Locating Cities and Their Governments in Multi-Level Sustainability Governance

Abstract

Cities and their governments are increasingly recognized as important actors in global sustainability governance. With the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, their role in the global endeavor to foster sustainability has once again been put in the spotlight. Several scholars have highlighted pioneering local strategies and policies to implement the Sustainable Development Goals and render urban areas more sustainable. However, the question of how such urban sustainability actions are embedded in complex interactions between public and private actors operating at different levels has not been studied in enough detail. Building upon a multi-level governance approach, this article explores the entanglement and interconnectedness of cities and local governments with actors and institutions at various levels and scales to better capture the potential and limitations of urban policymaking contributing to global sustainability. The article finds that on the one hand cities and their governments are well positioned to engage other actors into a policy dialogue. On the other hand, local authorities face considerable budgetary and institutional capacity constraints, and they heavily rely on support from actors at other governmental levels and societal scales to carry out effective sustainability actions in urban areas.

Scientific evidence on the political impact of the Sustainable Development Goals

“…Some evidence suggests that sub-national authorities, and especially cities, are often more pioneering and progressive than their central governments in building coalitions for implementing the SDGs 29 . In several national political systems, civil society actors have begun to hold public actors accountable for their commitments to realize the vision of leaving no one behind.…”

Integrated Sustainability Planning and Local Food Systems: Examining Areas of and Gaps in Food Systems Integration in Community Sustainability Plans for Municipalities across British Columbia

“…Born and Purcell [56] describe this as the "local trap", explaining that there is an assumption that local food production is "inherently good" and more socially just than other scales of production, which is not necessarily always the case. In reality, sustainability challenges are multi-scalar in nature, and accordingly, solutions for addressing these challenges require vertical integration and approaches that encourage multi-level governance [69]. Although it is beyond the scope of this study, future research could interrogate how frameworks such as those used to develop ICSPs encourage or discourage vertical integration and whether new frameworks are needed for addressing multi-scalar sustainability issues.…”

Implementation at Multiple Levels

“…With the aim of informing goal implementation, some studies draw on experiences with earlier policy frameworks such as the Millennium Development Goals or the Local Agenda 21 (MacDonald et al 2018;Westphal, Franceschini and Setti 2018). Other studies take the 2030 Agenda more broadly as an opportunity to explore the possibilities and limitations of local and regional sustainability governance, both in general and regarding specific issues (Alberti and Senese 2020; Attolico and Smaldone 2020; Boex et al 2020;Fenton and Gustafsson 2017;Hickmann 2021;Kharrazi, Qin and Zhang 2016;Pla-Julián and Guevara 2020).…”