A Comparative Analysis of Urban Sustainability Transitions

A Case of Building Energy Efficiency in Japanese, Swedish and British Municipalities

Abstract

In recent years, studies on the urban sustainability transitions (UST) have been accumulated over the globe. In Japan, however, it seems that no UST research was conducted, as far as the author knows. Such research circumstances require further UST studies. The purpose of the present study was to identify influences of technological innovations and cities at the micro level on sustainable societies at the macro level in the housing domain using the multi-level perspective (MLP) as the analytical framework. As a result of the panel data analyses, it was partially revealed that technological innovations and cities had positive effects on the sustainable societies.