Inclusive Path Dependent Analysis of Sustainable Urban Environmental Governance

The government authorities generally intended to promote urban economic development by the execution of major public constructions, but the results of their decision-making system usually cause negative impacts or damage to the environment and non-sustainable abuse of the available resources. Researchers criticized that the extractive institutions limit the operation of the decision system, while the inclusive decision institutions can lead to the formation of a virtuous cycle of economic and political systems. This paper applies the theory of an inclusive path dependence history causal model, combined with the strategies of sustainable environmental governance, and application-oriented research methods, to examine the decision-making process of authorities in “Kaohsiung Asia’s New Bay Area”. Because Kaohsiung city in Taiwan is now facing accelerated urbanization, economic degradation, climate change and extreme disasters, it is essential to find out the effective strategies required to solve the plight and problems. Finally, the results of this empirical study suggest that the government could deliver appropriate sustainable economic development and environmental governance policies, and use the information on positive feedback strategies with the system changes mechanism, to have the integrated effects of sustainable environmental governance.