scholarly journals The Role of Local Government in the Drive for Sustainable Development Public Policies. An Analytical Framework Based on Institutional Capacities

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 5978
Author(s):  
Miquel Salvador ◽  
David Sancho
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
City Council ◽  
Combat Climate Change

The role of local governments in promoting policies to combat climate change is critical. In order to play this role, local administrations must have different capacities that allow them to analyze, manage and transform their environment through public policies. This article aims to contribute to the academic debate on the role of local governments in the articulation of climate change policies and sustainable development. The proposal combines a conceptual and analytical contribution, which is illustrated by means of a case study analysis. At the conceptual and analytical level, the article proposes a review of the contributions from the perspective of public policies and organizational management models in order to introduce an analytical framework based on four capacities: strategic, analytical, managerial and collaborative. This framework is developed based on the design of a strategy to measure the existence of these capabilities in a given local government by means of specific indicators. This analytical framework is applied through a case study of Barcelona City Council and its policies to combat climate change and promote sustainable development. The results of the analysis highlight the importance of the combined action of the four management capacities mentioned as a precondition for the articulation of this type of policies at the local government level.

Sustainability Management and Local Governments

2018 ◽  
pp. 31-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabio De Matteis ◽  
Daniela Preite
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Research Methodology ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Financial Sustainability ◽  
Financial Indicators ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
Sustainability Management

After highlighting the breadth and complexity of the concept of sustainability and highlighting the role of local authorities in sustainable development, this chapter aims to interpret how sustainability management can consider the concept of financial sustainability in the context of local governments. It does this through the following specific objectives: 1) defining financial sustainability, considering it not only autonomously, but in an integrated manner with respect to the typical sustainability dimensions (environmental, social, and economic) that are usually involved in the local authorities activity; 2) proposing the main stages of the sustainability cycle in the local authorities to highlight the key moments and the role of financial sustainability; 3) analyzing some aspects of financial indicators as tools for measuring the financial side of the sustainability profile of a local government. In order to reach the aim of the chapter, the research methodology followed is the literature review.

scholarly journals The Management of Sustainable Development at Malaysian Local Government: Stakeholders’ Perception

2015 ◽  
Vol 773-774 ◽  
pp. 1220-1225
Author(s):  
Sulzakimin Mohamed ◽  
Seow Ta Wee ◽  
Goh Kai Chen ◽  
Md Asrul Nasid Masrom ◽  
Mohd Hilmi Izwan Abd Rahim
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Construction Operation ◽  
Relevant Factors ◽  
Design Construction

Sustainable development has become an important aspect of the construction industries. There are many ways sustainability elements can be incorporated in the design, construction, operation and deconstruction of a building. Importantly sustainability represents the link between society and built environment professionals. In relation to that, this study involves a look at the stakeholders outlook and interaction with sustainability. In this study, the focus will be aimed on the role of the Local Governments and how the perception of the stakeholders. Therefore, this study intend to look into the sustainable development and better understanding the strength and weaknesses and other relevant factors that promote or hinder the Sustainable Development. This study is to contribute to the enrichment of knowledge on the role of Local Governments in Sustainable Development. Therefore, this research seeks to find out whether sustainable development is being practiced and seeks to find out what is happening with respect to issues of what, how and why things are being done with the development of Sustainable Development globally and in Malaysia in general.

scholarly journals Climate Change and Public Policies in the Brazilian Amazon State of Mato Grosso: Perceptions and Challenges

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 5093
Author(s):  
Neli Aparecida de Mello-Théry ◽  
Eduardo de Lima Caldas ◽  
Beatriz M. Funatsu ◽  
Damien Arvor ◽  
Vincent Dubreuil
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Brazilian Amazon ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Mato Grosso ◽  
Change Factors ◽  
Key Stakeholders

This study examines how key stakeholders in agriculture in a number of municipalities in the Brazilian Amazon state of Mato Grosso are incorporating and adapting to public policies on climate change. Fieldwork and semi-structured interviews conducted in 2014 and 2018 with key stakeholders in the region were analyzed to assess the effectiveness of public policies incorporating climate change factors. Data obtained from documents from national institutions complemented these interviews. The results show that although local government claims that its mission is economic, social and sustainable development, and although public institutions and stakeholders repeat internationally recognized protocols and agreements in their communications, in actual fact, these are not reflected by any change in institutional behavior.

scholarly journals How to Deliver Smart Heritage within Local Government: Defining Smart Heritage and Smart Heritage Principles

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
David Batchelor
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Smart City ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
City Council ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Heritage Discourse ◽  
The City

<p><b>Local governments are innovatively applying smart city technology to resolve challenges in their jurisdictions. These challenges commonly relate to environmental sustainability, infrastructure, and transportation, and result in novel discourses within local government strategies and operations, such as Smart Environment, Smart Infrastructure, and Smart Mobility. Driven by the success of these discourses, local governments seek further solutions through converging the smart city technology with other disciplines. The next likely convergence is with the heritage discipline, subsequently producing the Smart Heritage discourse. Academic literature records that Smart Heritage is an emergent yet unformed discourse that is on the verge of application within local government. Smart Heritage presents opportunities to converge historical narratives with the automated and autonomous capabilities of smart technology. However, due to its novelty, the local government sector has no guidance on delivering Smart Heritage within strategies and operations. Therefore, this thesis comprehensively explores and defines the Smart Heritage discourse and addresses Smart Heritage's delivery within local government strategies and operations.</b></p> <p>The original contributions to knowledge in this thesis are the first thorough definition of Smart Heritage in academic literature and the production of Smart Heritage Principles, which direct the delivery of Smart Heritage within local government. This thesis firstly defines Smart Heritage through an investigation into the nascent patchwork of academic literature at the intersection of the smart city and heritage disciplines. This definition establishes the discursive framework for the subsequent inquiry into how to deliver Smart Heritage in local government organisations. In this inquiry, the researcher conducts three case studies on local governments in Australia: Broken Hill City Council, the City of Melbourne, and the City of Newcastle. In each case study, the researcher analyses strategic smart city and heritage documents and then interviews their smart city and heritage advisors regarding strategic and operational convergences between the disciplines. The researcher then synthesises the resulting data into cross-case key considerations that contextualise a base understanding of how local governments deliver Smart Heritage. Using this understanding, the researcher conducts a second round of interviews and synthesis that, in turn, produces the refined Smart Heritage Principles. The researcher validates the principles’ relevancy and applicability through an additional case study with Wellington City Council in New Zealand.</p> <p>The research finds that Smart Heritage in the academic literature is nascent yet organically forming around a shared discourse between the smart city and heritage disciplines. As a result, there are numerous understandings of Smart Heritage. Nevertheless, these understandings agree that Smart Heritage convergences historical contextual narratives with automatic and autonomous technologies and advances from the passive Digital Heritage discourse. The case studies find that there is a foundation for Smart Heritage within local government through strategic documents that share similar focuses and advisors who seek multi-disciplinary convergences. However, the disciplines’ overlapping is not explicitly recognised in strategic documents and operational models, leading to inadequate financial and staff resourcing of Smart Heritage and inefficient cross-disciplinary initiatives in local government. The research identifies four thematic key considerations that address delivering Smart Heritage within local government; recognition, delivery, resourcing, and innovation; and proposes four Smart Heritage Principles for local governments to follow in order to deliver the discourse. The researcher presents the principles in an industry-ready document at the end of the thesis.</p> <p>The implications of this research are the increased visibility of Smart Heritage as an academic discourse and support for the delivery of Smart Heritage within local government strategies and operations. Smart Heritage becomes more visible as this research solidifies then illuminates a discursive pathway that researchers can engage with. Importantly, this research presents evidence that Smart Heritage is extant within academic literature and local governments, supporting its position as a constructive academic and practical discourse. The Smart Heritage Principles support the delivery of Smart Heritage within local government strategies and operations through the applied guidance they offer the organisations. As the industry-ready document is the first publication with this focus, the influence on the delivery of Smart Heritage is significant. The researcher aspires to share the Smart Heritage Principles document beyond this research context through its distribution to other councils globally.</p>

scholarly journals Motivations and Intended Outcomes in Local Governments' Declarations of Climate Emergency

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 17-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xira Ruiz-Campillo ◽  
Vanesa Castán Broto ◽  
Linda Westman
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Environmental Action ◽  
Future Planning ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Global And Local

Near 1,500 governments worldwide, including over 1,000 local governments, have declared a climate emergency. Such declarations constitute a response to the growing visibility of social movements in international politics as well as the growing role of cities in climate governance. Framing climate change as an emergency, however, can bring difficulties in both the identification of the most appropriate measures to adopt and the effectiveness of those measures in the long run. We use textual analysis to examine the motivations and intended outcomes of 300 declarations endorsed by local governments. The analysis demonstrates that political positioning, previous experience of environmental action within local government, and pressure from civil society are the most common motivations for declaring a climate emergency at the local level. The declarations constitute symbolic gestures highlighting the urgency of the climate challenge, but they do not translate into radically different responses to the climate change challenge. The most commonly intended impacts are increasing citizens’ awareness of climate change and establishing mechanisms to influence future planning and infrastructure decisions. However, the declarations are adopted to emphasize the increasing role cities are taking on, situating local governments as crucial agents bridging global and local action agendas.

Resource allocation and service design in local government: a case study

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-41
Author(s):  
Manzurul Alam
Keyword(s):  
Resource Allocation ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Service Design ◽  
City Council ◽  
Reform Process ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Government Organizations

Purpose – Following the introduction of the New Zealand Local Government Amendment Acts (1996, 2002), some significant changes have taken place in resource allocation and service design of local government organizations. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of local government reforms on budgetary processes and service design in a New Zealand local government entity. Design/methodology/approach – The paper adopts a qualitative case study research involving semi-structured interviews with the key informants to understand the evolving role of resource allocation the study investigates the budgetary processes in a metropolitan city council. Findings – The traditional role of budget has changed to a more active and visible instrument in explaining the effectiveness and efficiency in the use and allocation of resources. Budgets have been given a central role in the management of local government finances. The reform process in New Zealand has enabled local government organizations to organize their activities by using the concepts of public and private goods. Research limitations/implications – This is a single local government entity case study. Any generalization of the conclusions from this study should undertaken with care even though there are similarities between New Zealand and other countries even though they operate under different institutional contexts in different countries. Originality/value – This paper makes important contribution by highlighting the implications of resource allocation on service design within New Zealand local government entities.

scholarly journals The role of local government in redressing neighbourhood disadvantage: A case study from Penrith City Council

1970 ◽  
pp. 92-114
Author(s):  
Jason Prior
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
New South ◽  
City Council ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Renewal Program ◽  
Policies And Programs ◽  
Neighbourhood Renewal ◽  
Operational Structure

The concentration of disadvantage in specific neighbourhoods is a widespread characteristic of many Australian cities. A broad range of policies and programs which utilize integrated forms of governance have been designed and implemented to redress this. Within the state of New South Wales, Australia, local governments have been identified as being amongst the most effective drivers for these integrated governance approaches. Utilizing a case study of the Penrith Neighbourhood Renewal Program, this paper explores recent attempts by Penrith City Council to develop a framework to redress neighbourhood disadvantage, firstly by establishing an integrated governance framework for the program, and secondly by transforming the council’s operational structure.

The Role of External Indicators in Measuring the Service Performance of Local Governments

2012 ◽  
pp. 141-156
Author(s):  
Fabio Cassia ◽  
Francesca Magno
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Service Performance ◽  
Public Administrators ◽  
Private Companies ◽  
Marketing Activities ◽  
Role Adoption

This chapter discusses the role, adoption, and application of external performance indicators within local government. These indicators measure citizens’ satisfaction with offline and online public services and allow administrators to collect timely knowledge about their “customers.” In other words, they play the same role as customer satisfaction research in private companies’ marketing activities. Despite their relevance, external indicators are often overlooked and criticized by both professionals and researchers. This chapter will also review and challenge the main criticisms of external indicators, which state that external indicators are useless and unreliable. Through the analysis of a case study within Italian local governments, the discussion will demonstrate that these indicators have a significant role in public administrators’ decision making, provided that local government embraces a citizen-oriented culture.

Indicators as a Governmental Technology? The Lessons of Community-Based Sustainability Indicator Projects

10.1068/d72j ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 610-624 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yvonne Rydin
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Sustainability Indicators ◽  
Community Level ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Sustainability Indicator ◽  
Government Relations ◽  
Local Sustainability

There has been much interest in the neo-Foucauldian framework of governmentality as a way of understanding contemporary policy processes. In this paper I examine evidence from a case study of local sustainability indicators in the light of this framework. The role of indicators as a potential governmental technology is addressed, covering issues of their ability to objectify sustainability the scope for altered subjectivities, their positioning within central–local government relations, and the construction and responsibilisation of communities, particularly in urban regeneration contexts. I conclude that the use of indicators at the community level may tell us more about central–local relations within contemporary governance than about the construction of subjects and objects to enable governance with regard to sustainable development.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document