Towards a Sustainable Future: Innovative Approaches in Project Management

Dear Colleagues,

Despite the global movement toward the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals having generated substantial interest across various fields, the practice of project management has not generally placed a strong emphasis on sustainability. This may be due to the challenges of integrating two of the three dimensions of sustainability—environmental and social—into project processes. Achieving this integration requires the implementation of a comprehensive framework that includes sustainable policies and practices, active stakeholder engagement, and innovative approaches to project management.

Innovations in project management, driven by technological advances and inter-organizational collaboration, are transforming how projects are planned, executed, and evaluated while also advancing sustainability. This Special Issue, “Towards a Sustainable Future: Innovative Approaches in Project Management”, aims to provide a comprehensive overview of how innovative project management practices can drive sustainability from the very beginning of a project’s conception through to its completion and beyond. It seeks to offer insights into new methodologies and tools that practitioners, academics, and policymakers can use to make projects not only more efficient and cost-effective but also more sustainable and socially responsible.

We invite researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to contribute original research articles, reviews, case studies, and theoretical articles that address various aspects of innovation in project management towards achieving sustainability. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

1. Exploration of project management practices that foster innovation and sustainability;
2. Investigation of how project management practices are related to process innovation, particularly in the context of sustainable development;
3. Exploration of the challenges of and barriers to adopting innovative project management practices across different sectors;
4. Examination of the role played by digital tools and technologies, such as artificial intelligence, big data, and the Internet of Things, in driving innovation and enhancing the sustainability of projects;
5. Approaches to identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks associated with sustainability initiatives in projects, particularly those related to environmental, social, and governance factors;
6. Strategies for engaging stakeholders, including communities, clients, and team members, in sustainability efforts through innovative approaches;
7. The development of new and innovative metrics and evaluation frameworks to assess the sustainability performance of projects;
8. Real-world examples demonstrating successful and innovative sustainable project management practices across different industries and sectors;
9. Insights into how project managers can be trained and equipped with the skills and knowledge necessary to lead projects with both an innovation and sustainability focus.

By fostering dialogue around these topics, this Special Issue seeks to contribute to the broader understanding of how innovations in project management can be seamlessly integrated into every aspect of project delivery, thereby supporting the global transition towards more sustainable and resilient futures. 

We look forward to receiving your contributions. 

Dr. Hamdi Bashir
Dr. Udechukwu Ojiako
Dr. Mohammed Al-Mhdawi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• sustainability
• project management
• innovation
• sustainable practices
• challenges and barriers
• process innovation
• risk management
• stakeholder engagement
• digital transformation
• sustainable development metrics