The Role of Strategic Planning in Achieving Sustainable Urban Development of Cities: Lessons Learned from International Best Practices and Experiences

Abstract

Many cities around the world face numerous structural challenges across urban, environmental, social, economic, and other domains. City administrators are in urgent need of advancing toward scientifically grounded methodologies and resilient, effective urban planning systems to address these problems. The significance of this research paper lies in its aim to explore and evaluate strategic planning’s capacity to tackle urban challenges and its role in achieving sustainable urban development and enhancing quality of life. It does so by examining the various dimensions of both strategic planning and sustainable urban development, as well as their interrelationship. The paper also analyzes several international best practices in this field and extracts the lessons learned.

The research paper concludes that strategic planning plays a vital role in securing sustainable urban growth, improving residents’ living conditions, and elevating overall quality of life. However, this role can only be fully realized when a set of complementary enabling factors is in place, including alignment with the existing institutional framework; robust organizational structures supported by trained personnel and modern technological tools; sufficient funding; and a legal framework that empowers city officials to implement the necessary measures for sustainable urban development.