Smart city strategies – A driver for the localization of the sustainable development goals?

Abstract

To achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), urgent action is needed across all scales, with an increased importance being placed on local initiatives. In this context, the notion of localizing the SDGs is highlighted as essential. Simultaneously, the smart city concept is promoted to address local sustainability challenges, and smart city strategies are used to support urban sustainability transitions. Despite the extensive literature on smart city transitions, no work was found that studies how such strategies may concretely support the localization of the SDGs. In response, we analyze 57 smart city strategies across 29 countries using the SDG framework to pinpoint which SDGs and accompanying Targets are localized through smart city initiatives. The results indicate that strategies strongly support the localization of four Goals (SDGs 7, 8, 9, and 11) along with several individual Targets. While the SDGs treated by the strategies depend on the local context, smart city strategy documents promote sustainable development initiatives across a spectrum of themes. However, for cities that use smart city strategies to encourage a fundamental shift towards a more sustainable urban model, careful attention must be paid to include initiatives on often untreated topics (SDGs 2, 5, and 15).