Relational capability and pluralistic governance in urban sustainability: Evidence from Nairobi’s solid waste management system

Urban sustainability challenges in many Global South cities occur within fragmented institutional environments where no single authority holds full legitimacy or capacity to govern. This study examines how pluralistic governance—characterized by overlapping mandates among public agencies, non-governmental organizations, landlords, and regulators—can still generate coordinated environmental performance. Drawing on stakeholder and dynamic-capabilities theories, it introduces relational capability as a sustainability-oriented governance mechanism that enables adaptive coordination and substitutes for weak formal structures. Findings from Nairobi’s solid waste management system show that coordination arises not from technical capacity or centralized control but from distributed relational processes that align diverse actors around shared environmental goals. Relational capability thus functions as a meta-governance competence that transforms institutional incoherence into adaptive efficiency. The study highlights the importance of relational infrastructure—trust-building, joint planning, and shared accountability—in strengthening environmental governance across fragmented urban systems.