Open innovation for sustainable urban transformation in Kazakhstan's monotowns: integrating digital transformation, ESG governance, and urban-territorial resilience

Marina Abikayeva, Rajasekhara Mouly Potluri, Assem Omarkozhayeva, Zhibek Omarkhanova, Danagul Tleuzhanova, Gulden Zholdayakova, Ol'ga Yanovskaya

Frontiers in Sustainable Cities, 2026

Full text Open access: Gold Metadata (CSL-JSON)
DOI 10.3389/frsc.2026.1995961
Data confidence 70 medium
How this score is calculated

It is built from checkable properties of the record itself: whether the article has a DOI, how many independent sources confirmed its data, whether the required fields are filled in, and how recent the latest confirmation is. Disagreement between sources and a missing identifier lower it. A value of 80 or above means the record was published without further checking; 60 to 79 means it is published at reduced confidence, with a manual check advisable. A record verified by an editor by hand is never pushed below 90 by a recalculation. This scores our data about the article, not the article itself.

Abstract

Resource-dependent monotowns face interconnected urban sustainability challenges arising from economic concentration, environmental degradation, technological dependence, infrastructure pressures, demographic change, and institutional vulnerability. Addressing these challenges requires an integrated approach to sustainable urban transformation that combines digital innovation, environmental responsibility, social inclusion, and urban resilience. This conceptual study develops an integrative framework explaining how open innovation can connect digital transformation and ESG-oriented urban governance to strengthen the resilience and sustainability of Kazakhstan's monotowns. Using a qualitative conceptual approach, the study synthesizes academic literature, international policy documents, and Kazakhstan's national strategic documents through thematic analysis to identify seven interrelated themes and inform the proposed framework. The present study is intentionally theory-building and conceptual and does not claim empirical validation of the proposed relationships. Drawing on Regional Resilience Theory, Evolutionary Economic Geography, Open Innovation Theory, the Quadruple Helix Model, and sustainability governance, the framework conceptualizes monotowns as resource-dependent urban-regional systems in which government, industry, universities, and communities jointly shape sustainable transformation. The framework identifies digital infrastructure, smart technologies, data-enabled governance, knowledge exchange, collaborative innovation, institutional adaptability, human-capital development, and ESG-oriented governance as interconnected mechanisms supporting sustainable urban infrastructure, environmental resource management, economic diversification, social inclusion, and resilient urban development. Open innovation is positioned as the bridging mechanism through which digital and sustainability transitions can be coordinated across urban stakeholders. The study contributes to sustainable cities research by integrating innovation ecosystems, digital transformation, ESG-oriented urban governance, and urban-territorial resilience within a place-sensitive framework. The framework also provides policy directions to advance SDG 11 and support inclusive, environmentally responsible, technologically enabled, and resilient transformation of resource-dependent monotowns.