Abstract
The publication Exploring Digital and Green Concepts. knowledge Base for Cities and Municipalities is the result of the project Digital Government for Green Municipalities and Cities – DiGreen. The project is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.
The project has brought together experts from different universities and research institutions in a unique international consortium to address the problems of munic- ipalities and cities. With experts coming from different countries and familiar with different policy frameworks and communal strategies, it has been possible to develop new perspectives on how municipalities and cities in Europe can respond to new trends and challenges and how they can adapt their policies and relations with their citizens. In this publication, we address challenges focusing on digitalisation and climate change.
The publication is designed as an interdisciplinary knowledge base encompassing backgrounds, common topics and challenges relevant to communal policy, digitalisation at the level of municipalities and cities, and green transition topics. Digital and green backgrounds provide necessary contexts and explanations about the digitalisation and digital transition, climate neutrality and sustainability, and highlight modern trends and challenges that the municipalities and cities face during the digital and green transition. Common topics for municipalities and cities summarize a selection of current communal management approaches, that can help municipalities and cities to cope and deal with digital and green transition opportunities, possibilities, and potential risks. Digitalisation at the communal level presents modern approaches to digital communal transition, highlighting general information, importance and benefits, practical applications, limitations and challenges. Green transition at the communal level emphasizes a representation of areas to be considered as an integral part of sustainable communal development, stressing out general information, importance and benefits, practical applications, limitations and challenges.
The main target groups of this publication are teachers and researchers, higher education students in public administration, political sciences and related disciplines, and professionals already working in the municipality or city self-government public bodies. The aim is to contribute to the scientific discourse and debate on the most urgent and relevant topics considering the digital and green transition, emphasizing the communal level of governance. Students who aspire to work for a municipality or city can develop the knowledge needed in the framework of digital transformation of society and climate neutrality. Professionals already working in a municipality or city can develop their knowledge of digitalisation and climate neutrality to fulfil tasks within local public authority’s activities.