The Global Governance of Education for Sustainable Development: Cities as Critical Policy Spaces

Abstract

This article examines the role of cities as critical spaces for advancing education for sustainable development (ESD) policies within global governance. Traditionally guided by national governments, education policy-making now involves diverse actors, including international organizations and local authorities. By analysing ESD policies in Seoul (South Korea), San Jose (Costa Rica) and Washington, DC (United States), the research highlights the varied approaches of these cities: Seoul’s centralized planning, San Jose’s integration within broader frameworks and Washington, DC’s community-driven strategy. These cases demonstrate how distinct socio-political and environmental contexts shape each city’s ESD strategies. The findings underscore cities as active policy spaces that both reflect and shape global sustainability agendas. The study calls for further exploration of the diverse actors involved in advancing ESD policies, as well as future research on the interactions between city-level and national-level policies, to better understand the complex, fragmented and contested landscape of ESD initiatives shaped by both local and global dynamics.