Empirical research on local government sustainability efforts in the USA: gaps in the current literature

Abstract

Local governments play a vital role in fostering sustainable development. In recent years, several municipalities in the USA have launched sustainability initiatives, adding to the worldwide movement to create a more sustainable future. This article synthesises the existing literature on local government sustainability with the goal of identifying the range of knowledge and ideas as it currently exists in the field and to suggest theoretical and empirical directions for future research that will better improve our understanding. The article finds that: (1) despite a consensus in the sustainable development literature that equity, economy and environment need to be simultaneously addressed in any effort toward sustainable development, equity has been neglected in empirical research of what communities are doing to promote local sustainability; (2) research has been restricted to municipalities with well-documented sustainability plans and policies, thereby limiting our theoretical understanding of sustainability; and (3) research is in early stages of determining how well communities are implementing various sustainability policies, with the focus solely on adoption of various initiatives.

Keywords:

• sustainable development
• local sustainability
• local planning

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