Shaping global territorial governance: tracing the emergence of the UrbanSDG

Espey, Jessica (2025) Shaping global territorial governance: tracing the emergence of the UrbanSDG. In, Corella, Giancarlo and Janin Rivolin, Umberto (eds.) Handbook of Territorial Governance. Edward Elgar Publishing. (In Press)

Record type: Book Section

Abstract

There is growing recognition of the importance of a place-based approach to policy and planning in international governance, as well as the central role of cities in determining planetary sustainability. The Paris Declaration and SDGs, agreed in 2015, both acknowledged the role of local governments in delivering sustainable development and the need to shine a spotlight on cities. Yet processes of international policy development remain exclusionary for local, regional and city actors, often resulting in those concerned with local development having to adopt heterogeneous, undocumented processes of policy influencing. This chapter attempts to map, analyze and decode processes of policy influencing by urban stakeholders within the negotiations over the SDGs and specifically focuses on the urban goal, SDG 11. In doing so it lays bare the incredibly messy, complex, and exclusionary world of international policy formulation, which urban stakeholders must navigate to have impact on global urban policy frameworks.

Text

250107_Handbook_of_Terriotorial_Governance_Chapter - Accepted Manuscript

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