Historical industrial transitions influence local sustainability planning, capability, and performance

Abstract

We evaluate the influence of long-term industrial transitions on local sustainability action. We construct two aspects of historical industrial transitions—direction and magnitude—along with three aspects of local government sustainability action: planning, capabilities, and performance. Using a national survey of local sustainability practice and nearly five decades of historical manufacturing employment data in the U.S., we find local communities with more substantial swings in manufacturing jobs to be less likely to engage in sustainability planning, cultivate sustainability-related capabilities, and make progress towards meeting sustainability-related objectives, underscoring the potential challenges associated with top-down programs and the importance of decentralized solutions.