City networks for sustainability: goals achieved and future developments

In the last two decades, several cities and local governments coalitions, partnerships, networks, and alliances have emerged to tackle the issue of sustainability. They act as a collaborative and interactive tool to allow cities to formulate actions and policies and to interact with other cities, institutions, and firms in a transnational, and often in an autonomous manner from their upstanding level of governance. In this Policy Brief, we detail why policymakers might be interested in joining one of these, and what are the main typologies and form of actions that emerged in the previous decade. We conclude by highlighting advantages and issues that emerged from the applied and academic literature, and derive recommendations grounded on these considerations.