Efficiency–Equity–Trade–Off as a Challenge for Shaping Urban Transformations

Abstract

Over the past few decades, sustainability has emerged as one of the central guiding principles of policy formulation, especially—but not exclusively—in the field of environmental, climate, and development policy. According to the three-pillar model, sustainable development should be considered in terms of ecological, social, and economic aspects. The United Nations recently reaffirmed this triad of targets in its Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG), defining the direction to be taken in the formulation of global policies up to 2030. They were adopted at the UN Summit at the end of September 2015 (UN 2015). As explicitly emphasised in that context, the three dimensions of sustainability (economic, social, and environmental) are to be pursued “in a balanced and integrated manner” (UN 2015, p. 3). The simultaneous pursuit of all three dimensions of sustainability inevitably involves trade-offs that decision makers have to take into account and address when selecting policy instruments.