Sustainable Governance in Urban Regeneration

Dear Colleagues,

The 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda was adopted by all United Nations members in September 2015. This agenda includes the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), broken down into 169 targets. The goals are universal and transformative, aiming to put the world into a sustainable path. A major issue for governments is policy alignment within the complexity of the Goals. Therefore, the success of the Goals depends on sustainable public governance.

Since over 50% of the world population lives in cities, urban challenges require special attention. Specifically, Goal 11 is related to sustainable cities and communities, aiming to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

The challenges, according to OECD, include:

• The continuing growth of urban populations calls for a policy response that optimises land resources.
• Urban policies need to be tailored to the demographic changes in the population.
• Cities are major contributors to carbon dioxide.
• The economic crisis has reduced governments’ abilities to invest in new infrastructure.
• Smart road policies are needed to make best use of scarce space.
• Cities need effective resilience policies to be able to respond to disasters.
• Large cities often have higher levels of inequality.

This Special Issue aims to investigate the role of sustainable governance in green urban regeneration within the broader challenges posed by the SDGs. Urban green policies can contribute to employment growth, urban attractiveness, the local production of green goods and services, and urban land values. Links can be fostered between urban and rural areas to boost a region’s economic potential. There is also a need to design urban policies that complement global climate policies and reduce the overall cost of emission reduction. Urban policy makers can use this opportunity to foster green growth and discuss the factors that may affect their policy choices and scope of action, including national policies. Furthermore the importance of urban renewable energy investments, the public acceptance of such investments, and the economic viability are issues of interest.

Therefore, original research articles as well as relevant state-of-the-art reviews are kindly invited for submission to this Special Issue of Sustainability.

Dr. Stamatios Ntanos
Dr. Apostolos Kantartzis
Dr. Dimitrios Tsiotas
Guest Editors

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