Abstract
Cities are the main source of global resource consumption and serve as social hotspots, being home to more than half of the human population. They can therefore be seen as crucial agents for sustainable development which is acknowledged in Sustainable Development Goal 11 - Urban settlements and communities.
Cities are already adopting responsibility in this regard worldwide, but much remains to be learned from successful attempts to improve life in cities while maintaining planetary resource boundaries. This research set out to identify and assess Best Practice projects that contribute to a sustainable city.
A focus was set on projects emerging from civil society as opposed to policy measures. Three projects in Hamburg, Vienna and Prague each were chosen for analysis.
Data was gathered through open or semi-structured interviews with representatives and participants of each project as well as city officials and participant observations were conducted by the researchers. Through structured content analysis, 1) the contributions of each project to a sustainable city were assessed, 2) key elements of best practice were extracted and 3) recommendations for SDG 11 implementation were formulated.
Key factors for success of the projects include cooperation among actors, thoughtful communication, passion for the ideas and flexibility in the face of setbacks and change. We hope to be able to inspire and guide city officials and interested individuals to develop and support projects in even more cities in order to contribute to sustainable city development.