The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a shared framework for addressing some of the most pressing challenges facing humanity. Their 17 interconnected goals encompass poverty, health, education, gender equality, water, sustainable communities, environmental protection and effective institutions. Achieving these ambitions requires a deeper understanding of people, institutions, inequalities and the social conditions that shape development outcomes. This is where social science research makes an essential contribution.
As an editor working in Urban and Rural Development Studies, I encourage researchers to examine how their scholarship can inform meaningful progress towards these goals. Questions of sustainability are also questions of access, participation, distribution and justice. Who benefits from development? Whose needs remain overlooked? How do policies affect different communities? What enables promising interventions to work in practice, and what prevents their benefits from reaching those who need them most?
SN Social Sciences offers a relevant platform for exploring these questions. The journal’s published aims and scope explicitly express particular interest in studies addressing the grand challenges identified by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals from a social sciences perspective. It welcomes original research and review articles with theoretical, policy and methodological contributions, evaluating submissions on academic rigour and methodological soundness. Its multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary scope creates opportunities to connect insights across fields such as development studies, education, human geography, sociology, social policy and urban studies.
Urban and rural development provides a particularly valuable setting for investigating the relationships between different SDGs. Consider a public transport intervention: its significance extends beyond the provision of infrastructure. Researchers can investigate whether it improves access to employment, reduces barriers to education, supports women’s mobility or makes essential services more accessible to older people and persons with disabilities. Equally, research can examine whether improvements raise housing costs or displace the very communities they were intended to serve.
Similar questions arise in rural settings. Studies of drinking water, sanitation, livelihoods, digital connectivity and access to healthcare can reveal how institutional arrangements and social inequalities influence development outcomes. Research on small towns, villages and peri-urban areas can also challenge assumptions derived primarily from large metropolitan contexts. These places deserve careful attention in discussions about sustainable development.
I would encourage prospective authors to consider several connected areas of inquiry:
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Inclusive urban development: Housing affordability, informal settlements, accessible public spaces, sustainable mobility and participation in planning.
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Rural transformation: Livelihood security, migration, service provision, local institutions and changing relationships between rural and urban areas.
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Education and social inclusion: Unequal learning opportunities, digital exclusion, sustainability education and the experiences of marginalised groups.
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Water, sanitation and public health: Social barriers to service access, community participation, institutional accountability and unequal exposure to environmental risks.
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Climate adaptation and justice: How heat, flooding and other environmental pressures affect different groups, and how adaptation policies distribute costs and benefits.
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Governance and partnerships: Local implementation of the SDGs, coordination across institutions and collaboration among communities, researchers and public authorities.
These are suggested directions for inquiry, rather than an exhaustive list or a separate call for papers. The strongest contribution will depend on the research question, evidence and fit with the journal.
For authors, connecting a manuscript to the SDGs should involve more than mentioning a goal in the introduction or adding it to the keywords. I encourage researchers to explain the connection throughout the study: in the problem being investigated, the analytical framework, the interpretation of findings and the discussion of implications. Where appropriate, identifying a specific SDG target can make that contribution more precise.
Attention to tensions and unintended consequences is equally valuable. An intervention may improve one outcome while worsening another. Urban renewal may upgrade infrastructure while weakening livelihood networks; digital services may improve convenience while excluding people without reliable connectivity. Examining such trade-offs can produce insights that are especially useful to policymakers and practitioners.
Methodological transparency should remain central. Authors should explain their data sources, sampling decisions, analytical procedures and limitations clearly. Policy recommendations should follow from the findings and acknowledge the conditions under which they may apply. Carefully contextualised local studies can make substantial contributions when they explain what their findings add to wider scholarly debates.
I invite researchers working on these issues to explore SN Social Sciences, review its aims and scope, and consult the submission guidelines when preparing a manuscript. SDG relevance offers a meaningful starting point; a clear social science contribution and rigorous scholarship remain essential.
I also welcome discussion among fellow editors and researchers: How can we encourage SDG-related scholarship that connects strong academic analysis with the everyday realities of urban and rural communities?
S. N. Sharma
Editor, Urban and Rural Development Studies
SN Social Sciences