New development: the challenges of designing municipal governance indicators

The accentuated interest in the quality of governance along with the idea that ‘what is measured is what matters’ has been endorsing the deployment and use of quantitative governance indicators. Moreover, decentralization and public policies emphasising localism are putting the focus on local governments. This article addresses the challenges of developing indicators and using the information for governance in particular municipal contexts. If measuring local governance is going to be a priority, we argue that multi-criteria decision analysis might provide the suitable body of knowledge.