Exploring sustainable urban transformation concepts for economic development

Abstract

Nowadays cities face numerous challenges amplified to build necessary urban municipal and community capacity to ensure sustainability transformation to respond to the local and global challenges of climate change, inequality, and access to resources. This research combines the study fields of sustainability, economic development, governance of sustainability transformation, providing the multidisciplinary approach as a systemic-oriented view encompassing the social, technological and ecological aspects of urban transformation. The purpose of the paper is to explore how the concept of urban transformation could be operationalized for research of economic development under the economic strain assuming the emergency of Covid-19 grand challenge. The research methods used are a systematic literature review and the content analysis. The paper provides a detailed characterization of the urban transformation exploring this concept from the structure and system perspectives for the economic exit from the crisis.