Business Intelligence, Project Management, and System Dynamics to support a socio-economic and ecological sustainable transition - Coupling Governance Tools for Localizing the UN 2030 Agenda

The localization of the United Nations 2030 Agenda has emerged as one of the most pressing governance challenges of our time. While global frameworks establish common goals, their translation into place-based strategies is fragmented. This dissertation investigates how the localization of the United Nations 2030 Agenda can be operationalized through an integrated governance architecture in which Business Intelligence provides the evidentiary basis for decision-making, while System Dynamics, further elaborated through the Dynamic Performance Governance (DPG) framework, renders visible the feedback structures, trade-offs, and outcome pathways that shape policy trajectories. Rather than merging these elements into a single comprehensive tool, the study employs them as complementary modules within collaborative platforms, where project management routines, particularly those adopted in the context of European funding programs, translate analytical insights into structured work plans, milestones, and deliverables. The combination of these approaches, applied across multiple case studies, enables a cross-case analysis that reveals recurrent mechanisms through which global objectives are transformed into context-sensitive strategies, and clarifies the institutional conditions under which stakeholder interaction, coordination, and learning can be sustained over time.The research is structured around four case studies that represent distinct domains of stakeholder engagement in the localization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The CiD alliance illustrates how transnational projects scaffold local partnerships; the Knowledge Graph prototype shows how data infrastructures can facilitate the coordination of policies and stakeholders; and two territorial applications in Sicily (Italy) demonstrate how DPG reframes debates around outcomes and systemic drivers. Empirical evidence is collected through semi-structured interviews, document analysis, and the development of analytical and managerial models, including Causal Loop Diagrams, DPG charts, and Knowledge Graphs.Findings indicate that SDG localization advances when evidence, causal reasoning, and delivery routines are jointly embedded in collaborative platforms: data provide the empirical basis for deliberation, causal models structured around outcomes make explicit the interdependencies that allow stakeholders to coordinate their perspectives and actions, and project-management routines convert these pathways into accountable plans and recurrent monitoring cycles. In this configuration, project management operates as a meso-level infrastructure that institutionalizes learning beyond project cycles.The dissertation clarifies SDG localization as an iterative process that relies on boundary infrastructures, orchestration roles, and multidisciplinary integration. It develops protocols that connect stakeholder knowledge, causal maps, project routines, and indicator systems into place-sensitive architectures. Across the case studies, this approach shows how data infrastructures and analytical models can be combined with project management routines to align global goals with local realities, while taking into account the constraints of funding programs and administrative cycles. The results provide concrete insights into the conditions that sustain coordination among diverse actors, facilitate institutional learning, and support the long-term implementation of the SDGs.Across the four case studies, the research specifies the institutional conditions under which local actors can align global goals with place-based initiatives despite administrative and funding constraints. The findings emphasize that sustainable transitions require interoperable infrastructures in which data platforms, analytical models, and managerial routines operate in concert, enabling collaborative pathways that transform global objectives into context-sensitive strategies.