Kommunalt hållbarhetsarbete

: hur engageras intressenter i kommunalt hållbarhetsarbete?

Abstract

To work sustainably today is of great need at various levels of society, especially at local level. Municipalities work with the economic-, environmental- and social dimensions of sustainability in order to achieve sustainable urban development. Since urban development aims at creating good living standards for city residents, it is important that residents are involved in the sustainability work executed by municipalities. An important part of sustainability is to create effective interactions among the municipality’s stakeholders that create the conditions for knowledge sharing and integration, leading to a better society. Furthermore, municipalities need to integrate people with varying ethical, religious and socio-economic backgrounds in the sustainable city. The purpose of the study is to investigate the complexity of engaging stakeholders in the municipal sustainability work with urban development.

Since the study aims at giving a detailed description of the study problem area, a descriptive research strategy was chosen. The study is based on an abductive approach and the research method is qualitative. Empirical data has been gathered through semi-structured interviews with five respondents from two municipalities and through content analysis of information disclosed in municipal websites and annual reports.

The study’s conclusions are that cooperation between municipalities and their stakeholders is necessary to develop a sustainable city. The results also indicate that the evaluation of the social aspect of sustainability is an important component that still needs to be developed. Measuring social sustainability is a condition to achieve impactful results with sustainability work. Lastly, the study clearly shows that municipalities’ communication with residents needs to be constantly developed based on the needs of residents to facilitate an effective information exchange.