Sustainable Urban Governance Research Articles

Cityscapes of Hunting and Fishing: Yoruba Place-Making and Cultural Heritage for a Sustainable Urban Vision

Literature on African urbanism has generally lacked insight into the significant roles of hunters and fishers as city founders. This has resulted in a knowledge gap regarding the cultural foundation of the cities that could enhance policy frameworks for sustainable urban governance. This article examines corollaries related to the complementarities of hunting and urbanism with case studies from the ethno-linguistic Yoruba region in southwestern Nigeria. Through qualitative methodologies involving ethnography and the (oral) history of landscapes of hunting from the pre-colonial and (British) colonial periods, as well as tracing the current cultural significance of hunting in selected Yoruba cities, the article reveals data that identify hunters and fishers as city founders. It shows that hunting, as a lived heritage, continues to be interlaced with cultural urban practices and Yoruba cosmology and that within this cultural imagery and belief, hunters remain key actors in nature conservation, contributing to socio-cultural capital, economic sustainability, and urban security structures. The article concludes with recommendations for strategies to reconnect with these value systems in rapidly westernizing urban Africa. These reconnections include the re-sacralization of desacralized landscapes of hunting, revival of cultural ideologies, decolonization from occidental conceptions, and re-definition of urbanism and place-making in light of African perspectives despite globalization. In doing so, the article contributes to a deeper understanding of the interconnections between the environmental and societal components of sustainability theory, agenda, and practice in urban contexts; underscores the societal value of lived heritage, cultural heritage, and cultural capital within the growing literature on urban social sustainability; and sheds more light on southern geographies within the social sustainability discourse, a field of study that still disproportionately reflects the global northwest.

Sustainable environmental governance as the implementation of state defense policy

Background: Land waters in urban areas often become a source of problems if they are not managed wisely and firmly. The threat and risk of danger, disease and even death always haunt the people who live on the banks of the river. Poverty and slum areas are negative effects of less than optimal land water management in urban areas. The Indonesian government has taken various steps to address this, but the lack of urban land for settlement is the reason why immigrants from other regions reside and reside in dangerous areas such as riverbanks. The compulsion to live minimally in urban areas is a burden for local governments in their efforts to increase welfare as well as improve sustainable urban governance. Many other cities in developed countries have made efforts to improve inland water areas to alleviate poverty and at the same time beautify the urban landscape. The experts agreed to hold discussions to formulate the best policy steps for sustainable urban governance in Indonesia. Methods: In the process of data analysis and decision making related to sustainable environmental governance as implementation of national defense policy, this article utilizes the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) Data Processing Method. Finding: The results of in-depth discussions and interviews with experts in the field of environment, urban governance, economic experts and poverty management experts from various institutions such as the Ministry of Social Affairs, PUPR Ministry, Spatial Planning and City Planning Services, Academics and also the Military were processed using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). Conclusion: The best decision alternative will be a recommendation for policy makers regarding sustainable urban governance. Novelty/Originality of this study: This study is relevant to the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) Method to formulate sustainable urban water management policies in Indonesia, involving various experts and related institutions to overcome poverty and improve urban landscapes. Therefore, this study can show policy recommendations based on various aspects and views.

Spatial imbalance in the digital era: how the digital economy affects urban sprawl in China

ABSTRACT Economic and social activities in the digital age have changed business forms and spatial relations, and identifying evolution of the urban form in the digital age is the key to sustainable urban governance. Based on data from prefecture-level cities in China from 2010 to 2021, this study explores the impact of the digital economy on urban sprawl and the path to its realization, thus providing policy implications for urban governance in the digital economy era. The empirical results show that the digital economy significantly promotes urban sprawl and that the urban sprawl effect caused by the digital economy has regional and scale heterogeneity. Western and medium-sized cities show greater sprawl trends under the influence of the digital economy. Digital economy development can significantly affect residents’ lifestyles and lead to urban sprawl, such as encouraging green, digital, and suburban lifestyles. In addition, the digital economy significantly affects the demand for urban land space, such as the industrial division of labour patterns, urbanization processes, and industrial virtual agglomeration, which are indirect factors leading to urban sprawl.

Environmental Sustainability and Solid Waste Management Procedures in Bukavu City, Democratic Republic of Congo

Environmental sustainability approaches such as effective solid waste management processes are indispensable for promoting sustainable urban development. Therefore, sustainable approaches to urban solid waste management are essential for every growing city. Bukavu City in Democratic Republic of Congo is a continuously growing city with a correspondingly increasing generation of solid waste which needs effective and sustainable management. This study engaged a mixed method model of both qualitative and quantitative approaches in assessing the perception of respondents on the sustainable aspect of the solid waste management procedures in the city of Bukavu. It administered 400 household questionnaires to residents, but also complemented the retrieved by interviewing key informants about the solid waste management approaches in the city. Results indicate inadequacy in the solid waste management processes in Bukavu City. Therefore, an inclusive and all-encompassing sustainable urban governance is proposed to encourage effective community participation in the management of the city environmental parameters alongside the enshrinement of a sustainable waste and environmental policy.

Navigating urban futures: Exploring NbS upscaling discourses, practices, and relations in reimagining human-nature relationships

Recent discussions within urban planning support nature as a potent ally to facing climate change in cities. Among all, nature-based solutions (NbS) and their upscaling have been proposed to address climate change challenges in the urban environment. Different visions on how NbS uscapling is advanced in the urban context, by whom, and for what purpose have generated conflicting imaginaries by which the city of the future could look like. Yet, this plurality has generated confusion and controversies on the ‘right way’ to perform NbS upscaling. Stemming from urban sustainability transition and governance research, the paper proposes a working definition of upscaling NbS based on three analytical dimensions: discourses, practices, and relations. The combination of the three dimensions suggests a new understanding of the complex phenomenon of NbS upscaling that implies the effort of different actors to frame a winning picture of NbS to be normalised as an implementable solution in the pursuit of a selected nature-based future imaginary. The paper argues for an alternative perspective on human–nature relationship that puts at the centre nature and considers tradition and locality for NbS upscaling for a greener and more just future in cities.

Management of Slums in the Kotaku Program with Sustainable Urban Governance in Batam City

Management of Slums in the Kotaku Program with Sustainable Urban Governance in Batam City

Exploring sustainable urban governance: Evolving dynamics, transitions, and ambiguities

ABSTRACT In the context of rapid urbanization and urban sprawl, growing concerns about sustainability in urban governance have come to the forefront. The study employed exploratory bibliometric analysis to examine the literature on sustainable urban governance and critically investigate how sustainability is complexly woven into urban governance as a multidimensional phenomenon. The paper addresses the existing literature gaps, including contextual challenges and inadequate theoretical-methodological underpinnings, by analyzing 2,194 scholarly outputs. We propose a “sustainable urban governance framework” that rationalizes contextual justifications (at the macro-meso-micro and interlevel) by synthesizing the concept of good urban governance, interlinks of sustainability dimensions, and multilevel governance systems. Sustainable urban governance is defined in this study as a process and system that creates harmonious coexistence among urban settings’ ecological and social strata through integrating rationalized contextual justifications, collective sustainability objectives, and inclusive urban resilience plans.

SMART SUSTAINABLE URBAN DEVELOPMENT FOR THE NEW CAPITAL CITY OF INDONESIA

It is critical to do research on the concept of Smart Sustainable Urban Development and its implementation. This is primarily important to support the urban future and urban governance in Nusantara Capital City, Indonesia, and the relation to the concept of urban sustainability and smart city. This research is aimed to analyse the implementation of the smart sustainable urban development concept to support the urban future through the New Urban Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals and urban governance in Nusantara Capital City. The data were obtained by conducting in-depth interviews and Focus Group Discussions (FGD) with the policy stakeholders and agencies relevant to the development plan for Nusantara Capital City and field surveys in the form of observations as well. The results show that the urban future from the national government is envisaged through six domain services encapsulating the sustainability and smart city elements. In the regional and local level, challenges are met including the environmental and social impact but through government collaboration and devising Information and Communication Technology, the authority has been able to design the solution. Sustainability, ICT, smart city, and urban governance constitute critical elements in the process of urban development, especially for the development of a new capital city.

Editorial: Relational approaches to urban sustainability governance

Editorial: Relational approaches to urban sustainability governance

Unveiling the transforming landscape: exploring patterns and drivers of land use/land cover change in Dar es Salaam Metropolitan City, Tanzania

ABSTRACT This study employs Landsat images from 1995, 2009, and 2022, utilizing Google Earth Engine and Random Forest algorithm in R software for land use and land cover change analysis in Dar es Salaam Metropolitan City. Results show a substantial shift, notably in bushland and forest, with a 14.57% and 2.9% decline, respectively. Drivers of change include urban (14.87%) and agricultural (4.47%) growth. Overall, 64.3% of land cover changed, primarily transitioning from bushland to agriculture (25.7%) and forest to agriculture (9.2%). Qualitative insights underscore unregulated urban expansion, informal settlements, migration, human activities, and inadequate planning as significant contributors, aiding sustainable urban governance.

Scarcity and quality risks for future global urban water supply

ContextSupply of freshwater to the world’s cities is increasingly affected by human pressures and climate change. Understanding the effects of human pressures and climate change on global urban water scarcity and quality risks in an integrated way is important.ObjectivesThe objective of this study is to assess the scarcity and quality risks to water security for 304 large cities (population > 1 million) across the world for 2015 and 2050.MethodsWe assessed the water scarcity according to water demand and availability, and evaluated the quality of water supply in terms of the population density, cropland fertilization, and landscape patterns in source watersheds. In addition, the impacts of human pressures and climate change on urban water risks were quantified using contribution analysis.ResultsWe found that about 90% of these cities faced water risks in 2015. The number of cities facing quality risk was about three times the number of cities facing scarcity risk, and nearly a quarter faced dual risks. From 2015 to 2050, 88.8–99.7% of cities were projected to face rising water risks with about one-third facing dual risks by 2050. Increase in water demand was the main cause of rising scarcity risk; growth in population and crop fertilization in source watersheds were the main reasons for rising quality risk.ConclusionsThere is an urgent need to promote landscape conservation of urban water source areas, implement sustainable urban water planning and governance, improve water supply infrastructure, and refine ecological compensation regimes to achieve global urban water security.

Assessment and optimization of urban ecological network resilience based on disturbance scenario simulations: A case study of Nanjing city

Urbanization has serious implications for the structure and function of ecological networks. Augmenting resilience offers a salient remedy to sustain ecological network stability, thereby leading to heightened ecological efficacy. Nevertheless, extant research pertaining to ecological network resilience predominantly centers around static assessment, disregarding the external dynamic disturbances as well as changes in resilience over long time-series. Furthermore, scant attention has been given to the simultaneous incorporation of both structural and functional attributes in the selection of indicators for resilience assessment. In this study, taking Nanjing as an example, with a five-year interval, we determined the spatial scope of the ecological networks in 2000–2020, used two disturbance scenario simulation methods, probabilistic attack and deterministic attack, and finally optimized the ecological network with the goal of resilience enhancement. The results show that (1) the resilience index thresholds of the ecological networks decreased from 0.43 to 0.37, and the network resilience became progressively worse, but the decline in resilience index thresholds decreased in recent years. (2) The phenomenon of resurgent functional resilience increased, and ecological network redundancy increased. (3) In recent years, critical resilience nodes evinced a trend characterized by a diminishment of significance in the central region and a concomitant enhancement of importance in the southern domain. (4) The functional and structural optimization strategies increased the resilience index thresholds by 0.06 and 0.11, respectively. This study advances the refinement of methodologies and frameworks germane to the dynamic assessment of ecological network resilience, thereby furnishing instructive guidance for the fortification of urban ecosystem resilience and the promotion of sustainable urban governance.

Highly Heterogeneous Heat‐Related Health Impacts in China and Implications for Sustainable Urban Heat Governance

AbstractUnderstanding heat‐related impacts is crucial to improving public awareness of addressing urban heat challenges and enabling decision makers to mainstream heat action plans. This study explores heat‐related physiological and psychological impacts, symptoms, and demographic determinants based on 4210 questionnaires across nine large Chinese cities, including Chengdu, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Nanchang, Nanjing, Shanghai, Shenyang, and Xi'an in August 2020. The results indicate that heat‐related psychological impacts are equally severe as physiological impacts. Chongqing is under the most severe heat‐related health impact on both the physiological and psychological aspects. Skin heat damage (SKI), digestive system illnesses (DIG), respiratory illnesses (RES), and cardiovascular illnesses (CAR) are prominent physiological illnesses in all cities, while emotional irritability (EMO), easy to lose control temper (EAS), low mood (LOW), and insomnia (INS) are prominent psychological symptoms. Chongqing and Guangzhou are the most vulnerable cities in terms of physiological and psychological symptoms. Chengdu, Hangzhou, Nanjing, and Shanghai are more resilient in terms of physiological symptoms, whereas Chengdu, Hangzhou, and Shanghai are more resistant to psychological symptoms. Heat‐related health impacts, symptoms, and demographic determinants are spatially heterogeneous. The elderly and patients are more vulnerable, while such a conclusion is not always true. The spatial heterogeneity of heat‐related physiological and psychological impacts, symptoms, and drivers highlights the significance of developing city‐specific heat health action plans.

Exploring the Impacts of COVID-19 and Lockdown on Online Car-Hailing Travel in Shanghai

The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown have caused serious impacts on people’s lives, especially on daily travel like online car-hailing. Understanding the impacts of the pandemic on online car-hailing travel is essential for sustainable urban planning and governance, especially during public health emergencies including COVID-19. However, few studies have delved into the in-depth patterns and interpretations of crowd behaviors and mobility variations resulting from the lockdown, especially from different perspectives. This study attempts to make contributions to this gap by building a three-step method from a macroscopic to mesoscopic perspective. A dataset of online car-hailing trajectories for 15 days in 2018 and 3 special days (before and after the lockdown) in 2022 was used. Detailed analyses of the overall spatiotemporal patterns, the flows between administrative districts, and the four-perspective investigation in the central urban area were conducted. The main findings include a dramatic plunge in ride counts for online car-hailing due to the lockdown and a significant change in human mobility associated with hospitals and traffic hubs. Our study provides insights into the understanding of impacts of COVID-19 and lockdown and hopefully helps with the resilience and sustainability of the city. The workflow might also be inspiring for further studies.

Topic evolution in urban studies: Tracking back and moving forward

This study is a bibliometric analysis of urban studies publications from 2001 to 2021 that unravels the evolution and growing complexity of the field. Although developed regions still dominate and lead this area of inquiry, urban studies led by Asian scholars have increased dramatically over the last decade. There is also topic diffusion from developed regions to less-developed regions despite some unique emphases within each region caused by their local socio-economic-ecological contexts. Climate change adaptation and sustainable development, inequality, and urban governance are receiving growing attention globally. The findings suggest the rising importance of cross-continent knowledge transfer and multi-disciplinary collaboration, particularly among urban studies, sustainability policies and management, public administration, and development studies. Also, urban researchers need to pay more attention to issues faced by many growing cities in developing economies in Asia and Africa as more of the world's population will reside in those urban settings in the coming decades.

Socio-political barriers to sustainable urban water governance: the case of Cartagena, Colombia

ABSTRACT Socio-political factors shape urban water insecurity, yet are often not incorporated into urban water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) planning. WASH service coverage rates in Cartagena, Colombia, suggest high water security, yet the history of water policy and governance in the city from 1991 to 2019 reveals a more complex reality of water insecurity that is not reflected in service coverage indicators. This case study bridges scientific enquiry with policy to demonstrate how weak institutions and governance at municipal levels undermine local water security and the implementation of national sustainable development policy.

Urban livestock rearing and the paradox of sustainable cities and urban governance in West Africa: Empirical evidence from Wa, Ghana

Although inner-city livestock rearing provides households with food security and cash income opportunities, urban farmers and planners face challenges balancing urban livestock rearing with sustainable cities’ ideals. Literature on the interface of inner-city rearing, sustainable cities and urban governance dilemma is limited in African cities. Using the city of Wa in Ghana as a case, this study seeks to understand cattle-rearing practices, driving forces, the public health risk and governance challenges in African cities. The study employed a questionnaire to elicit data from 96 cattle keepers, while interviews were conducted with neighborhood residents and city authorities. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression were used to analyze the quantitative data, and thematic analysis employed to analyze the qualitative data. The study found that cattle keepers are spread across the inner-city and keep indigenous, exotic, and crossbreeds. Open grazing and stall feeding were adopted in the wet and dry seasons, respectively. The animals are kept in makeshift structures and open kraals. The holders earn substantial income, making demand for cattle the main determinant of farmers' decision to rear. Although the cattle pose a health risk and cause inconvenience to residents, political interferences and logistical constraints limit local authority's efforts to govern rearing in the inner-city. Based on the challenges and the benefits, city authorities might be faced with trying to strike a balance with sustainable cities' agenda. Therefore, actions towards harmony between livestock rearing, environmental sustainability and human safety are imperative for effective urban governance.

Transdisciplinary Collaborations for flood impact mitigation on human health for sustainable urban development

This study assessed the impact of urbanization on human health with an emphasis on flood hazard mitigation through the lens of transdisciplinary collaborations, as a strategy for achieving sustainable urban development. In place of this, the study highlights the effects of urbanization and floods impact on health, by identifying the health consequences of flood disasters. The goal here was to put together contributions and guidance drawn from the literature on issues under study for a shared problem understanding and solutions. The methodological approach employed in this study was a desktop survey, for systematic literature search, conducted in five databases and Google Scholar from April 4th to 30th May 2018, applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, from which, 44,860 articles were returned, narrowed to 71 articles from which 26 relevant articles were selected. Findings suggest that transdisciplinary collaboration enhance shared learning for sustainable urban development governance. The study further reveals functional overlaps among the collaborating partners on a common goal due to poor coordination. The paper concludes that successful transdisciplinary collaborations for sustainable urban development require articulation and efforts that clearly define the roles of each partner in the collaboration. Succinctly, achieving sustainable urban development is not an easy task, but ideal transdisciplinary collaboration simplified it.

Analyzing commons: complex dynamics leading to sustainably governed urban commons

As a concept, urban commons offer new perspectives on collaborative urban design and the participatory management of urban resources. In many cases, citizens create urban commons as bottom-up initiatives, although they often cooperate with local governments or private proprietors, particularly if a long-term perspective is targeted for their project. Urban commons therefore shed light on the tension between bottom-up initiatives and the public and private sector in urban governance. This article aims to better understand how the interrelation between different variables, such as the implementation process, accessibility of the community, ownership structure, etc., can help to constitute sustainable governed commons. To do so we investigate three case studies of commons in different urban settings by means of field research and interviews with activists. Each case study is evaluated in terms of sustainable governance by identifying enhancing or constraining variables, external conditions, and internal challenges. By analyzing the specific strategies for the different commons using the overarching categories of scale, permeability, and organization, we identify variables that, when combined, can lead to a sustainable managed urban commons. Comparing the different examples makes it possible to assess the limits and possibilities of sustainable urban commons governance.

Sustainability Politics and Housing Development in Urban Brazil and Ghana

Rapid population growth in the Global South places extreme pressure on cities, making it very difficult for governments to provide the necessary housing to city dwellers. The short-term needs and demands of residents often contradict or challenge long-term central urban plans and sustainable solutions. Important but overlooked actors in the politics of sustainable urban development are community organisations that demand housing and rights to the city. Yet these organisations do not adopt the same strategies everywhere. This article examines the pathways of engagement adopted by organisations across different urban contexts and how they affect governance. These organisations contribute to sustainability politics by engaging local and national governments, allying with political parties and politicians, and informing and mobilising local populations. Drawing from a most different case design that compares São Paulo, Brazil with Accra, Ghana, we find that the ideology of the organisation, its relationship to the state and to society, and the credibility of multi-level institutions shape the success or failure of sustainable urban governance and development. We conclude that urban residents often seek change through pathways of engagement that can be generalised across diverse social contexts, but the underlying politics within civil society can undermine a sustainable urban future.