Urban Sustainability Transitions Research Articles

Place-based sustainable urban mobility: a conceptual framework to spark local designs

ABSTRACT Sustainable urban mobility transitions take into account the transportation needs of users and utilities, locality, regional development, and social inclusiveness. This research investigates this complexity and details the planning pillars of ‘avoid, shift, improve’ in a conceptual framework with place-based considerations and prioritisations. Three UK cities provide empirical examples – Durham, Nottingham and London – to illustrate local priorities, governance and investment requirements, under the three inseparable planning pillars. Lessons from these case studies demonstrate the need for strong and aligned collaboration between public and private stakeholders, promoting urban mobility alternatives, infrastructure improvements and covering investment costs.

Correction: Advancing urban sustainability transitions: a framework for understanding urban complexity and enhancing integrative transformations

Correction: Advancing urban sustainability transitions: a framework for understanding urban complexity and enhancing integrative transformations

Digital finance policy and the challenge of air pollution in China

This study investigates the influence of digital finance tools on air quality in China from 1990 to 2020 using the cross-sectional augmented autoregressive distributed lag approach. The findings underscore the critical role of digital finance, especially internet banking, in reducing air pollution levels. The increased adoption of internet banking is linked to lower vehicular emissions and more efficient financial operations, aiding environmental preservation. Similarly, ATM banking is found to negatively correlate with air pollution, though to a lesser extent. In contrast, coal consumption, urban population growth, and inflation are positively associated with air pollution, highlighting the necessity for sustainable urban planning and energy transition policies. To combat air pollution, it is essential to utilize digital finance tools, broaden digitalization across various sectors, and employ AI and big data for precise interventions. Supporting green financial tools can help fund renewable energy projects, speeding up China’s shift to a low-carbon economy and mitigating the harmful effects of air pollution.

Infrastructure Transitions in Southern Cities: Organising Urban Service Delivery for Climate and Development

Rapidly growing cities in the Global South are characterised by high levels of vulnerability and informality and are expected to bear a disproportionate share of the costs of a changing climate. The confluence of climate change impacts, inequitable urbanisation processes, and under-development emphasise the need for accelerated urban transitions in Southern cities, yet mainstream theories of urban sustainability transitions have been shown to be insufficient for such contexts. This is particularly relevant with regard to urban infrastructure: While mainstream urban theory tends to regard infrastructure as static, centralised, and heavily engineered, infrastructure configurations in cities of the Global South are often heterogeneous, comprising multiple dynamic social and material flows. Drawing on theory from Southern Urbanism and empirical data of unorthodox infrastructures from 14 cities, this article assesses the potential challenges posed by applying a key transitions framework—namely the Multi-Level Perspective—in Southern contexts. The article closes by suggesting a set of theoretical propositions for future conceptual and empirical research that could advance transitions literature more broadly, and highlights the need for all cities to pursue inclusive service delivery models that are responsive to the complex and shifting landscape of climate impacts.

Advancing urban sustainability transitions: A framework for understanding urban complexity and enhancing integrative transformations

Rapid urbanization and industrialization with their negative repercussions draw attention to the need for urban sustainability. This research built on the urban systems understanding linked with resource utilization, environmental effects, people-environment interactions, and adaptive management by integrating quantitative modelling of urban metabolism with a qualitative investigation into human responses. A hybrid methodology was applied in a typical industrial city of Jinchang, China, which exemplified a model of how complex urban dynamics link to and inform sustainability transitions. The study found that Jinchang City had taken on an unsustainable trajectory underpinned by continuous growth of material consumption, whereas a potential for sustainability transitions was also observed in decoupled negative material outputs, improved material efficiency, and environment regeneration collectively. The challenges in industrial cities have been framed in terms of development model lock-in, conceptual and institutional constraints, innovation and human capital deficiencies, and governance failure. The research proposed a government-led transformation system that integrates multi-level and multi-perspective transformations and management employing discipline insights to facilitate urban sustainability transitions. This involves governance, economic and technological innovations, social transformations, and implementations, in which urban governance and public engagement are essential elements for adapting to undesirable difficulties and exploring locally appropriate strategies. This research provided a theoretical and empirical basis along with scientific and policy implications, which contributed to the developing interdisciplinary knowledge on the understanding of complex urban systems and provided insights into real-world sustainability solutions.

Get organized? Creating an organizational context for civil society activities in urban sustainability transitions

The paper addresses tensions in organizing civil society activities in urban sustainability transitions. It argues that these activities need focus to be impactful while also demanding flexibility to remain adaptive. The latter can hardly be achieved by individual organizations alone but requires closer examination of the ecology of organizations in which civil society actors operate. This paper contributes to the literature on the governance of urban sustainability by systematically analyzing this organizational context and its long-term dynamics. Adopting a neo-institutional lens, the paper scrutinizes civil society activities with the ‘institutional work’ approach and sheds light on how the organizational context enables changes therein. The longitudinal case study of the Local Agenda 21 in Augsburg reveals, via a mixed-method approach, how civil society actors navigate tensions by altering their organizational context. Increasing its diversity and complexity in a bottom-up process allowed them to engage in more transformative work.

Causal mechanisms in sustainable urban mobility transitions

Causal mechanisms in sustainable urban mobility transitions

Design principles for mainstreaming of nature-based solutions in cities: A proposal for future pathways

Examining how city-level governments respond to the coupled climate and biodiversity crises can build an understanding of how to enable urban sustainability transitions. In this paper, we refer specifically to mainstreaming, as an approach for embedding novel sustainability solutions into governance and practice. The focus is to better understand the governance of nature-based solutions in cities, from the perspective of the processes of mainstreaming. Therefore, we define a novel and comprehensive mainstreaming framework that is built from three previous frameworks that describe social-institutional elements of mainstreaming: actors’ roles, institutional spaces, and governance mechanisms. These three elements provide the foundations for conceptually deepening the understanding of mainstreaming processes through an organising framework that distils the principles of mainstreaming and the key considerations for designing mainstreaming. The new framework presented in this paper is useful for understanding the interdependencies of different social-institutional dimensions and dynamics of mainstreaming by defining overarching principles that can be considered as key factors for enabling and accelerating mainstreaming. This is further conceptualised in relation to how mainstreaming pathways can be designed, in other words, how mainstreaming can be mobilised in practice. The conceptual work of this paper is illustrated with examples of how mainstreaming can manifest from a case study of urban forestry governance across metropolitan Melbourne, Australia.

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.

Dynamics of territorial systems in the entrepreneurial process for a sustainable urban transition

Dynamics of territorial systems in the entrepreneurial process for a sustainable urban transition

Decision-making dynamics in urban energy transition: A statistical analysis of policy frameworks, stakeholder collaboration and technological innovations

This research explores the intricate dynamics of decision-making in the context of urban energy transition, focusing on the interplay between policy frameworks, stakeholder collaboration, and technological innovations. The study makes three key contributions to the field. Firstly, it proposes an innovative approach to enhance market price prediction accuracy by integrating a Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) model. Leveraging the Adaptive Bat Algorithm (ABA) for GAN parameter optimization, the model exhibits improved precision in forecasting electricity prices, thereby providing stakeholders with more reliable insights. Secondly, the research introduces optimized model parameters for efficient energy decision-making, employing the ABA to dynamically adapt GAN parameters. This adaptive process enhances the overall performance of the model, facilitating better-informed decisions for stakeholders in the energy sector. Lastly, the integration of the ABA for GAN parameter optimization contributes to informed decision-making by generating more accurate market price values. This precision empowers policymakers, utilities, and investors with reliable insights, facilitating the development and implementation of strategies aligned with the goals of sustainable and efficient urban energy transition. The research underscores the significance of accurate market price predictions in shaping a resilient and sustainable energy landscape.

The Ontology of Urban Governance: A Framework for Pathways to Sustainable Urban Transition

Evidence on urban governance has expanded but is fragmented and inadequate. It fails to articulate the complexity of urban governance in a way that would facilitate effective urban transitions. Using a conceptual-cognitive lens, this article describes a method to move away from governance solutions based on functional silos to those based on multidimensional, sustainable systems. Based on a combination of concepts from public policy, governance, public administration, and urban service management, it frames the problem of urban governance as a comprehensive conceptual-cognitive map of the domain. The study validates the framework through expert feedback and the mapping of the literature on urban governance in India between 2018 and 2020. The monad map and theme map emphasise the ontology’s applicability as a methodological tool for evidence generation. The analysis reveals a need to reconfigure urban governance pathways to work towards a sustainable future. The article concludes by offering new conceptual constructs of governance pathways to enhance the policies and practices that shape such transitions.

Urban energy transition and quality of life: A comprehensive statistical study on the nexus of wind clean energy adoption, job creation, and livability

This study investigates the intricate relationship between wind farm clean energy adoption and urban quality of life through three key contributions. Firstly, an Integrated Hybrid Deep Q-Networks (DQN) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) model is introduced for wind farm power prediction. This novel approach synergistically leverages DQN’s decision-making capabilities and LSTM’s sequential learning to enhance accuracy by capturing temporal dependencies in wind conditions. Secondly, a Comprehensive Statistical Study on the Urban Energy Transition Nexus goes beyond traditional analyses, exploring the links between clean energy adoption, job creation, and urban livability. Advanced statistical methods quantify wind farm impacts on job creation and overall quality of life, providing a nuanced understanding of the urban energy transition. Thirdly, the Harmony Search (HS) algorithm, with modified parameters, optimizes the hybrid DQN-LSTM model. This nature-inspired algorithm addresses hyperparameter tuning challenges, contributing a unique dimension to model optimization for better convergence and exploration of the solution space. Finally, the study delves into job creation and livability in the context of urban energy transition, examining how the adoption of wind farm clean energy contributes to employment opportunities and enhances overall urban quality of life. Together, these contributions offer a comprehensive framework for integrating wind farm clean energy into urban environments, providing innovative solutions for accurate power predictions and facilitating sustainable urban energy transitions.

An acoustic black hole absorber for rail vibration suppression: Simulation and full-scale experiment

Rail vibration suppression is important to reduce rail noise radiation and ensure vehicle ride comfort. Conventional rail absorbers have been demonstrated to be effective for suppressing rail vibration; however, their effective frequency bandwidth remains limited. Herein, for the first time, we propose a broadband rail absorber, called an acoustic black hole (ABH) absorber, for rail vibration suppression. This novel ABH absorber consists of a variable-thickness cantilever beam with a power-law profile covered by a viscoelastic damping layer. A 3D finite element model of a 12.35-m long full-scale rail with ABH absorber was developed to investigate its performance. The effects of the thickness and loss factor of the damping layer on the rail vibration-suppression performance were investigated via a parametric study. In addition, a full-scale experiment was conducted on an actual rail to investigate the vibration-suppression performance of the ABH absorber. Both numerical and experimental results indicate that the ABH absorber can significantly reduce rail vibration at tuning frequencies and provide broadband vibration suppression within the non-resonance range. The experimental results demonstrate that the ABH absorber increases the track decay rate at frequencies above 100 Hz; in addition, a maximum track decay rate of 5.85 dB/m was achieved. This study may help to develop next-generation rail absorbers, which is important for developing sustainable and eco-friendly urban rail transit.

System Thinking for Sustainable Water Management: The Use of System Tools in Sustainability Transitions

AbstractManaging water resources to meet current social, economic, and environmental needs without compromising the ability to meet those needs in the future, requires water managers to look beyond jurisdictional boundaries and their immediate supply operations, protect shared water and marine environments, resources and ecosystems from pollution and over-abstraction and deliver structural changes and resilient solutions to make the provision of water services sustainable. With a plethora of system tools increasingly available to support the sustainability transformation of water systems, sorting through their breadth and diversity to determine what is useful and what is not can be challenging. From a selection of 40 popular system tools grouped in terms of how they function, we review those most commonly used in water management through 35 water-related studies from the literature. Findings demonstrate that system tools are not a substitute for systems thinking and applying them alone does not qualify the development of systemic solutions. Systems thinking offers a powerful approach to first improving collective understanding of sustainability challenges related to water and then, in collaboration with a diverse group of stakeholders and the public, defining desired goals for water management and working together to make them a reality. System tools in that context can play an important role in facilitating the process and here we propose an overarching framework of how to select and apply available tools to facilitate a holistic, integrated, and interdisciplinary systems approach for water management and wider urban sustainability transitions.

A balancing act: radicality and capture in institutionalising reflexive governance for urban sustainability transitions

Over the past two decades, urban actors have sought to foster long-lasting change towards sustainability through reflexive governance. Related activities, including transition labs, arenas, experiments, and roadmaps, have been problematised for disparities between using a discourse of transformation and radicality while failing to materialise radical action and succumbing to ‘projectification’ – meaning that the impact of an intervention tends to evaporate after the initial experiment impulse. Enabling a transformative legacy of such interventions requires institutionalising reflexive governance arrangements, i.e. a process of integrating these arrangements as part of the existing institutional set-ups while maintaining ‘radical’ elements. Particularly as the focus in certain urban transitions shifts from emerging and supporting niche practices towards institutionalising new ways of working and breaking down regime structures, it becomes paramount to better understand such processes. Based on a comparative empirical analysis of six European cities, we explore how these cities attempt to institutionalise reflexive governance and take stock of the tensions encountered, particularly to what extent cities manage to safeguard their radical ambitions, or whether these become ‘captured’ in the process. Other highlighted tensions are a focus on internal dynamics, a struggle around voluntary structures and accountability, and a challenge of keeping momentum with new actor constellations while trying to address complexity and uncertainty. We conclude by putting forward three recommendations for how reflexive governance processes may increase their impact: through prioritising institutional embeddedness in and outside of the local authority; creating transparency around how governance arrangements are adjusted and modified throughout the process for accountability; and renewing commitment periodically to ensure continuity and commitment from actors involved.

On Top of Sustainability

This article examines the role of cultural events in Rotterdam’s urban sustainability transition by looking at the festival Rotterdamse Dakendagen [Rotterdam’s Rooftop Days]. During this week-long festival, rooftops are used by citizens and cultural groups to activate urban spaces as places of learning, exchange, and DIY urbanism, thus broadening the scope of rooftops as places for cultural sustainability. Drawing on empirical material collected via qualitative interviews, policy document analysis, and five months of participant observation, we identify three aspects that inform urban sustainability transitions via culture: (1) the (re)activation of rooftops via cultural programming, (2) institution-building that is mindful of festivals’ continuously temporary nature, and (3) the limited material, yet wide-ranging immaterial effects of urban cultural festivals that have accelerated the Rotterdam’s urban (cultural) politics of sustainability. In sum, the article argues that culture plays an important role in any investigation of urban sustainability transitions and should be considered with more conceptual nuance in the future.

Improving multilevel policy mixes for sustainable urban mobility transition

Transitioning to sustainable urban mobility in the EU requires a complex policy mix covering various transport modalities and levels of governance. Yet, existing studies focus mainly on a single modality or governance level as unit of analysis. To fill this gap, this article combines the literatures on policy mixes and on urban mobility transition to investigate the relations between various policies influencing the transition to sustainable urban mobility across governance levels. Analysing data from 32 interviews focused on Dutch cities, two key conflicts are identified as hampering the transition to sustainable urban mobility: i) a bias of national funding towards solving bottlenecks through infrastructure development; ii) a significant influence of the national level on the local level, while the former is hardly influenced by others. The analysis suggests that these conflicts might be overcome by shifting the emphasis of national funding to mobility in a broader sense and institutionalizing multilevel cooperation.

Editorial: Citizen engagement and innovative approaches in sustainable urban transitions

Editorial: Citizen engagement and innovative approaches in sustainable urban transitions

Sustainability in the evaluation of urban rail transit considering both firms and passengers perspectives: A dynamic network data envelopment analysis approach

This paper divides the operation of urban rail transit into sustainable production stage and sustainable consumption stage from the perspective of firms and passengers, and includes service input, service output, service consumption in a unified model. A dynamic network epsilon based measure model is proposed to measure the production efficiency, service effectiveness and operational effectiveness of urban rail transit respectively, which is used to evaluate the operational sustainability of urban rail transit. Taking 23 urban rail transit systems in China from 2015 to 2021 as an example, the research results show that urban rail transit production efficiency is superior to service effectiveness, but most urban rail transit operational effectiveness is not high, and a large amount of input redundancy in the current urban rail transit sustainable consumption stage comes from vehicle speed. At the same time, the perennial shortage of passengers and passenger miles is the main reason leading to the low service effectiveness. In addition, there is heterogeneity in urban rail transit service effectiveness among different city sizes, and there is a significant positive correlation between operational effectiveness and service effectiveness. Therefore, improving service effectiveness is the key to ensure sustainable urban rail transit operation.