Information dissemination related to the Sustainable Development Goals on German local governmental websites
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-08-2018-0195 |
| Date | 20 May 2019 |
| Pages | 440-455 |
| Published date | 20 May 2019 |
| Author | Christine Meschede |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Information behaviour & retrieval,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management |
Information dissemination related
to the Sustainable Development
Goals on German local
governmental websites
Christine Meschede
Department of Information Science,
Heinrich Heine Universität Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to investigate information dissemination related to the United
Nations’Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on German local governmental websites in metropolitan
areas. With the growing importance of urban areas for sustainable development, the Association of German
Cities recommended an official commitment to the SDGs of all cities. In this paper, the author analyzes which
cities report about their commitment to the SDGs on their governmental websites, what thematic information
with regard to the SDGs is published on these websites and the role of partnerships and citizen participation
in relation to the SDGs.
Design/methodology/approach –Content analysis of local governmental websites of the 15 largest
German cities was conducted in July 2018.
Findings –The SDGs found their way into several German cities and their corresponding governmental
websites. The most prevalent topics linked to the SDGs are education, climate protection, fair trade, energy
and mobility. The cities have different strategies in informing about the goals. Mostcities emphasize the role
of citizen participation and partnerships on their websites.
Research limitations/implications –The analysis of websites can only provide a snapshot of reality as
the content changes permanently. Further, a limited number of cities were considered which should be
expanded in future research.
Originality/value –This study shows examples of German cities raising awareness on the SDGs and
demonstrates gaps in doing so. It can help other cities in identifying possibilities and opportunities to deal
with the SDGs and raise awareness on them by publishing related information on governmental websites.
Keywords Germany, e-Government, Smart city, Sustainable Development Goals, Citizen participation,
Information dissemination
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
In 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by the United Nations
within the Agenda 2030. The SDGs are 17 goals “to end poverty, protect the planet and
ensure prosperity for all”(United Nations, 2015a, para. 1). The most common definition
describes sustainable development as a “development that meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”(WCED,
1987, p. 37). The goals, listed in Table I, address sustainable development regarding several
dimensions, including social, environmental and economic aspects. Each goal consists of
further, more concrete targets, adding up to a total amount of 169 objectives. In contrast to
former similar strategic plans like the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the agenda
does not only focus on sustainable development in developing countries, but demands
action of all countries. This is an ambitious task, as different objectives shape different
societies regarding social, economic and environmental goals (Sachs, 2012).
A crucial point for contributing to a sustainable development and measuring progress on
the SDGs is the availability of information and data. Hence, information science research can
play a key role for sustainable development. Spink (1995, p. 207) argued that “[t]he
Information explosion problem that has driven the field exists within the broader
Aslib Journal of Information
Management
Vol. 71 No. 3, 2019
pp. 440-455
© Emerald PublishingLimited
2050-3806
DOI 10.1108/AJIM-08-2018-0195
Received 15 August 2018
Revised 30 November 2018
28 January 2019
Accepted 28 January 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2050-3806.htm
440
AJIM
71,3
framework of the problem of sustaining development and subsequently humanity, but the
problems of sustaining development may potentially present a new larger challenge for
Information science.”Furthermore, “since information forms an integral part of every
development and innovation, sustainability should become a mainstream research topic
within information studies”(Chowdhury, 2013, p. 617).
The role of information is also integrated in the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable
Development and similar strategic plans. Chowdhury and Koya (2017) conducted an
analysis on four UN policy documents and the importance of information-related concepts
embedded in these documents. Considering the SDGs, information access and information
sharing seem to be of particular importance. Already in the Agenda 21, the predecessor of
the Agenda 2030, information, integration and participation played a major role for
sustainable development (Nolin, 2010).
Furthermore, for thefirst time a goal on sustainable citiesis embedded in theagenda. Klopp
and Petretta (2017) referred to SDG 11 as the “Urban Sustainable Development Goal (USDG)”
and argued that it needs to be realized at the city scale. With more than half of the world’s
population living in cities, sustainable development in general cannot be achieved without
cities. The United Nations estimated that by 2050 the number of urban residents will grow even
more up to 68 percent. With 74 percent, Europe currently already counts to the most urbanized
regions of the world (United Nations, 2017b). Today, many cities transform to smart cities, i.e.
prototypical cities of the knowledge society. A smart city can be conceptualized “as an icon of a
sustainable and livable city”(Chourabi et al., 2012, p. 2289). According to Corbett and Mellouli
(2017), smart sustainable cities can contribute to the SDGs by an integrated information
ecosystem.Thereby, an improvement of aspects likeparticipation, equity and mobilitycan be
achieved(Bibri and Krogstie,2017). Politicsand administrationin the form of e-governanceand
e-government are building blocks in this process (Barth et al., 2017). Through governmental
websites, a city can disseminate information and encourage transparency, which are important
factors for sustainable development.
There are already some studies dealing with governmental websites, e.g. regarding the
assessment of factors like maturity and usability (Mainka et al.,2013; Fietkiewicz et al., 2017)
or maturity and credibility (Huang and Benyoucef, 2014). Some studies further explored
sustainabilityinformation on governmentalwebsites. Navarro-Galera et al.(2016) analyzed 17
No. Goal
1 No poverty
2 Zero hunger
3 Good health and well-being
4 Quality education
5 Gender equality
6 Clean water and sanitation
7 Affordable clean energy
8 Decent work and economic growth
9 Industry, innovation and infrastructure
10 Reduced inequalities
11 Sustainable cities and communities
12 Responsible consumption and production
13 Climate action
14 Life below water
15 Life on land
16 Peace, justice and strong institutions
17 Partnerships for the goals
Source: United Nations (2015a)
Table I.
The Sustainable
Development Goals
441
Sustainable
Development
Goals
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