The concept of Sustainability has been evolving within the concept of Sustainable Development, which is becoming a compulsory goal for our society due to the evidence of the large global problems that have arisen along the XXth Century. Sustainable Development emerges as an ideal framework to minimize those impacts resulting from global constrains and, furthermore, it stands as the only guarantee for modern society survival.

We know that despite of the huge XXth Century technological development, neither environmental degradation nor the increase of inequalities has been prevented. Urgently it is needed to face the problems related to the current development model throughout a systemic and integrated environment, economy and society which have been, until now, considered independently and separately

A systemic and integrated vision involves a great complexity due to the existing interrelations between the different pillars but also in terms of time and scale. To strength the path through a Sustainable Development is more and more necessary to be able to measure, model and evaluate a complex and dynamic systems within the human-environment duality. The aim is to study and define the various sensitivities of the system's elements to determine the optimum solutions for its sustainability and, therefore, its survival.

The aim of the Fist International Conference on Sustainability Measurement and Modelling ICSMM 2006, is to be the launch of an interacting and open forum for organizations, institutions, and experts interested in discussion, confrontation and networking on sustainable development measurement, modelling and evaluation issues