ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by acknowledging the framing of sustainable development as a ‘wicked’ problem before overviewing the concept of institutions. It provides a general overview - a sort of primer - on institutional considerations for those who may be involved in attempting to drive coordination and collaboration to integrate geospatial data for Sustainable Development Goal-related activities. The challenge of sustainable development is broadly understood and accepted as a ‘wicked’ problem. The public policy and political science literature is rife with many examples of challenges posed to the administrative capacity of governments to coordinate action. The challenge of coordination related to spatial enablement could be seen as having parallels with the experiences of implementing spatial data infrastructures (SDI). Shifting modes of governance is also a challenge experienced in the context of spatial enablement. Experiences over the last few decades of SDI implementation have revealed the limitations of institutional arrangements initially established to drive SDIs under the mandate of national mapping agencies.
