Sustainable Development and Innovations in the US-Mexico Transborder Region

Dear Colleagues,

Innovation and resilience are a crucial component of the identity of our transborder regions, both following and dictating trends such as globalization, integration, digitization and sustainability. The new reality imposed by COVID-19 has transformed world economies and societies while, at the same time, questioning and sharpening sustainable development goals and priorities, including quality of life. The objectives of this Special Issue are, therefore, twofold:

• Firstly, we would like to present state-of-the-art scientific analyses, both empirical and theoretical, and creative arts initiatives which address sustainable innovation responses to current and future trends and threats facing the transborder region, in particular, the US–Mexico case.
• Secondly, we wish to devote as much attention as possible to studies focusing on innovation and resilience in this transborder region that address the sustainability aspects of all areas (environment, society, education, and economy), and not just those which are ecological.

More precisely, with our first objective, we are interested in the changing patterns of global trends and their impacts on sustainable innovation in the transborder region, including the pre-/mid-/post-COVID-19 influences on sustainable innovation and resilience behavior, approaches, dynamics and outcomes (positive and negative) of all or selected stakeholders. The transborder region tends to perform better in terms of environmental and economic sustainability, compared to a generally lower commitment to the social dimension of sustainability. Underperformance in the social component of sustainability in this transborder region can result, among other things, from misconceptions or unclear guidelines on social sustainability as opposed to increasingly adopted environmental sustainability policies. For our second objective, we encourage presenters to consider innovative approaches to integrating social sustainability, beyond the economic and environmental dimensions, within the overall sustainable development performance of the transborder region.

Topics may include, but are not limited to, the following aspects of Sustainable Development and Innovation in the US–Mexico Transborder Region:

• Quality of Life (QoL) of residents/inhabitants;
• Community approaches to social empowerment;
• Community resiliency, adaptation, and development;
• Ecosystem services and environmental conservation;
• Public– and private–social sector cooperation;
• Intelligent design and manufacturing;
• Responsible production and consumption in cross/border environments;
• Global value chains (logistics, manufacturing, and human capital);
• Agricultural production and management;
• Urban development, mobility, and housing;
• Cross-border travel/tourism and community impacts;
• Energy use and education;
• Educational methodologies and innovation ecosystems (e.g., COIL, STEAM).

Dr. Vinod Sasidharan
Prof. Dr. María Del Rosío Barajas-Escamilla
Prof. Dr. Jose T. Olague
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• binational
• transborder
• sustainable development
• education
• quality of life
• social integration
• resiliency
• cooperation
• governance
• responsible production