The journey towards better healthcare sustainability in Asian nations demands a comprehensive investigation into the impact of urban governance, poverty, and female literacy on infant mortality rates. This study undertakes a rigorous exploration of these key factors to pave the way for evidence-based policy interventions, utilizing data from a panel of six selected Asian countries: Pakistan, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, spanning the years 2001 to 2020. The findings reveal that adequate sanitation facilities, higher female literacy rates, and sustained economic growth contribute to a reduction in infant mortality. Conversely, increased poverty levels and limited women’s autonomy exacerbate the infant mortality rates observed in these countries. The Granger causality analysis validates the reciprocal relationship between urban sanitation (and poverty) and infant mortality rates. Furthermore, the study establishes a causal relationship where female literacy rates Granger-cause infant mortality rates, and conversely, infant mortality rates Granger-cause women’s autonomy in these countries. The variance decomposition analysis indicates that sustained economic growth, improved female literacy rates, and enhanced women’s empowerment will likely impact infant mortality rates in the coming decade. Consequently, in low-income regions where numerous children face potentially hazardous circumstances, it is imperative to allocate resources towards establishing and maintaining accessible fundamental knowledge regarding sanitation services, as this will aid in reducing infant mortality rates.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be viewed as the aftermath of the Millennial Development Goals (MDGs). This is due to the fact that the seventeen (17) SDGs are designed to continue the work expected to have been done by the MDGs. In other words, the failure of the MDGs to eradicate poverty birthed the SDGs. However, the SDGs seem not to be achieving the desired result. This has led to the projection for the need for a decade of action. In the African context, the questions of why the MDGs failed and the SDGs tend to be failing are yet to be asked. By projection, if the questions are not asked and answers are not provided, the projection of the decade of action may also fail. Hence, the reason for this conceptual paper which was targeted at exploring the possibility of considering the Africanization of the SDGs as remedy to ensuring sustainable development in the African continent. Different relevant sources were identified, reviewed and analysed. The findings from the reviewed and analysed sources showed among others that for Africanization of the SDGs to be a reality and practicable, glocalization must be embraced. Meanwhile, there will be need to question the use of Eurocentric curricula in African institutions of learning.

The construction industry is responsible for over 40% of global energy consumption and one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions. Generally, 10%–20% of energy is consumed in the manufacturing and transportation stages of materials, construction, maintenance, and demolition. The way the construction industry to deal with these impacts is to intensify sustainable development through green building. The author uses the latest Green Building Certification Standard in Indonesia as the Green Building Guidelines under the Ministry of Public Works and People’s Housing (PUPR) Regulation No. 01/SE/M/2022, as a basis for evaluating existing office buildings or what is often referred to as green retrofit. Structural Equation Modeling-Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS) is used by the authors to detail the factors influencing the application of green building by analyzing several variables related to the problem studied, which are used to build and test statistical models of causal models. From this study, it is concluded that the most influential factors in the implementation of green retrofitting on office buildings are energy savings, water efficiency, renewable energy use, the presence of green building socialization programs, cost planning, design planning, project feasibility studies, material cost, use of the latest technology applications, and price fluctuations. With the results of this research, there is expected to be shared awareness and concern about implementing green buildings and green offices as an initiative to present a more energy-efficient office environment, save operating costs, and provide comfort to customers.

It has long been acknowledged that interpersonal trust is the foundation of business partnerships. Interpersonal trust is frequently required in circumstances involving interdependence among parties, wherein each party is cognizant of the other’s vulnerabilities, the potential consequences of their actions, and the favorable anticipations of others. This study aims to examine and understand the impact of the development of interpersonal trust on the long-term sustainability of the Gayo Aceh coffee business, which has been operational since 1908. The unit of analysis in this study is the stakeholders of the Gayo Aceh coffee industry, including farmers, collectors, sellers, and distributors. This study utilizes a qualitative technique, specifically employing a case study design, for both data collection and analysis. To collect data, we utilized observations and semi-structured interviews. The findings of the research indicate that the establishment of interpersonal trust among producers, collectors, sellers, and distributors has had a discernible influence on the current sustainability of the coffee industry in Aceh Gayo.

This study analyzes the role of innovation in the development of smart cities in Latin America. It focuses on how emerging technologies and sustainable strategies are being integrated into urban planning and urban development. In this sense, this study seeks to contribute to the smart city literature by answering the following research questions: (i) To what extent smart city innovative initiatives have been addressed in Latin America? and (ii) To what extent scholars have addressed sustainable innovation strategies in the smart city literature? To this end, this is the first comprehensive bibliometric analysis of smart city research in Latin America, with a structured and systematized review of the available literature. This methodological approach allows cluster visualization and detailed analysis of inter-node relationships using the VOSViewer software. The research comprises 4 stages: (a) search criteria; (b) selection of documents; (c) software and data extraction; and (d) analysis of results and trends. Results indicate that studies on the Latin America region began to develop in 2012, with Brazil as a leader in this field and the tourism sector as the most relevant. Nevertheless, strong international collaboration was identified in co-authoring studies, underscoring a cooperative approach to solving common urban problems. The most active research area is technological innovation and sustainability, with focus on solutions for urban mobility, quality of life and smart governance. Finally, this work underlines the need to continue exploring the integration of technology in urban development, suggesting an agenda to guide future research to evaluate the sustainability and long-term impacts of smart city initiatives in Latin America. From the policy perspective, smart city initiatives need to be human-centered to boost smart solutions adoption and to guarantee long term local impacts.