Sustainable cities: Agenda setting and implementation of sustainability initiatives in U.S. citie

This dissertation provides an empirical examination of local government sustainability efforts in the U.S. by (1) investigating why sustainable development takes center stage in some cities while remaining off the agenda in others, and (2) examining the factors that can explain variation in implementation effectiveness of sustainability initiatives across cities. Sustainability agenda setting is defined as the process by which some cities adopt a sustainable development plan and establish an office of sustainability in order to guide local planning activities. Using Kingdon's multiple streams framework as a theoretical lens, this research employs the case study method to explain the sustainability agenda setting process in Denver, New York, and Phoenix.;This dissertation also develops an integrated framework using five different explanatory approaches for comparing implementation effectiveness of thirty-six sustainability initiatives across all large to medium cities. They are a political cultural explanation, an institutional explanation, an economic or structural explanation, an inter-governmental explanation, and finally an explanation rooted in differing capacity and commitment of local government staff and elected officials. The empirical analysis for implementation effectiveness relies on two econometric techniques: ordinary least square (OLS) regression and substantively weighted analytical technique (SWAT). The OLS method provides estimates of the relative contribution of the five conceptual frameworks to implementation effectiveness. SWAT analysis furthers helps in understanding what the better than average and below average cities are doing differently. Case study analysis of the implementation process in Austin, Boston, and Portland is also conducted to verify the conclusions reached by the econometric modeling.;The major findings of this dissertation are that institutional variations in local governments can significantly affect whether sustainability takes center-stage in some cities as opposed to others. Contrary to existing agenda setting studies that assume the existence dense network of experts, this research finds that city policymaking largely relies on elected officials and department staff. Finally, presence of an unconventional political culture, strong citizen involvement, statutory capacity for planning and growth management innovations, presence of regional planning organizations with clear mandates to guide local planning efforts, high city resource base, and strong commitment from elected officials positively influence the implementation effectiveness of sustainability initiatives.