United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Sustainable Development
Goals
11

Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

Targets and Indicators

Target

11.1

By 2030, ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services and upgrade slums

11.1.1

Proportion of urban population living in slums, informal settlements or inadequate housing

Target

11.2

By 2030, provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road safety, notably by expanding public transport, with special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations, women, children, persons with disabilities and older persons

11.2.1

Proportion of population that has convenient access to public transport, by sex, age and persons with disabilities

Target

11.3

By 2030, enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacity for participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management in all countries

11.3.1

Ratio of land consumption rate to population growth rate

11.3.2

Proportion of cities with a direct participation structure of civil society in urban planning and management that operate regularly and democratically

Target

11.4

Strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage

11.4.1

Total per capita expenditure on the preservation, protection and conservation of all cultural and natural heritage, by source of funding (public, private), type of heritage (cultural, natural) and level of government (national, regional, and local/municipal)

Target

11.5

By 2030, significantly reduce the number of deaths and the number of people affected and substantially decrease the direct economic losses relative to global gross domestic product caused by disasters, including water-related disasters, with a focus on protecting the poor and people in vulnerable situations

11.5.1

Number of deaths, missing persons and directly affected persons attributed to disasters per 100,000 population

11.5.2

Direct economic loss attributed to disasters in relation to global domestic product (GDP)

11.5.3

(a) Damage to critical infrastructure and (b) number of disruptions to basic services, attributed to disasters

Target

11.6

By 2030, reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities, including by paying special attention to air quality and municipal and other waste management

11.6.1

Proportion of municipal solid waste collected and managed in controlled facilities out of total municipal waste generated, by cities

11.6.2

Annual mean levels of fine particulate matter (e.g. PM2.5 and PM10) in cities (population weighted)

Target

11.7

By 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, in particular for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities

11.7.1

Average share of the built-up area of cities that is open space for public use for all, by sex, age and persons with disabilities

11.7.2

Proportion of persons victim of physical or sexual harassment, by sex, age, disability status and place of occurrence, in the previous 12 months

Target

11.a

Support positive economic, social and environmental links between urban, peri-urban and rural areas by strengthening national and regional development planning

11.a.1

Number of countries that have national urban policies or regional development plans that (a) respond to population dynamics; (b) ensure balanced territorial development; and (c) increase local fiscal space

Target

11.b

By 2020, substantially increase the number of cities and human settlements adopting and implementing integrated policies and plans towards inclusion, resource efficiency, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, resilience to disasters, and develop and implement, in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, holistic disaster risk management at all levels

11.b.1

Number of countries that adopt and implement national disaster risk reduction strategies in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030

11.b.2

Proportion of local governments that adopt and implement local disaster risk reduction strategies in line with national disaster risk reduction strategies

Target

11.c

Support least developed countries, including through financial and technical assistance, in building sustainable and resilient buildings utilizing local materials

Progress and Info

As epicentres of the COVID-19 crisis, many cities have suffered from insufficiencies in public health systems, inadequate basic services, a lack of well-developed and integrated public transport systems and inadequate open public spaces, as well as from the economic consequences of lockdowns. As a result, the pandemic is likely to further increase the number of slum dwellers. In order to improve the lives of over 1 billion slum dwellers, there is an urgent need to focus on policies for improving health, affordable housing, basic services, sustainable mobility and connectivity.

Over the years, the number of slum dwellers has continued to grow and that number was over 1 billion in 2020. Slum dwellers are most prevalent in three regions, which are home to about 85 per cent of the world’s slum residents: Central and Southern Asia (359 million), Eastern and South-Eastern Asia (306 million) and sub-Saharan Africa (230 million).

Data for 2020 from 1,510 cities around the world indicate that on average only about 37 per cent of their urban areas are served by public transport, measured as a walking distance of 500 m to low-capacity transport systems (such as buses and trams) and/or 1,000 m to high-capacity systems (such as trains and ferries). Given variations in population concentrations within those cities, this translates into only about 52 per cent of the world population having convenient access to public transport.

In 2022, the global average municipal solid waste collection rate in cities is at 82 per cent and the global average rate of municipal solid waste management in controlled facilities in cities is at 55 per cent. The municipal solid waste collection rates in sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania are less than 60 per cent. Uncollected waste is the source of plastic pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and incubation for infections.

Data for 2020 from 1,072 cities point to a poor distribution of open public spaces in most regions. In these cities, only about 38 per cent of urban areas are loca ted within a walking distance of 400 m to an open public space, which translates into only about 45 per cent of the global urban population having convenient access to those spaces.

By March 2021, a total of 156 countries had developed national urban policies, with almost half (74) already in the implementation stage. A further breakdown shows that 40 per cent of the countries are in the early stages of developing their plans, while 12 per cent are monitoring and evaluating how well those plans are functioning.

By the end of 2021, a total of 98 countries had reported having local governments with disaster risk reduction strategies, an increase from 51 countries in 2015.

Source: Progress Towards Sustainable Development Goals- Report of the Secretary-General 

For more information, please, check: https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2022/