Multi-Stakeholder partnerships (SDG#17) as a means of achieving sustainable communities and cities (SDG#11).

As social and ecological problems escalate, involving stakeholder groups in helping solve these

issues becomes critical for reaching solutions. The UN Sustainable Development Goal #17

recognizes the importance of partnerships and collaborative governance. However, organizing

large multi-stakeholder groups (or partnerships) requires sophisticated implementation structures

for ensuring collaborative action. Understanding the relationship between implementation

structures and the outcomes is central to designing successful partnerships for sustainability. In

the context of sustainable community plan implementation, the larger research project of which

the results presented in this book chapter are one part of, examines how stakeholders configure to

achieve results. To date we have the data from a survey completed by 111 local governments

around the world. The survey was offered in English, French, Spanish and Korean. Seventeen

integrated environmental, social and economic topics are considered, including climate change,

waste, ecological diversity and local economy. Despite the prevalence of sustainable community

plan implementation in local authorities around the world there is scant empirical data on the

topics covered in these plans internationally, the partners involved in implementation, and the

costs and savings to the local governments that implement in partnership with their communities.

The results presented in this book chapter show that sustainable community plans continue to be

created and implemented in a diversity of communities around the world, are integrated in the

sustainability topics that they cover, involve local organizations as partners in implementation,

act as motivators of resource investment by the local government in community sustainability,

and result in savings for the local government.