognize the problems involved but maintain that goals are "of enormous importance both to rational individual action and to rational social action."5 They further emphasize that "without them, 4Alan A. Altshuler, The City Planning Process (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1965), pp. 236-237. 5Robert A. Dahl and Charles E. Lindblom, Politics, Economics and Welfare (New York: Harper and Row, 1953), p. 89. 82 effective planning in politico-economic affairs would be impossible."6 Few would argue that municipal opera- tion is not a politico-economic affair. Basically, the development of goals involves a process of interaction among three groups: (1) the public and its voluntary organizations, (2) government, embodied in both elected representatives and appointed administra- tive Officials and bodies, and (3) the professional urban planning staff.7 While other line departments may take issue with this singular inclusion of the Planning Depart- ment, it would appear that the nature of the training of the staff and the broad scope of their work uniquely qualifies them for inclusion in this group. This is not to imply, however, that they would act as a major influence in goal formulation. The amount of participation by each of these seg- ments can vary greatly according to method used to develOp goals. The Adley report described three ways to approach the problem.8 The first is the Study Commission or Com- munity Goals Committee. This is an effective and widely employed method which involves a board or panel of competent, 61bid. 7Henry Fagin, "Organizing and Carrying Out Planning Activities within Urban Government," Journal of the American Institute of Planners, XXV (August, 1959), p. 110. 8 Adley Associates, Inc., op. cit., pp. 25-26. 83 representative citizens that is assigned the task of devel- Oping long-range goals which, when ratified by the political leadership, become a statement of policy. The second method is called a Mixed—Scan Survey. This is a recently develOped approach which is essentially a series of unstructured interviews with formal and informal community leaders from which a designated government body derives a pattern Of consensus and priority regarding goals for the community.9 The third method is called the Program Planning and Analysis Unit. This technique institutionalizes the process by placing it in a specialized individual or unit attached to the Office of the mayor and assigning it the duty of determining needs and developing goals. Any one of these methods, a combination, or even a different type method could be employed by the city in the attempt to formulate a goals statement. The method employed should be based upon the City Council's opinion relative to the range of participation which would be most desirable and effective. While the first method would be the most difficult to carry out, it would in return offer a maximum of community support of the product. The third It is assumed that these "informal community leaders" would include members of minority groups, neigh- borhood associations and other similar entities in addition to the "Chamber of Commerce" variety of leaders. 84 Inethod would be the easiest to carry out but would lack ;pmblic exposure and probably be less representative of “the community as a whole. The second suggestion is some- ‘thing of a middle ground which to some degree combines the aattributes of the other two. If the decision to formulate «goals can be reached, choosing the method will not be a {particularly difficult task. The possibility also exists that there will be Ipolitical opposition to the development of goals. The Eittributes of goals which make them desirable for planning (i.e., as guides for action) are at the same time potential koarriers to the traditional political process. Since goals Eire a method of channeling and coordinating efforts, free-