The June issue of PM magazine is a special one devoted to sustainability. Guest editor Tad McGalliard, director of ICMA’s Center for Sustainable Communities, assembled the issue’s articles to frame the current topic of sustainability accurately and to help answer the not-so-simple question, what is sustainability?

In McGalliard’s editor’s message, he writes that sustainability is the ability of communities to consistently thrive over time as decisions are made to improve communities today without sacrificing the future. And even though the term sustainability is often associated with the environment, this is only one aspect of building sustainable communities.

Communities need clean air and water, jobs that pay wages, and a social compact within which people of all religions, political persuasions, races, and age groups live and work together safely. Sustainability can provide the framework for building better and stronger communities in which to live, work, and play.

Michael Willis, general manager of Shellharbour City Council, New South Wales, Australia, and author of the article “Sustainability: The Leadership Difference,” believes that building sustainable communities is at the core of the leadership responsibilities of local government managers.

He offers that, “At its essence, sustainability is all about facing the future—of devising ways and means to meet the environmental, social, and economic challenges the future presents.” Also, “Sustainability goes beyond the preservation of places of great beauty. It encompasses the impact that our daily lives have on the quality of our local environment.”

For more information on all of the articles in the issue and to find four more articles published exclusively online under the PMplus heading, visit icma.org/pm.