Social Policy Goals Research Articles

Two-level cooperation and competition strategies of government and technology service platforms: considering government subsidies

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the optimal competition or cooperation decision between technology service platforms and governments in the context of fierce competition within urban agglomerations.Design/methodology/approachBased on the cooperation and competition game model, this study builds a two-level model for government and technology service platforms considering three cases: perfect competition, platform cooperation and government-led cooperation.FindingsBy analyzing the optimal strategies of the government and a platform in three cases, the research shows that choosing appropriate cooperation in a competitive situation is beneficial to both the government and the platform. Government-led cooperation is conducive to increasing social welfare. From the perspective of the platforms, if they actively seek cooperation, they can obtain higher subsidies and profits. The more intense the competition is, the higher the profits and social welfare generated from the platforms' active cooperation.Practical implicationsThe contribution of this study relates to the development of technology service platforms in urban agglomerations. As local governments and platforms continuously undertake decision-making processes, this study constructs quantitative models to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of competition and cooperation. It is worth noting that relying on government subsidies to maintain the sustainable development of technology service platforms is not a long-term solution. Government subsidies play a vital role in the initial development of technology service platforms. The analysis results are in line with Guo et al. (2016), Jung and Feng (2020) and Li (2021) conclusions. Furthermore, long-term government subsidies will make platforms dependent on these subsidies. These are the contributions to the scientific literature.Originality/valueInstead of focusing on vertical relationships, this study emphasizes the horizontal cooperation and competition relationship between platforms and local governments in an urban agglomeration. Thus, the vertical effects of government subsidies on platforms can be investigated. Another innovation is the social welfare policy goal, which is an important index for the development of urban agglomerations.

Mehr Mut zu grüner Geldpolitik

AbstractMonetary policy currently has only limited room for manoeuvre to fight inflation. Structural supply problems, war and past omissions are having an impact. Inflation is hitting those hardest who cannot pass on the price increase. There is no evidence of a wage-price spiral in Germany at present. Raising the key interest rates now will not lead directly to a reduction in inflation. However, combining monetary policy with social and climate policy goals has great potential. It is a matter of having the courage to pursue a green monetary policy.

Social policy - from the perspective of Ho Chi Minh

Implementing social policies for all people is one of the conditions to ensure sustainable development goals, and it has been recognized and protected by law through international treaties, national practices international law, documents in the international legal system, and the laws of each country. Implementing social policies is one of the important contents of Ho Chi Minh's thought. He always determined that the goal of social policy was to bring freedom and happiness to the people. Therefore, the study of Ho Chi Minh's thoughts on the implementation of social policies has theoretical and practical significance for Vietnam today.

Reframing Social Policy for Welfare and Equal Opportunities in a Digital Culture

A primary and crucial goal of social policy is to ensure, within prevailing economic frames, equality and social justice in the pursuit of sustainable development. An integrated pattern of beliefs, values, customs, and goals in its wider meaning constitutes culture as a whole perspective in human life. In the globalizing world, cultural diversity exists that complicates the achievement of consensus in decision-making. However, a welfare culture is evolving based on new values and perspectives of the society. A digital culture is also strongly asserting itself, allowing new application methods such as quantum computing in problem-solving. Within the expanding horizons of social policy, many calculations and forecasts have made it possible to reduce poverty rates. However, poverty as a great divide still plagues the world.Child poverty is a huge global as well as national problem. Lack of opportunities for education and employment is dividing our societies. Children and young people who are growing up in poverty, or at risk of poverty, also have inadequate nutrition, insufficient access to health services, and are thus not well equipped for employment on reaching working and productive age. Participation in early childhood care and education is nowadays given high priority in political agendas simultaneously with the effective organization of health care and social eldercare of the aging population. The economic recovery, getting started again in 2021 after strong efforts to curb the corona virus disease (COVID-19), together with good governance, guides transformative social policy. Risks and tensions have been shown to cause deviant and disruptive trends that require risk management actions to avoid, for example, cybercrime. Human-ethical principles become crucial supportive means to control and evaluate the effects of a rapidly increasing technological capacity.The purpose of this article is to awaken awareness of global inequality with focus on poverty causing social disadvantage. Responsible governance based on humane ethical values, new thinking together with acceptable risk management, could lead to a social policy aiming for social justice, solidarity, and equal values. Advanced technology could be efficiently used to assess these values in society, although concerns remain about the negative appearance of dark sides.

Taking from the Disadvantaged? Consumption Tax Induced Poverty across Household Types in Eleven OECD Countries

Consumption taxes are a policy tool that shape the income distribution and potentially thwart the redistributive goals of social policy. Different household types might be affected differently due to diverging income positions and consumption levels. This study examines the change in poverty across household types when accounting for consumption tax payments. To this end, the study draws on harmonised data from eleven OECD countries in the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS). Implicit indirect tax rates are estimated from national accounts and poverty rates before and after subtracting consumption taxes are investigated. The results indicate significant variation across household types. In most countries, large family and single parent households experience the highest poverty increase. Ultimately, the increase in poverty across countries is positively associated with the consumption tax level.

Trading off fiscal budget adherence and child protection.

Many countries delegate a substantial part of social service decisions to local administrative levels, while federal laws provide the overall framework for service levels. Strict regulations to reduce budget overruns may however leave local governments with a potential trade-off between adhering to fiscal budgets and supplying critical welfare services as e.g. programs to protect vulnerable children. We investigate if budgetary constraints influence child protection decisions using high-quality register data. We show that the introduction of fiscal sanctions to improve budget adherence contributed to a sharp decline in budget overruns on child protective services by reducing the number of children in out-of-home care. Our results further show that monthly variation in budget adherence within a fiscal year affects the probability of a placement in out-of-home care for children in need of help towards the end of a fiscal year. We estimate that a budget overrun of 10 percentage points by mid-year leads to a 1.2 percent reduction in the number of children in care over the remaining part of the fiscal year. Municipalities reduced child protection expenditure by choosing cheaper types of care and ending placement for children in out-of-home care, particularly for children turning 18. Our paper contributes to the literature on fiscal federalism by documenting the trade-off between managing public expenditure and providing safety and equal opportunity for vulnerable children. We thus highlight that enforcing strict budget adherence may be in conflict with social policy goals. Our results raise an important discussion about centralization versus delegation of critical public services.

Influence of the Crisis on Saint Petersburg’s Public Health and the Goals of Social Policy

ABSTRACT The goal of this article is to assess the influence of the 2014 economic crisis on the health of Saint Petersburg’s residents. The conventional hypothesis holds that the crisis negatively affected the public’s health and living environment. This hypothesis was tested by looking at changes in more than twenty public health indicators and factors affecting public health. In order to assess precrisis trends, a linear trend was constructed for each indicator and factor, and extrapolated values were calculated for 2015 and 2016. Deviations from these trends were the main measures of the crisis’s effect on these indicators. This research uncovered negative deviations from the trends of all indicators, but there were especially significant deviations in environmental protection, health care resources, and consumption of a number of foods. It is shown that the city’s current program for health care development has understated target values and does not take into account ecological factors. This reduces its effectiveness as an instrument of regional social policy. The proposed method calculates scientifically justified targets for programs to rebuild the city’s social services.

Policy coherence in the Nordic bioeconomy? A novel set‐theoretic approach to studying relations among policy goals

AbstractThe green transition requires a reduction in the consumption of fossil fuels, and new innovations suggest that refined biomass can replace fossils within many different industries. In recent years, policy‐makers have therefore framed the bioeconomy as a stepping‐stone for realizing social, economic and environmental objectives in the green transition. However, the policy coherence literature faces a key challenge for analyzing whether these policy goals are indeed compatible: few methods offer a systematic approach for detecting interdependencies and interactions among three (or more) policy goals. The present paper addresses this methodological challenge by proposing a novel set‐theoretic approach, theAlternating Necessity Test, for identifying whether policies are incoherent, weakly coherent, or strongly coherent. The present paper applies this approach to the Nordic bioeconomy context, findings the Nordic bioeconomy strategy to be weakly coherent. This suggests that the Nordic countries can replace fossil fuels with refined biomass without encountering trade‐offs among social, economic and environmental policy goals, but also without experiencing any synergies. Demonstrating how policy coherence and goal compatibility can be conceptualized in set‐theoretic terms, this paper offers a novel tool for identifying those situations in which policy‐makers should focus not only on overcoming incoherence, but on progressing from weak to strong policy coherence.

Ranking Season: Combating Commercial Banks' Systemic Discrimination of Consumers

The recent disbursement of COVID‐19 pandemic‐related federal relief funds to businesses and individuals under the CARES Act exposed significant problems in the U.S. system of money and payments. U.S. banks' wealth maximization objectives clashed with the federal government's goals of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). The discriminatory, self‐interested behavior of banks, which essentially served as the federal government's long arm in these transactions, worsened the pandemic‐induced economic crisis for many, especially women and minorities, and intensified racial injustice. The U.S. government's inability in 2020 to successfully execute its stimulus plan and give all its intended recipients the benefits it had designated due to the role played by banks begs the question: Should U.S. banks be subject to any legal obligations when they help the government execute its fiscal goals? This article argues that U.S. banks should help advance the federal government's fiscal policy, including the DEI social agenda, especially during critical junctures such as the economic crisis instigated by COVID‐19, and proposes an agency theory approach to mandate the implementation of government social policy goals among commercial banks via a CAMELS rating‐like system that includes social goals, such as DEI. This DEI rating system would create public consequences for noncomplying banks, including depositors withdrawing their funds from lower‐rated banks and redepositing them in top‐rated banks, resulting in higher‐rated DEI banks overtaking lower‐rated banks. This DEI rating system will also provide an incentive for banks to compete for more diversity and inclusion, which would solve many of the systemic discrimination‐related issues that led to economic inequality and intensified the 2020–2021 crisis. Lastly, DEI‐based scores could help prevent banks from finding themselves on the losing side of the growing public banking movement in the United States, enabling banks to reposition themselves and avoid future radical changes in the banking industry.

ИНКЛЮЗИВНЫЙ РОСТ В ЭКОНОМИКЕ ЗАМКНУТОГО ЦИКЛА

Russia’s economic relations with the outside world have undergone significant changes in recent years. The expansion of the scope of sanctions against Russia by many countries - traditional economic partners leads to the need to organize the functioning of the domestic economy in the “circular economy” mode. In this regard, the task of adapting economic theory, socio-economic policy, and economic practice to the new conditions of development arises. This article analyzes the possibilities and prerequisites for maintaining positive economic growth rates and improving its quality due to the inclusive nature of growth. Such development, to one degree or another, should cover all regions, industries, and national economic complexes. The problems of import substitution are considered in the article as part of the general problem of resource substitution and resource replenishment. The need to develop a resource balance at all economic levels is emphasized in connection with these problems. In the conditions of a closed cycle, special attention should be paid to the potential for replacing physical capital with human capital, which requires a significant revision of the subject and goals of social policy, including the goals and tools of personnel management at enterprises. The role of top-level specialists (“craftsmen”), who can solve production problems in a sharp reduction in the import of facilities, supplies, and critical technologies, is noted. The transition to a circular economy as one of the short-term phases of economic functioning carried out in compliance with the developed in the article recommendations can weaken the negative impact of the socio-economic disparities and contribute to inclusive (nonfocal) economic growth. This phase can, under certain conditions, become a period of consolidation of the domestic economy and society.

FINANCING HOUSING PROGRAMMES AND ITS ROLE IN ENHANCING TRUST IN GOVERNMENT

The democratic development of society has shown that the growth of the welfare of the overwhelming majority of the population through the implementation of effective social and economic policy in the country positively influences public attitude to the government and increases the level of trust in the public sector. A successful mechanism to address the social needs of citizens is the development of an affordable housing financing system for the population. The purpose of the study is to analyze the state of affordable housing financing in Ukraine and determine its relationship to trust in the public sector. The article examines the use of state-administrative mechanisms for realizing the housing rights of Ukrainian citizens. Analysis of the current state of implementation of affordable housing programs is proposed, considering the size of mortgage payments and the volume of housing financing. The analysis highlighted the existence of a housing crisis in Ukrainian society as a result of the extremely low level of funding for the sector. The study provides a comparative analysis of the housing affordability index and the level of trust in government in Europe, according to the Global Value Survey. This has helped determine the place of social housing policy in the system of trust relationships between government, local governments and citizens. According to the sociological monitoring platforms, a dynamic analysis of the balance of trust-distrust of the population of Ukraine to the state apparatus and local government bodies was conducted. Based on a comprehensive and critical assessment of the leading affordable housing programs in the country and trust indicators, this study found that the distribution of powers, incentives, responsibilities, and budget funds within the framework of the decentralization process between the central government and local authorities, contribute to the achievement of the main goals of the state's social policy regarding affordable housing, which positively affects the level of citizens trust in local authorities. As a result, it was determined that during periods of economic and political uncertainty, financing of affordable housing is quite important, because due to such actions the state reduces the level of uncertainty, forms positive expectations of citizens, promotes the increase of stability and trust necessary for sustainable economic and social recovery.

Holding social forestry hostage in Indonesia: Contested bureaucracy mandates and potential escape pathways

The government of Indonesia continues to commit to social forestry as one of its cornerstone rural development policies. Social forestry mechanisms aim to grant legal rights/ permits to groups of local communities to manage previously inaccessible state forests, with the dual aims of improving the livelihoods of rural communities and encouraging participation in forest rehabilitation. Explicit policy targets include the allocation of 12.7 million hectares of state forests for local communities through a suite of social forestry project mechanisms. While the number of social forestry licenses have increased markedly over the past few years, current social forestry initiatives still fall short of meeting the ambitious land area targets. More importantly, increasing evidence points to social forestry policy outcomes only partially serving its initial intended promises. This paper helps to explain these partial outcomes and unmet promises from the perspective of social forestry bureaucracy structures and designs. We found that despite the core social forestry bureaucracy undergoing substantial expansion, several other bureaucracies also channeled their interests into the realm of social forestry policy. These other bureaucracies do not necessarily fit within the intended goals of social forestry policy. Indeed, several bureaucracies continue to hold social forestry policy implementation hostage through other forestry mandates, which results in an institutional chokehold on key social forestry interests. These other bureaucracies even introduced models to redirect social forestry initiatives by retrofitting mandates into their own policy priorities. To address these increasing roadblocks to achieving social forestry policy designs, this paper outlines and proposes a more simplified bureaucratic structure to assist in the implementation of a social forestry policy more in line with its intended goals. Specifically, tasks and responsibilities could be transferred to a single bureaucracy that has mechanisms more closely connected to local people, such as those already envisioned and established in the form of forest management units.

Organisation of Social Policy Directed at Integration: A Modelling and Application Approach

Purpose: The aim of the study was to define the model conditions for the integration of social services in the system of social policy, to present a systemic role of the integrator of these services on a local level together with a verification based on the analysis of the integration of such services in Poland through the local government social services centres. Methodology: The authors used a systemic analysis of the organisational environment of the social policy system, extended with a literature review and critical analysis of a case study (the application of the integration of the provision of social services). Findings: It is possible to identify many variants of the realisation of social policy goals, and the choice of the one to be applied in a given country depends on the legislative solutions, the optimalisation in satisfying societal needs requires the appropriate organisation of the provision of social services, the provision of social services will be optimal and effective when it is properly organised, and the necessary condition is the integration of the activities of all the entities involved in the realisation of social services, such as institutions from the public sector, NGOs and the private sector. Practical implications: The study presents an organisational framework of the process of the integration of social services, which appears to be a rational direction for improving the quality of the system of social policy, and is a contribution to further in-depth research. Originality: The paramount aim of social policy remains the support for individuals and increasing social inclusivity of the system. It is justifiable to shape the system of social policy not only on the basis of public sector resources, but also with the support from the market sector and the social animation and citizen participation. Systemic regulation of transforming existing in Poland social welfare centers into centers integrating social services is essentially appropriate. Tthe problem is the degree of advancement of the legislative process, the pace of this transformation and the sufficiency of resources determining the effectiveness and efficiency of the integration process.

Gender-responsive public procurement: strategies to support women-owned enterprises

PurposeThis paper aims to inform strategies to enhance public procurement opportunities for women-owned small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). To do so, the study examines two research questions: To what extent are women-owned enterprises under-represented among SME suppliers to government; and Do barriers to public procurement – as perceived by SME owners – differ across gender?Design/methodology/approachThe study draws on the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm and on theories of role congruity and social feminism to develop the study’s hypotheses. Empirical analyses rely on comparisons of a sample of 1,021 SMEs that had been suppliers to government and 9,376 employer firms that had not been suppliers to government. Data were collected by Statistics Canada and are nationally representative. Logistic regression analysis was used to control for systemic firm and owner differences.FindingsControlling firm and owner attributes, majority women-owned businesses were underrepresented as SME suppliers to government in some, but not all sectors. Women-owned SMEs in Wholesale and Retail and in Other Services were, ceteris paribus, half as likely as to be government suppliers as counterpart SMEs owned by men. Among Goods Producers and for Professional, Scientific and Technical Services SMEs, there were no significant gender differences in the propensity to supply the federal government. “Complexity of the contracting process” and “difficulty finding contract opportunities” were the obstacles to contracting cited most frequently.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitations of using secondary analyses of data are well documented and apply here. The findings reflect only the perspectives of “successful bidders” and do not capture SMEs that submitted bids but were not successful. Furthermore, the survey did not include questions about sub-contractor enterprises, data that would likely provide even more insights about SMEs in government supply chains. Accordingly, the study could not address sub-contracting strategies to increase the number of women-owned businesses on government contracts. Statistics Canada’s privacy protocols also limited the extent to which the research team could examine sub-groups of small business owners, such as visible minorities and Indigenous/Aboriginal persons. It is also notable that much of the SME literature, as well as this study, define gender as a dichotomous (women/female, men/male) attribute. Comparing women/female and men/males implicitly assumes within group homogeneity. Future research should use a more inclusive definition of gender. Research is also required to inform about the obstacles to government procurement among the population of SMEs that were unsuccessful in their bids.Practical implicationsThe study provides benchmarks on, and directions to, enhance the participation of women-owned SMEs or enterprises in public procurement. Strategies to support women-owned small businesses that comply with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are advanced.Social implicationsThe study offers insights to reconcile economic efficiency and social (gender equity) policy goals in the context of public procurement. The “policy-practice divides” in public procurement and women’s enterprise policies are discussed.Originality/valueThe study is among the first to use a feminist lens to examine the associations between gender of SME ownership and public procurement, while controlling for other salient owner and firm attributes.

From sustainable development to social-ecological justice: Addressing taboos and naturalizations in order to shift perspective

While sustainability was introduced as a game-changing idea, it has often been criticized for its vagueness and its over-accommodating bent toward powerful, vested interests, economic growth, and profit seeking—or, on the contrary, for not being able to enter mainstream politics. As a result, in the current political climate, sustainability policies seem to be everywhere, but so does the social and ecological critique of these policies.In this article, we articulate the seeds of an emerging cross-sectoral shift away from sustainability and toward social-ecological justice. Coming from a multidisciplinary background, we explore commonalities in the shortcomings of sustainability agendas and identify discursive barriers to change across three critical fields: transport, energy, and urban greening. Within each of these fields, we observe an upswing of scholarly work addressing the pitfalls and trade-offs of sustainability, but we also show how taboos and naturalizations embedded in these fields hinder adequately questioning the economy’s role in sustainability thinking and action.To develop our argument that there is an emerging cross-sectoral push away from sustainability agendas and toward social-ecological justice goals, we briefly examine the current state of the wider sustainability discourse together with its critique from a social and ecological justice angle. We then review relevant academic work across the applied fields of transport, energy, and urban greening, focusing on the normative and analytical aspects dealt with, and how they address and conceptualize tensions between the different dimensions of sustainability. In the concluding section, we highlight how a focus on sectoral and local tensions between ecological, economic, and social policy goals uncovers the ways in which injustices or environmental degradation are continually reproduced, despite the sustainability framework. We conclude with suggestions for thinking and acting under the umbrella of social-ecological justice.

IMPLEMENTATION OF STATE SOCIAL POLICY AT THE REGIONAL LEVEL (ON THE EXAMPLE OF SAINT PETERSBURG)

The article presents an analysis of theoretical approaches to the essence of social policy, specifies the features and goals of social policy and social assistance at the regional level. Analysis of the experience of St. Petersburg showed the existence of shortcomings in the payment of benefits, suggested directions for improving these processes.

The Outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19) Plagues the World

The focus is on the outbreak of covid-19 and the patterns inherent in it as they appear in valid statistics and current research. The approach relies on overall goals and strategies in combating the spread of the virus. The examination is placed within an interdisciplinary frame of reference, particularly social policy and economics. A primary and crucial goal of social policy is to ensure, within prevailing economic frames, equity and social justice in the pursuit of sustainable development. The new coronavirus (COVID-19), which was first detected in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, has been declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization, as the outbreak continues to spread outside China. As of the beginning of October 2020, the number of reported covid-19 cases around the world is about 34 million, and the number of deaths amounts to 860 thousand. The worldwide spread of coronavirus is severely affecting the global economy; millions of the global population are under some form of lockdown. The coronavirus pandemic, experienced as a severe shock, has caused not only economic difficulties but also social suffering and concerns for the infected individuals and their families, relatives and closest acquaintances. Increased concern, in connection with the economic slowdown, have given rise to new policies to combat the spread of the new coronavirus never before seen in humans. The policy actions range from social distancing that allow people to work online at home to the closing of borders. In the new emergency conditions, the values and goal orientations emphasize life and health as fundamental human rights. In addition to increased care provisions, other policy actions, such as relief package designed to ensure economic activities and the welfare and well-being of individuals and families, telemedicine, remote work and smart devices are used to enable visiting other people in order to return to normal. Although science guided by humanistic principles, has provided the knowledge to portray the state of the world and human conditions, the preparedness for combating the coronavirus pandemic and the treatment of people infected with the virus, have been found to vary among nations. Significant access barriers remain, especially in remote areas, including the cost of data as well as lack of understanding of foreign languages to manipulate devices and understand internet content. International responsibility and solidarity appear as primary guiding principles in connecting all policy actions to combat coronavirus. Keywords: Advanced technology, global economy, relief package, social distancing, access to data, social suffering, solidarity.

Gender and ethnic wage differentials inhibit growth: A shred of evidence

Racial, ethnic, and gender wage differentials, in particular those that are not explained by human capital differences between the respective groups, are fixtures of labor markets in almost all countries, developed and developing alike. Discriminatory wage differentials have detrimental social and economic effects. Gender differentials have larger distortional effects than other ethnic and racial differentials, and might call for different policies to address them. Measuring and documenting wage and employment differentials is an essential first step towards eliminating these differentials, which in turn is a very important economic as well as social policy goal akin to the Sustainable Development Goals set by the international community.

Состояние источниковой базы исследований повседневных практик населения Саратовской области во второй половине 1950 – середине 1980-х годов

The article presents an analytical review of the types of sources identified by the author (written, oral, audiovisual) for studying the history of the daily life of the population of the Saratov region in the second half of the 1950s and mid-1980s. In conclusion, it is stated that today there is a solid source base that allows not only to comprehensively reconstruct the everyday practices the Volzhans in the second half of the 1950s – mid 1980s, but also makes it possible to draw interesting conclusions and conclusions on rethinking the effectiveness of state efforts to the achievement of the strategic goal of Soviet social policy – the construction of a society of general prosperity and equal opportunities.

Urban Planning as a Strategy to Implement Social Sustainability Policy Goals? The Case of Temporary Housing for Immigrants in Gothenburg, Sweden

Planning is one of the envisioned strategies for reaching policy goals of urban social sustainability. However, the practical realization of this vision faces a number of challenges not least due to conflicts of interests and goals that arise in the planning process. There also seems to be a lack of understanding of the relationship between formal planning and social sustainability goals that are often normative and visionary. In order to bridge this knowledge gap, this paper investigates how urban social sustainability can be implemented in urban planning in the context of conflicts of interests and goals. In particular, we explore two questions: (i) whether and how planning procedures are interconnected with local policy goals for social sustainability; (ii) whether and how conflict affects the implementation of these goals through planning. The paper presents a qualitative case study of planning of temporary housing for immigrants in Gothenburg, Sweden, where a conflict of interests developed in conjunction with the planning. The local social sustainability goals are operationalized through the specific sub-goals of accessible and more equal living conditions, distribution of and equal access to housing for all groups in the community, and reduced social and ethnic segregation and discrimination in regard to housing. We identify shortcomings in the integration of local urban social sustainability goals into planning procedures and find that conflicts of interests as well as conflicts of priorities within and between the policy goals complicate their integration into formal planning procedures. More attention needs to be given to improved operationalization of the questions of priority and conflict resolution, both in planning and in urban social sustainability policy, if planning is to be considered a viable strategy for implementation of social sustainability goals.