1. Live Survey
Informed Cities Forum 2011
26-27 October 2011, Naples, Italy

2. 1. What is your principal reason for participating
in this Forum?
(for local governments only)
To improve my knowledge of urban
A sustainability in European towns and cities
To meet with other ‘like-minded’
B people working in a similar field
To learn more about specific
C urban sustainability tools
59,09%
(78)
To improve my understanding about
D communication between local
governments and researchers
11,36% 12,88% 12,88%
(15) (17) (17)
3,79%
(5)
A B C D None

3. 2. What is your principal reason for participating
in this Forum?
(for researchers only)
To improve my knowledge of urban
A sustainability in European towns and cities
To meet with other ‘like-minded’
B people working in a similar field
To learn more about specific
C urban sustainability tools
59,09%
(78)
To improve my understanding about
D communication between local
governments and researchers
13,64%
7,58% 9,85% 9,85% (18)
(10) (13) (13)
A B C D None

4. 3. If you commission research on sustainability policy,
which type of organisation do you work with most?
(for local governments only)
A Local university/research institute
B University within my region/country
C Sustainability consultancy
57,58%
(76)
D All of the above
15,15%
9,85% 10,61% (20)
6,82% (13) (14)
(9)
A B C D None

5. 4. On average how regularly do you undertake
sustainability-related research for local
governments/municipalities within your country?
(for researchers only)
A More than once a year
B Annually (once per year)
C Once every 2-3 years
58,33%
(77)
D Rarely
11,36% 9,85% 10,61% 9,85%
(15) (13) (14) (13)
A B C D None

6. 5. What is your primary aim/objective in working
with researchers?
(for local governments only)
A It is a requirement to access funding
To access scientific evidence that
B will support sustainability policies
To get students to work on
C specific projects
57,58%
(76)
To keep up-to-date with the latest
D developments in local sustainability
23,48%
(31)
12,88%
(17)
3,03% 3,03%
(4) (4)
A B C D None

7. 6. What is your primary objective in working with
local governments?
(for researchers only)
A It is a requirement for accessing funding
B To conduct policy-relevant research
To collect data that can be used
C for academic outputs (papers and reports)
60,61%
(80)
To engage externally within my
D locality/region in accordance
with my organisation’s mission statement
18,94%
(25)
6,06% 6,06% 8,33%
(8) (8) (11)
A B C D None

8. 7. Apart from LE21 and UEE, which of the following
European sustainability/climate change monitoring
tools do you consider to be most useful ?
(for local governments only)
A Covenant of Mayors
B Green Capital Award
C Aalborg Commitments
59,85%
(79)
D I do not use European monitoring tools
11,36% 9,09% 12,88%
(15) (17) 6,82%
(12) (9)
A B C D None

9. 8. What is the biggest barrier to using EUROPEAN
Tools for monitoring sustainability?
(for local governments only)
The Tools are too generic and
A don’t reflect our local context
They are not available in my native
B language and the terminology
is difficult to understand
National tools are seen as a higher
C priority in my local authority 60,61%
(80)
European tools do not provide
D sufficiently relevant feedback
for my local situation 12,12% 12,12% 11,36%
(16) (16) (15)
3,79%
(5)
A B C D None

10. 9. What is the biggest barrier to using local
sustainability Tools in general?
There are too many Tools to choose
A from and it is not clear which is the most relevant
There are insufficient staff resources
B to gather and update for the data required by Tools
They are not relevant to
C my local political agenda
37,88%
(50)
The data that we collect
D does not fit with existing Tools
17,42% 16,67%
(23) 14,39% 13,64% (22)
(19) (18)
A B C D None

11. 10. What would help you most in developing an
ongoing working relationship with local
governments?
(for researchers only)
Ongoing personal contact
A with local authority staff
Formal connection between
B my research organisation
and local government
Greater knowledge of
C
59,85%
(79)
relevant funding sources
Focused working groups
D on urban sustainability
19,7%
(26)
5,3% 6,82% 8,33%
(9) (11)
(7)
A B C D None

12. 11. Which local governments do you tend to work
with?
(for researchers only)
A Those in the local area (municipality/city)
B Those within my region/country
European local governments
C (outside of my country)
59,85%
(79)
D Non-European Local Governments
25%
(33)
5,3% 7,58%
(7) (10) 2,27%
(3)
A B C D None

13. 12. What do you think is the principal solution to
bridging the differences between local
governments and research organisations?
(for researchers only)
Both parties (academic/policy)
A having a greater understanding of each other’s aims
A designated regional/local institution
B (broker) whose job it is to bring
policymakers and researchers together
More funded initiatives to encourage 59,85%
(79)
C local governments and researchers
to work more closely
15,91%
More informal networking opportunities
D for researchers and policymakers
6,06%
(8)
11,36%
(15)
(21)
6,82%
(9)
to meet and develop working relationships
A B C D None

14. 13. What do you think is the principal solution
to bridge the differences between local
governments and research organisations?
(for local governments only)
Both parties (academic/policy)
A having a greater understanding of each other’s aims
A designated regional/local institution
B (broker) whose job it is to bring
policymakers and researchers together
More funded initiatives to encourage 56,06%
(74)
C local governments and researchers
to work more closely
More informal networking opportunities 12,88% 15,15% 11,36%
D for researchers and policymakers
4,55%
(6)
(17) (20)
(15)
to meet and develop working relationships
A B C D None