Governing Sustainability in Emerging Times: Institutional Work and Practice Dynamics in Two Southeast Asian Cities

Abstract

Manuscript type: Research paper
Research aims: This study examines how institutional work and teleoaffective
structures interact in shaping sustainable-city transformation in
Putrajaya, Malaysia, and Surabaya, Indonesia. It explains how situated
ends, projects and affective orientations make particular forms of
institutional action practically intelligible within contrasting governance
contexts.
Design/Methodology/Approach: The study employs comparative
qualitative documentary analysis. Government reports, strategic plans,
policy documents, official websites, public speeches and media reports
were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis and theory-informed
coding. The analysis considered institutional creation, maintenance,
disruption and repair, together with practical intelligibility and the teleoaffective
organisation of governance action.
Theoretical contribution/Originality: The study extends institutionalwork
theory by showing how situated teleo-affective structures
make institutional action practically intelligible and how contestation
over appropriate ends shapes sustainable-city transformation. It also
conceptualises calculative practices as constitutive institutional work that
maintains, privileges and reorders sustainability priorities.
Practitioner/Policy implications: Urban performance systems should
capture environmental outcomes alongside social well-being, community
participation and public value. Policymakers should also embed
leadership-driven sustainability initiatives in durable organisational
routines, mandates, resources, participatory mechanisms and transparent
accountability systems.