Where smart meets sustainability: The role of Smart Governance in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in cities

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) seek to achieve economic, social, and environmental progress globally. However, trade-offs among these three pillars might occur, particularly in the context of cities. We argue that these trade-offs exist because the traditional factors of production for economi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inBusiness research quarterly Vol. 26; no. 1; pp. 27 - 44
Main Authors Giuliodori, Andrea, Berrone, Pascual, Ricart, Joan Enric
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London, England SAGE Publications 01.01.2023
Subjects
Sustainable Development Goals
sustainable cities
sustainability
smart governance
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Summary:Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) seek to achieve economic, social, and environmental progress globally. However, trade-offs among these three pillars might occur, particularly in the context of cities. We argue that these trade-offs exist because the traditional factors of production for economic welfare are not always relevant to the other dimensions of city sustainability. Consequently, additional factors are needed to facilitate the progress of the 2030 agenda. We make a case for smart governance, a factor that we associate with the quality of governance. We explore these ideas by examining the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of 128 cities worldwide. Our results indicate that the traditional factors of production (labor, land, and capital) are positively associated with the economic dimension but weakly associated with the social and environmental dimensions. However, smart governance is positively associated with the various dimensions of urban sustainability. JEL CLASSIFICATION: Q01; Q28; Q53; Q56; O18; Z13
ISSN:2340-9444
2340-9444
DOI:10.1177/23409444221091281