Rethinking public value through the lens of sustainability

Abstract

This Viewpoint outlines the context within which papers published in this and recent issues of Local Economy were initially presented, developed and then submitted. We suggest in the commentary below that from the outset (at an initial workshop), we were seeking to model an iterative and collaborative process. The policy context is described in more detail but the impetus came from looking at ways in which a policy and practice alliance focussed on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals could be mobilized to promote original thinking in the way in which municipal authorities could work with and learn from NGOs in the development of an alternative approach to sustainable development from that which currently shaped local social and economic policy in Copenhagen. This Viewpoint provides a summary of the papers published in Local Economy over two issues. It concludes by proposing that the approach adopted is in line with current initiatives in the USA and the UK.

Keywords

alternative economic policy collaboration environmental risks innovation participation sustainability sustainable learning public value

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Amhøj

(2019) Sustainability as an ecology of learning, thinking and acting: Using the World Health Organization’s six P’s as an action-research intervention to create public value with multiple bottom lines. Local Economy: The Journal of the Local Economy Policy Unit 34(5): 439–455.

Rendtorff JD (2019) Sustainable Development Goals and progressive business models for economic transformation. Local Economy: The Journal of the Local Economy Policy Unit 34(6): 510–524.

Langergaards

(2019) Interpreting ‘the social’: Exploring processes of social sustainability in Danish nonprofit housing. Local Economy: The Journal of the Local Economy Policy Unit 34(5): 456–470.

Thygesen N (2019) The gift economy and the development of sustainability. Local Economy: The Journal of the Local Economy Policy Unit 34(6): 493–509.

Koefoed O (2019) Urban nature as transformed practice – A case of multi-dimensional processing to increase public value in Copenhagen. Local Economy: The Journal of the Local Economy Policy Unit 34(6): 525–544.

Poula H (2019) Aesthetic-based competences lead to a sustainable learning practice: Re-thinking public management through the lens of sustainability. Local Economy: The Journal of the Local Economy Policy Unit 34(6): 607–617.