Mapping the Evolution of Green Governance: Research-Driven Innovations for Urban Sustainability

Abstract Rapid climate change, accelerated urbanization, and resource exploitation have intensified the complexity of urban sustainability challenges, prompting a shift in green governance from regulation-based approaches toward adaptive and technology-enabled models. This study examines the evolution of green governance by analyzing innovation-driven transformations in urban sustainability research. Using bibliometric analysis of 433 Scopus-indexed articles processed with VOSviewer, RStudio-Biblioshiny, and CiteSpace, the study identifies 15 thematic clusters and maps their temporal development. The findings reveal a transition from early emphases on environmental goods and regulatory frameworks toward emerging themes, including artificial intelligence, the circular economy, and multi-criteria decision-making. This shift reflects a deeper reconfiguration of governance logic, where digitalization and analytical tools enable data-driven decision-making and multi-stakeholder coordination. By moving beyond descriptive mapping, the study conceptualizes green governance as a multidimensional construct integrating policy, technology, and societal actors. The results offer analytical insights for adaptive urban governance and inform future research linking governance innovation to measurable sustainability outcomes, particularly in rapidly urbanizing contexts.