City Government Research Articles

Insights from Smart City Initiatives for Urban Sustainability and Contemporary Urbanism

Urbanization growth poses various challenges, such as congestion, pollution, and resource consumption, prompting city planners and governments to adopt smart systems to manage these issues more efficiently. Despite widespread adoption, there is no consensus on the defining attributes of smart cities, particularly regarding their role in urban sustainability and contemporary urbanism. This paper provides a literature review to understand the implications of smart city initiatives for sustainable urban planning, focusing on practices in Singapore, Helsinki, Barcelona, and Medellin. Based on 71 publications surveyed from Scopus and Web of Science, this paper evaluates smart, sustainable initiatives undertaken in these four cities across six smart domains: mobility, governance, environment, people, living, and economy. This review shows that most studies focus on Barcelona and Singapore, particularly in the domains of smart environment and governance. Despite differing urban contexts, the notion of “smart” is closely tied to using information and communication technologies to drive urban operations. This analysis identifies a lack of assessment studies on the benefits of smart cities in terms of urban sustainability and a lack of holistic approaches to address the complex challenges cities face in achieving sustainable development.

Association between body mass index and mental health status among community-dwelling older adults

Abstract Background Maintaining a better physical and mental health status is an important issue for older adults in their later life. Although obesity has been suggested to reduce the risk of mood disorders in older adults, the findings are controversial. Thus, we aimed to investigate the association between body mass index (BMI) and mental health status among older adults in Taipei City and to elucidate risk factors contributing to mood disorders. Methods The elderly health examination database was obtained from the Department of Health, Taipei City government, from 2005 to 2016. A total of 80,121 older adults underwent at least two publicly funded health examinations, with 398,416 visits. We used the Brief Symptom Rating Scale (BSRS-5) questionnaire to estimated relative risks among potential risk factors with the generalized estimating equations (GEE) model to measure the mental health status of older adults. Mood disorders were defined as a score of ≥ 6 on BSRS-5. BMI, age, education level, gender, living alone, income status, number of chronic diseases, smoking, drinking, and exercise were included as covariates. Results Older adults who are overweight or obese have a lower risk for mood disorders (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 0.82; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.79 - 0.85), while those underweight have a higher risk (OR = 1.31; 95% CI = 1.21 - 1.41). Other results show that being male (OR = 0.66; 95% CI = 0.63 - 0.69), higher education (OR = 0.72; 95% CI = 0.69 - 0.75), and have exercise habits (OR = 0.73; 95% CI = 0.70 - 0.76) were all positively correlated with better emotional status. However, low income (OR = 1.24, 95% CI = 1.14 - 1.35) and having more chronic diseases (OR = 1.99, 95% CI = 1.87 - 2.11) were all correlated with poor mental status among older adults. Conclusions Keeping an appropriate weight or even being overweight might be beneficial for older adults. In addition, encouraging older adults to maintain exercise habits can also help improve mood disorders. Key messages • Keeping an appropriate weight or even being overweight might be beneficial for older adults. • Encouraging the elderly to maintain exercise habits can also help improve mood disorders.

The transition towards a healthy and sustainable food system at local level: the Brussels City case

Abstract Despite the European Union’s political efforts to promote healthier and more sustainable food systems, challenges persist, with these systems not yet achieving sustainability and still exacerbating health inequalities. The EU-funded FEAST project aims to catalyse this transition through different actions including by focusing on mapping factors shaping food environments in five European cities, including Brussels. This study focuses on mapping existing policies and initiatives by the city government supporting healthier and more sustainable food systems in Brussels City. Policies were then categorized based on Food-EPI domains, types of policies (i.e. financial incentive) and role of the government (i.e. policy development). Results indicated that while Brussels City has a clear strategy (Good Food Strategy) and objectives (Climate Action Plan) to support the transition, there is a notable emphasis on sustainability over health which could be explained by the absence of a dedicated public health expert in the local government. While there are numerous policies focused on improving the school environment (i.e. healthy and sustainable canteens, banned sodas and snack provision, forbidden advertising inside and nearby of unhealthy foods), there is a lack of corresponding measures for public spaces. Furthermore legislative policies are practically inexistent possibly due to jurisdictional barriers from higher governmental levels. Stakeholder interviews will be conducted in the next phase to delve deeper into these issues and to explore potential facilitators and barriers faced in the development and implementation process of these policies. Overall, this research sheds light on the policy landscape in Brussels City, highlighting both progress, areas for improvement and policy gaps in advancing towards healthier and more sustainable food systems. Key messages • Despite EU political efforts to prioritise more sustainable food systems, relevant barriers are still present at local level in Brussels City, hampering the development and implementation of policies. • In Brussels relevant policies for healthier and more sustainable food systems have been implemented, especially in the school environment, but health seems to be overshadowed by sustainability.

A Multi-Scale Evaluation Model of Sustainable Development Goal 11.7 for Problem-Solving at Different Levels

Sustainable Development Goal 11.7 (SDG 11.7) aims to promote the improvement of urban public spaces. However, the localization process of SDG 11.7 mainly relies on a bottom-up problem-solving approach, which fails to fully encompass the connotation of SDG 11.7. Additionally, existing evaluations primarily focus on a single scale, neglecting the impact of scale issues. These limitations can lead to imbalanced development or misallocation of responsibilities when guiding governments at different levels in promoting the sustainable development of public spaces. Therefore, this article introduces a multi-scale assessment model of SDG 11.7. It employs a top-down problem-solving approach to construct a sustainable development indicator framework, setting appropriate sustainable development indicators for various levels of government based on the connotation of SDG 11.7, and generates city-scale results by integrating three scales: apartment complexes, street blocks, and counties. Testing this model in Xi’an, China, revealed that it adequately captures four key aspects of SDG 11.7—safety, inclusiveness, accessibility, and greenness—through 11 indicators. The evaluation outcomes at the apartment complex, street block, and county levels effectively guide future development directions for various levels of government. Ultimately, the synthesis of these scales reveals the spatial pattern of SDG 11.7 at the city scale and identifies focal areas for development. Overall, this exploratory model demonstrates high accuracy and robustness, providing a comprehensive understanding of the essence of SDG 11.7. It also alleviates challenges posed by scale issues, offering decision support for monitoring SDG 11.7 across different levels of government in Chinese cities and promoting the process of sustainable development.

Identification of Motives of Children Working as Street Clowns in Manado City, North Sulawesi Province

Various activities are carried out by the community to meet their living needs. One activity that has become a new phenomenon seen in Manado City is street clowns. The phenomenon of street clowns can be found at intersections and at the entrances and exits of the Boulevard shopping area. They try to entertain the general public and drivers so that they get money, although the amount is not much. However, most of these street clowns are of school age and should not be active to earn income. This phenomenon is actually different from the culture of the Manado City Community in carrying out activities to earn income. This study was conducted to identify and analyze the motives of children who work as street clowns in Manado City. The results of this study can be used as a recommendation for the Manado City government in compiling a program to strengthen social institutions in the Community and in maintaining public order in public places. This study will be conducted using a qualitative method with a phenomenological approach. Data were collected through interviews with children who work as street clowns and with the leaders of the Social and Community Empowerment Service and the leaders of the Manado City Civil Service Police Unit. Conducting observations on the activities of street clown professions and collecting other supporting data through internet-based electronic library searches such as Google Scholar and ResearchGate. Data analysis through the stages of data reduction, data presentation and drawing conclusions and data verification. Children who work as street clowns in Manado City are school-age children. The main motive is to help parents meet their living needs through additional income. They come from suburban areas and have a community. The hope of feeling affection and attention and having time to play is very much needed by them.

Implementation of the Empowerment Program for Culinary Tourism Business Actors in the Coastal Area of Manado Bay, North Sulawesi Province

The Manado City Government through the 2020-2025 regional tourism development master plan has determined a special tourism destination cluster for culinary tourism areas with urban-coastal tourism attractions. The determination of this cluster is in line with the culinary potential managed by the community such as bakat sea fish and local snacks around the coast of Manado Bay. By using a qualitative research design, data was collected directly at the research location through interviews and observations, and secondary data was also collected electronically through internet media such as Google Scholar, WoS databases, Scopus, Arxiv by Cornell, Ulrich's Web, Science Direct, Directory of Open Access, JSTOR, SciELO, ERIC, ResearchGate and others. Data analysis using an interactive analysis model with data reduction, data display and conclusion drawing/verification stages. In addition, for the validity of the data analysis discussion, a focus group discussion was also conducted. The research findings that the implementation of the empowerment program for culinary tourism entrepreneurs in the Manado Bay Coastal Area has been carried out by the Manado City Government. Training, mentoring, provision of capital and business facilities and supervision as a form of empowerment activities carried out. The empowerment program is carried out separately or in collaboration with other public organizations. The seriousness in managing and developing businesses from the Community is a measure of the success of the implementation of the empowerment program.

The Role of Digital Technology in Social Interaction of Manembo-Nembo Village Community, Matuari District, Bitung City

The purpose of this study is to determine the role of digital technology in social interaction in the Manembo-Nembo Village, Matuari District, Bitung City using the technological determinism theory approach, believing that technology has a major influence on various aspects of human interaction, especially social and cultural life, as stated by Marshall McLuhan. Using qualitative methods based on observation and interviews by collecting data from purposive sampling, namely determining competent informants, namely 2 community informants, 2 government informants. The results of the study found that the role of digital technology in social interaction has changed according to current circumstances, such as digitalization, such as in families it is easier and faster to interact via digital media with relatives who are in different places, the quality of relationships is maintained by having direct meetings in family groups (arisan), then digital interaction with the community; the creation of virtual togetherness such as people celebrating happy moments virtually by sharing photos, videos, and stories, and sharing information about sad events experienced and becoming a means of digital marketing that can increase family economic income. Digital interaction with the government; in today's public services digitally, especially in the field of population data management (KTP, Family Card, Certificate management) has been done through applications and can be done anywhere, but if there are people who need help, the local government is ready to serve, in accordance with the policy of the Bitung city government to make the Kelurahan Hebat program (digitalization).

The pendulum swings: mobilizing policies to develop mass homeless encampments in the “progressive” city

ABSTRACT Portland, Oregon sits at the forefront of experimenting with policies for sheltering unhoused people outside of congregate shelter. In 2021, the City Government legalized sanctioned encampments by adopting them into city land use codes and for periods throughout its housing state of emergency, it also decriminalized sleeping in public. But with the continued increase of homelessness in Portland, the city has abruptly returned to more punitive policies concerning unhoused peoples’ use of space. In July 2023, the city opened its first mass encampment hosting nearly 200 people, and in July 2024, it began enforcing its ban on camping in public space. To understand this shift, the paper engages with policy mobilities and carceral geographies scholarship to examine how the City of Portland came to this about-face at this particular moment. I argue the city’s normalization of smaller tiny house encampments justified its development of mass encampments, a decision that was informed by approaches to homelessness practiced elsewhere, and one in which a significant portion of unhoused people experience more punitive conditions that partly emanate from the socio-spatial relationships in the encampment.

Strengthening Collaborative Governance in the Department of Transportation: Implementation and Enforcement Levies

This article explores the strengthening of collaborative governance within Indonesia's Department of Transportation, focusing on the implementation and enforcement of levies. It highlights the integration of diverse stakeholders, including government bodies, private sector entities, and civil society, to create a more effective levy management system. However, a lack of collaboration between the Palembang city government and the local community has hindered the effectiveness of levies. Key strategies for improvement include promoting transparency, shared decision-making, and the use of innovative technologies. The study underscores the importance of trust and accountability among stakeholders to enhance compliance and enforcement. In Palembang, the capital of South Sumatra Province, transportation and traffic management challenges necessitate the effective implementation of levies. Employing a qualitative approach through in-depth interviews, observations, and documentation, the research reveals that collaborative efforts between local governments, the private sector, and the community are essential, despite challenges such as limited resources and community resistance. The findings suggest that while collaborative governance can improve the effectiveness of levy enforcement, it requires commitment and active participation from all parties. Recommendations include enhancing human resource capacity, strengthening regulatory frameworks, and raising public awareness of the importance of levies for regional revenue. This study also aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly in improving infrastructure, fostering sustainable cities (SDG 11), and promoting effective partnerships (SDG 17).

Slum upgrading and participation: Insights from a marginalized neighbourhood in Buenos Aires

This paper rethinks participation in slum upgrading beyond a well-established dichotomy of “top-down” and “bottom-up” processes and instead proposes a relational and strategic approach to urban transformation. Based on qualitative research with a small informal settlement, Barrio Saldías, in Buenos Aires, that fell off the city government's agenda, this paper explores the role of participation in promoting upgrading from the margins. It argues that Saldías differs from instances of community-led upgrading due to the central role of party brokers and political representatives (especially from the local state) alongside residents, all of whom participate together in a political climate dominated by the discourses of citizen participation and slum upgrading. Rather than collapsing these experiences into the logic of clientelism, participation is centred as the articulatory logic based on a shared desire and commitment to transforming urban space, towards multiple political ends. Participatory upgrading in Saldías exceeds the narrow focus of project-centric approaches and draws on a wider trajectory of participation in Buenos Aires. It demonstrates this through an analysis of three moments of participatory upgrading in Saldías.

Transformative Local Governments: Addressing Social Urban Challenges by Bringing People and Politics Together

As the tier of government closest to people, local government plays a key role in answering local needs and aspirations. However, local governments are often under-resourced, leaving them inadequately responsive to many of these critical local demands. Moreover, accountability to their citizens, which is the core of a well-functioning local democracy, is often lacking because the necessary formal laws and informal norms do not enable citizens to influence the decision-making process in a collaborative, creative, and evidence-based process that promotes collective learning. Through innovative case study analyses from around the world, the 12 contributions in this thematic issue delve into the multifaceted ways in which local governments can bridge the gap between people and politics, offering innovative perspectives on participatory governance, co-creation, and collaborative decision-making for inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable cities. The cases showcase innovations and challenges in the urban environment, capturing different ways to bring people and politics together in an attempt to co-create solutions for a sustainable and resilient urban future. The insights provided by this plethora of cases provides lessons that can help revolutionise international, national, and local urban policy to empower local authorities and their local communities to address the increasingly urgent challenges faced by municipalities around the world, ensuring an inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable future for the generations to come.

Implementation of Innovation in Improved Governance Original Local Income in Makassar City

Local Original Income plays an important role in regional finances which is a benchmark in the implementation of real regional autonomy. In the governance of increasing local original income, local governments are required to produce innovation in governance. This study aims to analyze the implementation of innovation in the governance of increasing local original income in Makassar City. This study uses a descriptive qualitative approach with data collection methods, namely observation, in-depth interviews and documentation. The informants in this study are the authorized parties and are directly involved in the governance of increasing local original income in the Makassar city government. The results of the study indicate that the implementation of innovation in the governance of increasing local original income in Makassar City has not been implemented optimally. This is because there is no agreement in working hours between the Regional Revenue Agency and its partners, namely PT. Pos Indonesia in terms of the conformity of reporting land and building tax payment data. In addition, the rules or regulations that often change so that it takes time to determine regional regulations related to regional taxes and levies.

Strategy for The Development of Culinary Sector Entrepreneurs in The Cipondoh Lake Tourism Destination, Tangerang Regency, Banten Province

This study aims to determine the strategy for developing entrepreneurship in the culinary field in the tourist area of ​​Lake Cipondoh. This type of research uses a qualitative description with the SWOT analysis method with observations and interviews with entrepreneurs in the culinary field at Lake Cipondoh. The results showed that the primary strategy produced was the SO strategy, with the highest score of 3.44 in quadrant I. The culinary entrepreneur development strategy at Lake Cipondoh can be implemented with the SO strategy program, namely: (1) a varied food menu; (2) Doing promotions on social media; (3) Increasing the number of employees on weekends; (4) Providing promotions or discounts. It is hoped that food stalls in Lake Cipondoh will continue to innovate in improving the quality of their products and promoting them on social media. The Tangerang City Government is expected to train managers and entrepreneurs on the quality of human resources for creating websites and social media promotions and organizing certain events at Lake Cipondoh. Keywords: SWOT analysis, entrepreneurs, culinary sector

Geographic information system for reporting damage and road grouping based on website using waterfall method and k-means method

Roads are a vital land transportation infrastructure and transportation route. One of the functions of roads is as a driving factor in the development process and equitable distribution of development in a region. Road damage that occurs disrupts the activities and routines of residents. Lhokseumawe City as the center of economic and social development in its region requires an efficient system for the management and maintenance of road infrastructure. The reason is that many road damages occur in Lhokseumawe City that have not been repaired due to limited damage information so reports are needed from residents to find out the location of the road damage so that it is easier for the Lhokseumawe City government to follow up on the report. With these problems, a geographic information system for reporting road damage is created. It is hoped that the government can follow up on the report and prioritize damage with the highest group, which groups road damage using the clustering method. This web-based information system is designed using the UML (Unified Modeling Language) model with the PHP programming language and uses MySQL as its database. With this system, the government can receive reports of existing damage and group the damage into three levels to determine the priority of road repairs to be carried out.

The Influence of Transformational Leadership Style, Organizational Culture, and Work Motivation on Job Satisfaction and Employee Performance in the Blitar City Government Environment

The Influence of Transformational Leadership Style, Organizational Culture, and Work Motivation on Job Satisfaction and Employee Performance in the Blitar City Government Environment

A multi-stakeholder engagement framework for material-building-city synergy through circular transformation

Scholars, industrial stakeholders, and governmental institutions are developing the circular economy paradigm. However, the emergence of multiple perspectives has challenged its implementation. As the industry that is the biggest contributor to the negative impacts on the environment, the construction industry stakeholders are paving the way for more sustainable as well as circular and regenerative construction by considering all actors in the system. Yet, the construction industry has a complex supply chain that requires clear strategies and stakeholder engagement across materials, buildings, and cities for efficient flows in the supply chain. Nonetheless, there is a need for improvement in the engagement of construction stakeholders for circular transformation. Therefore, this study aims to develop a multi-stakeholder engagement framework through circular transformation to guide the decision-makers for circular city governance. It has identified critical success factors by considering the construction stakeholders. The framework includes strategies at the micro (material), meso (building), and macro (city) scales to strengthen the material-building-city synergy. It's a significant step toward advancing circular city governance by bridging the gap between theoretical understanding and practical implementation and establishing a robust engagement for material-building-city synergy. The study employs a systematic literature review to extract strategies and natural language processing to analyze the strategies by topic modeling and defines critical success factors for multi-stakeholder engagement at multiscale. The outcome introduces the REVERT framework, bridging resource, envisagement, validation, entity, regulation, and technology, to facilitate a seamless transition by material-building-city synergy advancing circular city governance.

Analysis Of City Government And Farming Community Partnership In Food Security Policy: Urban Farming Program

The urban farming program is the city government policy to overcome the food security problem for the community's welfare. The study aims to discuss the partnership between the city government and the urban farming community in an urban farming program. It utilizes agricultural land and urban garden as the place for urban agroecological transformation as part of urban food security policy through the partnership capacity theoretical approach from Mathers, et al. This analytic descriptive study uses the case survey method, and data collection is obtained from the unstructured in-depth interview, focus group discussion, and observation in Jeruk urban village in Lakarsantri district in Surabaya. The findings show the success of the partnership between the department of food security and agriculture in Surabaya and Sri Sedono farmer group in the management of the integrated agricultural center. Urban farming program is influenced by mutual consensus which is beneficial to increase crop productivity. However, the result also indicates that the skill base factor is not optimal because of the limited personnel in PPL. Furthermore, the farmers are concerned about adopting new plant varieties. We suggest that the urban farming program can be sustainable and needs to increase the number of personnel in PPL. In addition, it is necessary to increase the entrepreneurial spirit of farmers so that they have innovation values to adopt new crop varieties, and the discipline through the increase of intensity assistance from PPL towards independent, skilled, and professional farmers.

Tackling Social Inequality in the City of Porto, Northern Portugal: Grassroots Horticultural Practices and the Desired City

Grassroots urban horticultural plots (hortas), part of the Porto Metropolitan Area in Northern Portugal, are presented as liminal spaces that hold a richness of community life and a “gift economy.” Often in existence for several decades and encompassing groups of over 20 or 30 people, these informal communities are, nevertheless, not cherished by the instances of city governance that do not stand in the way of the destruction of these low‐income urbanite horticultural communities. The use of de Certeau’s concepts of “strategy” and “tactics” are used to try and explain this incompatibility between these two forms of urban (self) governance that hinders the right to the city by the low‐income urbanites who have created these horticultural grassroots communities.

Analysis of the Implementation of the Merit System in the Mataram City Government from a Gender Perspective

Human resources (apparatus) are the basis of the bureaucratic reform movement. Human resources are one aspect of achieving the goals of government organizations, namely providing optimal public services. Therefore, it is necessary to implement a merit system to obtain human resources, in this case specifically the best State Civil Apparatus (ASN) who do not consider male or female gender, including in the process of filling pratama high leadership positions (JPT) in scope of the Mataram City Government. This research aims to describe the implementation of the merit system in the Mataram City government from a gender aspect. This research uses a qualitative approach with data collection methods consisting of in-depth interviews and document review. Data analysis uses qualitative data analysis techniques. The validity of the data was tested using triangulation techniques. Research provides an illustration that the Mataram City government has basically implemented a merit system in ASN management. When filling out the JPT, preparation, implementation and evaluation stages have been carried out in accordance with the provisions. Basically, the number of female ASNs in the city of Mataram is more than male. Likewise, the educational level of female ASN is better than that of men. However, if we look at it in terms of rank and class, the number of men is increasing, this will make the opportunity for men to occupy top positions in the bureaucracy greater. The Mataram city government consistently provides opportunities for women at the rate of 10 percent and hopes that in the future this will be further increased.

PENGARUH PENERAPAN COURTYARD PADA KAFE KINERUKU TERHADAP KENYAMANAN PENGUNJUNG

Green Open Space (RTH) is an open area that allows plant growth both naturally and through deliberate planting. The existence of green open space is now an important thing to have in a public interior facility, one of which is the application of a courtyard. Therefore, it is necessary to increase public awareness and understanding regarding the importance of utilizing green open spaces, especially in public facilities. This research aims to investigate the effect of courtyard implementation on the comfort level of visitors at a cafe located in Bandung, Indonesia. This research will apply the use of descriptive qualitative methods with a phenomenological approach and spatial atmosphere theory. This research will use field observation techniques, physical documentation and interviews with visitors. The results of the research will show conclusions about the comfort of Kineruku cafe visitors regarding the implementation of courtyards in cafes. The results of this research are information regarding the comfort level and preferences of visitors regarding the application of courtyards in cafe interiors in the city of Bandung. It is hoped that this research can provide a valuable insight that align with the Bandung City Government's commitment to maintaining green open spaces (RTH), namely the Draft Regional Regulations on Regional Spatial Planning (RTRW) for the City of Bandung 2022-2042.