Journal of Sustainable Development, Issue: Vol.19, No.5

The Emergence of the Periphery Urban Satellite Suburbs Due to the New Government Housing Projects in Saudi Cities

Fri, 28 Aug 2026 03:50:29 +0000

The government has been rapidly expanding large-scale housing initiatives to meet the goals of Saudi Vision 2030, such as boosting house ownership to 70% by 2030, in Saudi Arabia. This research compares the sustainability of the spatial development of mega government housing projects with existing inner-city residential neighbourhoods in Riyadh, Jeddah and Alhofuf. A comparative multiple-case study design was employed, drawing upon the SPECTRUM neighbourhood sustainability assessment framework to assess six case studies against the 10 dimensions of sustainability: accessibility, connectivity, infrastructure, public transport, housing provision, environmental quality, and public services. The results show that well-developed inner-city neighbourhoods routinely scored significantly higher in terms of sustainability than recent suburban housing developments. The suburban developments helped provide housing, but were overall less connected with cities, had poorer access to public transport, and more dependent upon existing cities for employment and essential services. The study concludes that future developments by the government should focus on infill development, phased urban development, integrated public transport provision and comprehensive infrastructure to enhance the sustainability of neighbourhoods and meet longer-term goals of Saudi Vision 2030.

Profitability Estimation Models Using ESG Data: A Study of Sustainability in Brazilian Publicly Traded Companies

Fri, 28 Aug 2026 03:50:29 +0000

This study investigates the relationship between sustainability practices and profitability in Brazilian publicly traded companies by applying profitability estimation models that incorporate ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) indicators. Using a comprehensive dataset spanning multiple sectors and years, the research explores how ESG-related disclosures and performance affect financial outcomes. The models aim to estimate profitability while controlling for firm size, industry, and macroeconomic variables. Results suggest a positive correlation between strong ESG performance and long-term profitability, reinforcing the financial relevance of sustainable business practices. This work contributes to the growing field of sustainable finance by offering empirical evidence from an emerging market context.

Equity and Justice in Water Pricing and the Effects on Water Distribution System Management

Fri, 28 Aug 2026 03:50:29 +0000

Equity regarding access to potable water is paramount. Municipal Water Distribution Systems supply potable water to users and are essential to public health. To find the optimal price of water to maximize utility revenue and allow changes to the system components for capital and maintenance expenditures, network modeling was performed for 15 real MDWSs. A new power-law price-usage elasticity curve, entitled the Power Law Elasticity Function (PLEF), was used that allowed for various users, both high- and low-income, and a non-discretionary level of usage. It was found that: (1) the maximum profit was obtained when the price was approximately 0.8 (depending on the user) of the price that causes non-discretionary water use, which is the least amount of water necessary for the basics of a healthy lifestyle; (2) the factor of reduced usage ranged from 0.26 to 0.99 for a reduction in pump, or mainline size; (3) reducing demand by increasing price at junctions far from the water source(s) allows reduction of neighborhood mainline pipe sizes; (4) demand reductions at near or intermediate junctions may allow pipe size reduction only at pipes feeding those junctions. Municipalities should keep in mind the justice of not charging exorbitant rates for low-income users.

The Changing City: Patterns of Neighbourhood Gentrification and Displacement in Ibadan North LGA

Fri, 28 Aug 2026 03:50:29 +0000

Gentrification can be understood as the process through which geographical areas become increasingly exclusive, disproportionately affecting the geographical fabric by driving up property values, rents, and living costs, and displacing long-term, lower-income residents. This article evaluates and documents the effects of gentrification in Ibadan-North Local Government Area (LGA), Nigeria. This evaluation seeks to understand these effects and guide practical solutions to the challenges gentrification creates within the study area. This research adopts a mixed method approach, utilizing questionnaires administered to relevant stakeholders, GIS spatial data, and case studies to analyze changes over a 14-year period (2012-2026) across Agbowo, Bodija, and Orogun in Ibadan-North LGA. The findings reveal that gentrification has triggered a chain effect, leading to studentification and displacement. While the process has contributed to academic growth, increased real estate values, and commercial development, it has also intensified housing affordability challenges and social inequalities among existing residents. The study concludes that the effects of gentrification can be effectively managed through planning approaches that balance economic growth with social equity. It recommends inclusionary housing policies, rent monitoring and mediation systems, university community housing partnerships, stronger zoning controls, and incentives for rehabilitating existing buildings instead of demolishing them. Implementing these measures would mitigate the adverse impacts of gentrification while promoting sustainable urban development, preserving community identity, and supporting the long-term well-being of residents in Ibadan-North Local Government Area.

Spatial Coordination Planning and Regional Sustainable Performance

Wed, 30 Sep 2026 01:29:28 +0000

Urban agglomerations in China face pronounced internal disparities in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) outcomes. This study evaluates whether cross-jurisdictional spatial coordination planning can narrow such gaps and drive synergistic ESG improvement. Using panel data from Yangtze River Delta (YRD) cities over 2007—2023 and employing a difference-in-differences (DID) design with spatial Durbin models, we assess the 2022 Shanghai Metropolitan Area "1+8" Spatial Coordination Plan. The results show that the plan significantly raises comprehensive ESG scores in treated cities by approximately 0.020, with the strongest effects on environmental and governance dimensions. The policy generates a pronounced "catch-up effect" for peripheral cities, reducing intra-regional inequality. Mechanism tests identify green technology innovation, industrial structure upgrading, and governance capacity enhancement as key transmission channels. Moreover, spatial spillover effects extend beyond the planning area, particularly through economic linkages, indicating substantial peer diffusion. These findings remain robust to placebo and propensity score matching difference-in-differences (PSM-DID) checks. This paper provides causal evidence that spatial coordination planning serves as an effective institutional instrument for enhancing regional sustainability, and offers insights for the ongoing expansion of metropolitan governance in China.

The Influence Mechanism of AI Entrepreneurship on Carbon Emissions

Fri, 28 Aug 2026 03:50:29 +0000

Artificial intelligence entrepreneurship has increasingly become an important part of urban innovation in the digital economy. At the same time, reducing carbon emissions remains a central issue for sustainable development and carbon neutrality. Using panel data from Chinese cities from 2008 to 2023, this study investigates how AI entrepreneurship influences carbon emission intensity and through which mechanisms this influence occurs. The empirical results reveal a nonlinear inverted U-shaped relationship. At the early stage, the expansion of AI entrepreneurship tends to increase carbon emissions, while after a certain development threshold is reached, AI entrepreneurship begins to contribute to emission reduction. Further mechanism tests show that digital technology innovation strengthens the positive effect on emissions in the early stage because it is associated with higher energy demand. In contrast, fiscal expenditure on science and technology helps reduce emissions in the later stage by supporting green technology development and industrial upgrading. The heterogeneity analysis indicates that this nonlinear effect is more evident in cities with higher levels of industrialization. This study provides city-level evidence for understanding the environmental consequences of AI entrepreneurship and offers policy implications for coordinating digital entrepreneurship with low-carbon development.

Determinants of Household Livelihood Resilience among Climate-Induced Migrants in Urban Slums of Khulna City Corporation, Bangladesh

Fri, 28 Aug 2026 03:50:29 +0000

Climate-induced migrants, especially those resettling in urban slums, are one of the most vulnerable yet under-researched groups when it comes to recognizing the drivers of resilience within the context of socio-urban dynamics in Bangladesh. This study used a survey design with a questionnaire administered to 260 randomly selected HH representatives from slums in Khulna City Corporation (KCC) to determine the resilience status of slum dwellers and the most important factors affecting their resilience. The overall livelihood resilience of slum households is low, as shown by a mean livelihood resilience index (LRI) score of 0.33 across the five livelihood capitals in Khulna. The weakest of the five livelihood capitals are human capital (0.23) and financial capital (0.29). The livelihood resilience level of slum households is mostly moderate and low (91.2%). Resilience is mainly constrained by structural socioeconomic vulnerabilities and shaped primarily by livelihood assets, institutional support, social participation, and adaptive capacities rather than current income alone. The Kruskal–Wallis H test shows that there are significant differences in the livelihood resilience of the households that migrated in response to climate change; female-headed households, smaller households, and multi-earning households, as well as households with higher financial assets, access to institutional support, household living conditions, and environmental engagement are, respectively, more resilient, in both income and all the other components of resilience. Climate migration needs to be part of climate-inclusive, future-oriented, and strong urban development plans that tackle the multi-dimensional vulnerabilities of low-income and marginalized communities. Likewise, future studies should use a longitudinal design with an extensive sample and study region since the current study employed a cross-sectional design with a small sample and study region.

The Prevalence of Tobacco Use in African Countries: Age, Sex, Race, Region, Religion, Wealth, Weather, and Elevation from Sea Level

Fri, 28 Aug 2026 03:51:42 +0000

This study examines the prevalence of tobacco use in African countries in 2025. The study finds that Africa’s total population increased from 910.84 million in 2006 to 1.527 billion in 2025. The study finds that while tobacco use rates are relatively lower in African countries when compared with countries outside of Africa, the rates are relatively higher in Southern and Northern Africa. Of the 930.5 million people aged 15 and over in Africa in 2025, 86.1 million (9.3%) used tobacco. Of the 86.1 million people aged 15 and over who used tobacco in 2025, 31,795,580 (36.9%) were in Northern Africa; 23,244,942 (27%) were in Eastern Africa; 12,105,792 (14.1%) were in Western Africa; 9,923,250 (11.5%) were in Southern Africa; and 9,015,348 (10.5%) were in Middle Africa. Of the 295,297,616 people aged 15 and over in Eastern Africa in 2025, 23,244,942 (7.9%) used tobacco; 31,795,580 (17.4%) out of 182,349,569 in Northern Africa; 9,923,250 (19.6%) out of 50,665,515 in Southern Africa; 12,105,792 (4.4%) out of 276,301,670 in Western Africa; and 9,015,348 (7.2%) out of 125,839,154 in Middle Africa. The top 10 countries in Africa with the highest tobacco use rates are as follows: Egypt, 25.8%, Madagascar, 24.1%, Algeria, 21.4%, Lesotho, 22.8%, Seychelles, 20.5%, South Africa, 20.1%, Mauritius, 19.6%, Tunisia, 19%, Botswana, 17.1%, and the Republic of Congo, 15.8 percent. The factors presented in the study for the prevalence of tobacco use in Africa are as follows: sex/gender, age, population growth, increase in the GDP of African countries, increase in wealth, climate/weather, educational attainment, tourism, region, and religion/religiosity.

Industrial Policies after Industrial Policies, but Why Still No Industrialization in Nigeria?

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 03:00:13 +0000

Since independence in 1960, Nigeria’s economic trajectory has been defined by a frustrating paradox: the implementation of ambitious industrial policies juxtaposed against a stubbornly weak manufacturing sector. From the post-independence optimism of the Import Substitution Strategy in the 1960s and 70s to the comprehensive Structural Adjustment Programme of the 1980s, culminating in the modern, trillion-dollar ambitions of the 2025-2035 Nigeria Industrial Policy plans, each successive government has placed emphasis on industrial transformation and manufacturing growth. Yet, the manufacturing sector has remained sluggish, contributing less than 10 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product. The sector has been characterized by high geographical concentration, high production cost, low value-added, serious underutilization of capacity, and high import content. The country’s failure to industrialize with ambitious industrial plans by successive administrations is attributed to various problems including policy inconsistency, infrastructural deficits, “resource curse”, financial chasm, institutional disconnects, and corruption. Hence, policymakers must implement policies that will address these challenges for industrial policies to achieve industrialization in Nigeria. These policies will include ensuring transparency in contract awards and credit disbursement, provision of infrastructural facilities, restructuring and recapitalization of the development banks, and increasing the manufacturing sector’s access to credit.

Measuring What We Manage: Methodological Robustness and Regional Consistency in Brazil's ABC+ Low-Carbon Agriculture Accounting System

Thu, 03 Sep 2026 00:59:28 +0000

Brazil's ABC+ Plan sets, for each of ten low-carbon agricultural technologies, two parallel 2030 targets: a physical target (area, herd size, or adoption volume) and a climate target (Mg CO₂ equivalent mitigated). Regional climate-target figures are official accounting estimates from predetermined emission factors applied to observed adoption, not independently measured outcomes. This study assesses the regional consistency and methodological robustness of this official accounting -- not the Plan's actual mitigation effectiveness -- by structuring official data on adoption, expansion, accounted mitigation, and financing across Brazil's five macro-regions (2020-2025), interpreted through a narrative literature review. Because technologies differ in physical unit, mitigation pathway, and time horizon, cross-technology comparisons are presented as descriptive accounting patterns, not a common performance metric; regional shares reflect distribution, not region-specific effectiveness. Results show systematic divergence between physical- and climate-target attainment within most technologies -- 3.3-fold for integrated crop-livestock-forestry and 4.3-fold for agroforestry systems, for example -- and that four biophysically distinct technologies share one fixed accounting coefficient (3.79 Mg CO₂eq ha-¹ yr-¹). Rural credit shows no clearly expressed proportional relationship with accounted mitigation for any technology. We conclude the accounting would benefit from technology-specific emission factors, region-adjusted benchmarks, and greater transparency, and that validating these estimates against field-measured mitigation remains an open task.

Cocoa Industry and Industrial Development in Nigeria: Evidence from Idanre, Ile-Oluji/Oke-Igbo and Ondo West Local Government Areas of Ondo State

Mon, 14 Sep 2026 10:02:25 +0000

Despite Nigeria's standing among the world's leading cocoa-producing countries, the sector remains dominated by the export of raw beans, with limited local processing and weak industrial integration. This study examined the cocoa industry in Ondo State, Nigeria, and its implications for industrial development, focusing on Idanre, Ile-Oluji/Oke-Igbo and Ondo West Local Government Areas. A descriptive survey design was adopted, and a structured questionnaire was administered to 399 stakeholders in the cocoa value chain, comprising farmers, processors, merchants, cooperative leaders, extension officers, industrial development officials and investors. Descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation) were used to address the research questions, while Pearson Product Moment Correlation was used to test four hypotheses at the 0.05 significance level. Findings revealed that the cocoa industry in Ondo State is moderately functional (WM = 2.60), constrained chiefly by poor infrastructure, inconsistent government policy and inadequate finance (WM = 3.14), yet offering substantial opportunities for economic diversification, employment and export growth (WM = 3.26). Respondents strongly endorsed infrastructural investment, expansion of processing capacity and financial incentives as repositioning strategies (WM = 3.31). The analyses showed significant associations between institutional support and industrial development (r = 0.682), value-chain challenges and industrial development (r = -0.711), value addition and employment generation (r = 0.734), and processing activity and sustainable industrial development (r = 0.756). Because the study is cross-sectional and uses correlation analysis, these associations should not be interpreted as causal effects. Secondary comparative evidence further shows the scale of the regional cocoa economy and the importance of domestic processing, while documented enterprise cases in Ondo State demonstrate the feasibility of value addition. The study concludes that coordinated infrastructure investment, domestic processing expansion, climate adaptation and consistent policy support are required to reposition Nigeria's cocoa sector as a driver of agro-industrial transformation.

From Agriculture to Oil and Beyond: Regime-Switching Evidence on Economic Growth in Equatorial Guinea, 1941–2025

Wed, 16 Sep 2026 02:23:32 +0000

This study examines whether the contribution of agricultural productive capacities to economic growth in Equatorial Guinea changed as the economy moved from an agrarian base to hydrocarbon dependence and then into the current phase of declining oil production. Using 85 annual observations for 1941–2025, the empirical strategy combines Yeo–Johnson and logit transformations, unit-root tests with structural breaks, multiple-break analysis, a Markov-switching model with regime-dependent coefficients and variances, recursive time variation, and a complementary ARDL specification. The preferred converged two-state capacity model contains agricultural credit, the agricultural budget, logistics infrastructure, and aggregate investment (BIC=435.54; mean maximum smoothed probability=0.961). Investment is positively and strongly associated with growth in both regimes, while the remaining productive-capacity variables display marked state dependence and substantial collinearity. Reviewer-requested robustness work additionally estimates a two-state Student-t specification; that sensitivity fit reaches the iteration limit and is therefore reported as non-converged rather than used for inference. Residual non-normality and the inability to compute exact retransformed marginal effects without the archived Yeo–Johnson lambda parameters remain explicit limitations. The findings support a post-oil diversification strategy based on productivity, value-chain development, financing quality, and productive use of accumulated capital, while remaining associative rather than causal.

When Floodwater Crosses Every Boundary: Public Health, Psychological Well-Being, Theological Ethics, and Sustainable Urban Governance in Accra, Ghana

Thu, 17 Sep 2026 06:05:17 +0000

Accra’s recurrent flooding exposes a mismatch between connected urban risks and divided institutional responsibilities. This article develops a framework for explaining that mismatch across public health, psychological well-being, theological ethics, and sustainable urban governance. A critical integrative review and qualitative documentary analysis synthesise 82 sources, with published human perspectives treated as secondary evidence. The June 2026 flood provides an attributed illustration rather than a causal test. Four recurring mechanisms organise the synthesis: exposure accumulates through land and infrastructure decisions before rainfall; environmental hazards intersect with disrupted care and psychological distress; warnings require intelligibility, trust, and feasible protective action; and fragmented authority sustains gaps between known risks and prevention. Christian, Muslim, and Indigenous Ghanaian perspectives illuminate both supportive capacities and tensions concerning fatalism, custodianship, and unequal participation. Faith-based support is documented, whereas the effectiveness of diaspora co-investment in Accra remains untested. The Boundary-Crossing Flood Governance Framework specifies the risk or resource crossing each interface, the responsible authority, the observable failure, and the protective condition to evaluate. Its Accra Boundary-Crossing Resilience Compact connects these interfaces to proposed measures, baseline procedures, fiscal responsibilities, and safeguards against exclusion, unsafe reconstruction, volunteer exhaustion, and displacement of public duties. The contribution is an accountable, testable approach to coordinating ecological prevention, health continuity, and equitable recovery; it is not an evaluated intervention.