This book explores the role of public administration in advancing sustainable development within contemporary systems of governance. It examines how administrative law operates in a context shaped by the twin transition of digital transformation and environmental sustainability, where public institutions must implement politically defined objectives under conditions of technological change, ecological constraints, and economic interdependence. The analysis develops a systematic account of administrative governance in multi-level legal systems, with particular attention to the European Union. It discusses the organization of public bodies, the nature of administrative powers and decision-making processes, and the fundamental principles guiding administrative action, including subsidiarity, proportionality, transparency, and the right to good administration. Building on this framework, the book addresses key domains of contemporary governance, including essential public services and EU competition law, environmental regulation and its core principles, and the growing role of digital technologies, data, and artificial intelligence in administrative decision-making. It argues that sustainable governance depends on strengthening the capacity of public administrations to act lawfully, rationally, and effectively within the limits of the rule of law.

This book is about public administration’s decision-making (and policy development activity) in the context of an increasingly ICT-driven environment. Already today, AI systems can analyse data more accurately than humans and help them examine prior decisions. However, Artificial Intelligence lacks the imaginative component needed to invent the future (public policy development) and imagine the future (single-case decision-making), which is so far solely a human brain prerogative and a result of its ability to infer from seemingly unrelated situations and events. Single-case decision-making requires adapting a general and abstract rule to a specific scenario; therefore, even technical knowledge is insufficient. Moreover, despite the diversity of ADM technology and the rapid pace of technological development, basic legal requirements for public decision-making must remain unchanged and fixed in principles of the rule of law and good administration.