Abstract
This paper describes how community indicators were used in Lucknow to support a dialogue between representatives from communities lacking basic services and service providers. This led to agreement on the indicators needed to benchmark existing environmental conditions, monitor and evaluate the quality of urban services and set priorities for environmental improvements. The paper describes how four neighbourhoods were chosen to develop an initial indicator set, how the local organizations were approached and the scope of the primary research – including community meetings and interviews with households and with officials from service providers. It then describes how this draft indicator set was presented at a workshop that brought together service providers and community representatives and how they agreed on an indicator set. The paper ends with an analysis of what the collection of data for this indicator set showed and a discussion of lessons for future work in this area.