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The political discussion about sustainable development had an early start in the Austrian context. The concept of “eco‐social market economy” was introduced at the end of the 1980s and dominated the Austrian approach towards sustainable development for much of the 1990s. This early start had some consequences especially regarding regional approaches towards the implementation of sustainable development. One major feature was the absence of local or regional LA 21 initiatives and a proliferation of diverse regional approach acts to further sustainable development. One approach put into effect in the Feldbach region in the south‐east of Austria was the concept of Islands of Sustainability. The idea of this concept was the realisation of a regional pathway towards sustainable development via conscious management of flows (of matters, products, capital, etc.) into the region as well as increasing the intra‐regional networking of social actors. This concept called for a long term involvement of research in the process of implementation of sustainable development. The experiences showed that existing research institutions, such as universities as well as consultant companies, were not optimally equipped to support this process. As a consequence, a new approach of “regionalised” research centres was adopted. This approach ensured accessibility of research capacity by the important players in the region, as well as efficient application of scientific knowledge to concrete on‐the‐ground decision making within the region.

The purpose of this paper is to present how the Regional Centres of Expertise (RCE) Graz‐Styria as well as RCEs as instruments can contribute to regional development. The RCE Graz‐Styria is representing a case study of Central European RCEs.

The paper describes the development process of RCE Graz‐Styria. Regional challenges to strengthen sustainable regional development have been investigated by literature review and interviews with regional actors.

The paper discusses challenges of establishing an RCE and describes how an RCE can face regional and global challenges by innovative actions.

The paper provides an insight of the establishment of the RCE Graz‐Styria. Readers who would like to establish an RCE in their own region can learn from the process of RCE Graz‐Styria. The reader has to take into account that the regional challenges might be different, and thus the RCE Graz‐Styria is a role model regarding its management structure for RCEs based at universities.

By 2008 and since 2006, every year more than ten new RCEs have been officially acknowledged by the United Nations University. Specially for those new RCEs coming in the next years, which can learn from reading about different management structures and different challenges experienced by different RCEs. For already established RCEs, RCE case studies are useful not only for learning from other RCEs but also for getting in contact with RCEs with common interests and initiating common projects.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate significant problems in the US' development pattern of regional automobile‐dependent sprawl and local growth management and to make suggestions about adopting a regional growth management model that might better provide for more sustainable development of the built environment.

This paper reviews trends in the USA and elsewhere to determine the negative effects of the current system of sprawl and the potential benefits of developing higher‐density urban centers. The paper also looks to models in some US cities and Europe to further analyze potential legal and political issues related to this type of regional sustainable development.

Unsustainable, automobile‐dependent regional sprawl is a result of local zoning, growth management, and parking programs and has negative effects both now and for the future. The result has been more time, money, and resources wasted in automobile transit instead of new planning models that would lead to a more sustainable and less automobile‐dependent future.

A metropolitan sustainable development governing framework for growth management in the twenty‐first century is essential for a sustainable future. This includes higher‐density urban centers, transit‐oriented development centers, and a change in public attitude away from “not in my back yard” thinking.

This paper provides the potential benefits of creating a metropolitan governing framework to identify and regulate “growth areas” in a region. It further demonstrates how linking these areas to regional transit planning will help achieve the development of higher‐density, mixed use, and intensive urban core job/housing areas where people could live, work, shop, and play without the use of the automobile.

Despite continuing disagreement about the meaning of ‘sustainable development’, the so-called triple-bottom-line trajectory – which would see economic advancement being achieved alongside social equity and environmental security – is viewed as one of the promises for future progress regionally, nationally and globally. At the regional level we are witnessing various experiments in governance that cut across, challenge and undermine existing decision-making structures. They are being developed and implemented because of the perceived failure of older forms of governance to deliver sustainable development. This chapter will examine the ‘regional experiment’ that is occurring within the advanced societies, identifying the general features of the schemes, policies and programmes that are being promoted to bring about sustainable development. From a policy perspective, it will seek to identify the elements, and forms, of regional governance that appear to provide the best options for sustainable development.

The purpose of this paper is to examine sustainability-related challenges in the two Western Balkan countries – Albania and Kosovo. It discusses the opportunities of local higher education institutions (HEIs) taking responsibility to tackle these challenges by providing professional development through science–society collaboration in innovative training sessions for university educators.

A literature review on actual challenges and transformations of higher education for sustainable development (ESD) in Albania and Kosovo will be the starting point of this paper. Subsequently, experiences from the on-going European Union (EU) project “ConSus” will be used to draw both a competence framework for ESD within science–society collaboration based on the training sessions, as well as possible scaling opportunities.

The paper draws possible approaches of training sessions for university educators promoting sustainable development and science–society collaboration in higher education. They will be concluded by addressing possible scaling opportunities of the project’s activities.

The experiences of the ConSus training sessions will outline competences of university educators in ESD gained in relation to transdisciplinary collaboration in research and teaching.

The paper will contribute to ESD approaches in higher education in Albania and Kosovo. Furthermore, scaling possibilities will be discussed to systematically implement ESD approaches also in higher hierarchical levels and other HEIs.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the case of the cross‐border RCE Rhine‐Meuse established as the first Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) on Education for Sustainable Development in Europe. RCE Rhine‐Meuse is an initiative of two institutions of higher education in the South of The Netherlands, but reaching out to the German and Belgian border regions.

The case of the RCE Rhine‐Meuse is used to give a comprehensive description of the building of a multi‐national and multi‐stakeholder collaboration network aiming at knowledge dissemination on education for sustainable development. The regional approach is complementary to the global approach behind the RCE network.

The development of the RCE Rhine‐Meuse over the last two years, shows the development of a functional RCE as described by United Nations University. A regional network for collaboration in the field of learning for sustainable development is created. The governance of the RCE is stable and the activities create an added value to the development of the region.

The case of the RCE Rhine‐Meuse does not provide a blue‐print for setting up an RCE like network. What the case of the RCE Rhine‐Meuse does show, is the influence of the regional context on the development of the RCE. In addition, the RCE Rhine‐Meuse does provide general notions that can be of use for other regions that want to establish an RCE.

The case of the building of the oldest RCE in Europe over the period 2004‐2008 provides the first comprehensive overview of the creation of a new mechanism that is focussing on knowledge transfer to further regional sustainable development.

This paper aims to investigate the situation and evolution of sustainability performance in China.

This paper adopts the global Malmquist-Luenberger (GML) productivity index based on data envelopment analysis and Tobit regression for analysis.

The results indicate the following: China’s sustainability performance has been improving since 2005 and is closely related to the national development strategy and supportive policy; regional gaps in sustainability are a prominent problem represented by the fact that South Central China is becoming a sustainability collapse zone; interprovincial heterogeneity is evident with the varying development speed and conditions; and the level of sustainability performance has a significantly positive correlation with the urbanization rate, investment completed in the treatment of industrial pollution, government appropriation for education and per capita area of paved roads, but it has a negative correlation with the possession of private vehicles.

As an application, this study assessing the GML productivity index of 30 provinces in China from 2005 to 2015 and analyse the sustainability performance on three regional levels (i.e. country level, regional level and provincial level). Tobit regression is also applied to recognize the factors related to the GML index with the results taken as references for policy suggestions. The results have implications for a comprehensive understanding of China's sustainability performance and policymaking in this field.

This study explores the best strategies for regional economic development to attract highly skilled populations, regardless of whether the region is a multisector or unisector economic hub. It also determines the development variables affecting the success of integrated regional economic hubs to achieve spatial equality, enhance economic productivity and attain environmental sustainability.

In addition to a qualitative analysis, this study employed quantitative techniques using SPSS software. This allowed amplification of the most significant explanatory variables affecting the weaknesses and strengths of economic hubs.

The results highlight approaches that can be used to achieve socio-economic sustainability in regional hubs. These include multisectors or main centralised hubs (smart economic regional capital), which provide new services to regions and act as a unidevelopment sector or as a regional, economic capital.

The study analyses the effect of economic strategies and integration of natural resources and the required core services in regional economic development.

Case studies of successful economic hubs are discussed. The most important services proposed in such hubs promote human development and increase the standard of living.

Integration between the hubs in a region is fundamental to attracting direct investments that can benefit the local population.

The results could help governments, economists and planners implement multisector developmental hubs to achieve sustainable development.

Regionalism implying some form of city-region or metropolitan-level planning and governance has long been promoted for multiple reasons albeit with varied success. Experiencing a resurgence in 1990s, regional coordination and cooperation has proven effective in pursuing economic development and bolstering competitiveness. Unfortunately, other voices, such as those promoting regional scale land use planning and management to cultivate more sustainable urban form and settlement patterns became comparatively crowded out. With climate change-related environmental and ecological pressures mounting, the chapter suggests it is time to frame regions as socio-ecological rather than mere socio-economic spaces, thereby placing greater emphasis on ecosystems and ecological land management and a circular, regenerative economy. Using the city-region of Stuttgart (Germany) as exemplar, our contribution initiates an exploration into whether statutory regional planning in combination with various informal tools and a multi-level governance framework allows actors to begin to embed and implement these emerging ecological sustainability concepts.

This paper aims to analyse the competitiveness of the regions of the Visegrad countries (Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) with respect to their sustainability and discuss the role of the EU cohesion policy in promoting regional competitiveness in this dimension.

The sustainable competitiveness of Visegrad Group countries was analysed with the use of a taxonomic method, to determine the regions with the highest, middle and low level of the sustainable development (competitiveness). The level of sustainable competitiveness of the Visegrad regions was indicated based on the author’s own set of diagnostic variables which define three dimensions of sustainability.

The analysis revealed that the regions of the Visegrad Group countries with high GDP per capita are not necessarily ranked high in terms of sustainable competitiveness. The obtained results confirm the assumption that traditional indicators such as GDP per capita do not capture all aspects of social and environmental sustainability. Thus, the cohesion policy in the Visegrad Group countries should be diversified and adjusted to the special needs of the regions with particular emphasis being laid on sustainability dimension and the level of their economic development. When identifying the directions of support under the cohesion policy, special attention should be paid to the development of modern technologies, including information and communication technology (ICT), that facilitate the transformation of regions towards the smart regions path.

Because of the data availability, it covers only one year, 2014, where it was possible. Further investigation should focus on the comparison of the changes over a certain period and changes that took place in the ranking. In addition, a detailed analysis of the regions with regard to their development of the “sustainable path” should be considered. It is essential to support less developed regions in the field of the sustainable and inclusive development through cohesion policy which is supported in 2014-2020. However, it is also important to promote the ICT investment in the lagging regions.

The analysed 35 regions of the Visegrad countries were ranked according to their level of sustainable competitiveness. The three groups of regions were distinguished. The first place in the ranking was occupied by the region which recorded the highest value of the TMC – a taxonomic measure of sustainable competitiveness and the last region – it is the region with the lowest value of the TMC.

The paper discusses the concept of sustainable competitiveness of regions. The level of sustainable competitiveness of the Visegrad regions was indicated based on the own set of diagnostic variables which define three dimensions of sustainability. The paper makes a contribution to the discussion on the regional smart and sustainable competitiveness and the role of EU cohesion policy in supporting the sustainable competitiveness.