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United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Sustainable Development
Topics

Sustainable cities and human settlements

Description

Human settlements

Cities are hubs for ideas, commerce, culture, science, productivity, social, human and economic development. Urban planning, transport systems, water, sanitation, waste management, disaster risk reduction, access to information, education and capacity-building are all relevant issues to sustainable urban development.

In 2008, for the first time in history, the global urban population outnumbered the rural population. This milestone marked the advent of a new 'urban millennium' and, by 2050, it is expected that two-thirds of the world population will be living in urban areas. With more than half of humankind living in cities and the number of urban residents growing by nearly 73 million every year it is estimated that urban areas account for 70 per cent of the world's gross domestic product and has therefore generated economic growth and prosperity for many.

Given the importance of this topic to global development efforts, recent movements pushing to address sustainable development from an urban perspective have taken place throughout the world. Results from this movement can be seen in the inclusion of a stand-alone goal on cities and urban development in the 2030 Agenda, Sustainable Development Goal 11, "make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable". There is also recognition of the cross-cutting nature of urban issues, which have an impact on a number of other Sustainable Development Goals, including SDGs 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 15, and 17, among others. UN-Habitat's complementary New Urban Agenda, adopted as the outcome document from the Habitat III Conference in 2016, seeks to offer national and local guidelines on the growth and development of cities through 2036.

Prior to the adoption of the 2030 Agenda, Millennium Development Goal 7, target 11, made a call for efforts to achieve, "a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers" by 2020.

Sustainable human settlements development was also discussed at the second and third sessions of the Commission on Sustainable Development. "Promoting sustainable human settlements development" is the subject of Chapter 7 of Agenda 21, which calls for 1) providing adequate shelter for all; 2) improving human settlements management; 3) promoting sustainable land-use planning and management; 4) promoting the integrated provision of environmental infrastructure: water, sanitation, drainage and solid waste management; 5) promoting sustainable energy and transport systems in human settlements; 6) promoting human settlements planning and management in disaster-prone areas; 7) promoting sustainable construction industry activities; and 8) promoting human resource development and capacity-building for human settlements development.

Paragraph 89 of the 2030 Agenda calls on major groups and other stakeholders, including local authorities, to report on their contribution to the implementation of the Agenda. Local and regional governments have a wealth of valuable experience in the "localization" of the 2030 Agenda, where they provide leadership in the mobilization of a wide range of stakeholders, the facilitation of "bottom-up" and inclusive processes, and the formation of multi-stakeholder partnerships.

For more information and documents on this topic, please visit this link

Displaying 16 - 30 of 55
Title Type Date
Conclusions and Recommendations of UN Symposium in Tehran Meeting reports 24-Nov-2014
Outcome Document - Introduction to the Proposal of the Open Working Group for Sustainable Development Goals Outcome Documents 19-Jul-2014
Summary of the Co-Chairs - Open Working Group on SDGs - Seventh Session Outcome Documents 21-Mar-2014
Chair’s Summary of Side Event - Sustainable Future Cities We Want Side events 8-Jan-2014
Revised Compilation for Sustainable Cities & Human Settlements in the Sustainable Development Goals (… Additional Resources 6-Jan-2014
Compilation on Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements in the SDGs Additional Resources 6-Jan-2014
Yangzhou Recommendations on Sustainable Cities and Urbanization Outcome Documents 6-Jan-2014
UNDG People’s Voices Issue Brief to the SDG 7th Open Working Group Additional Resources 6-Jan-2014
Information note - High-Level Symposium on Sustainable Cities and Sustainable Urbanisation Other documents 19-Nov-2013
Rural-Urban Dynamics and the Millennium Development Goals Additional Resources 18-Nov-2013
Community Planning (SDI) Other documents 18-Nov-2013
Resource Efficient Cities (UNEP) Additional Resources 18-Nov-2013
The Urban Opportunity: Enabling Transformative and Sustainable Development Additional Resources 18-Nov-2013
An Overview of Urbanization, Internal Migration, Population Distribution and Development in the world Additional Resources 18-Nov-2013
Safe Cities for Women and Girls Additional Resources 18-Nov-2013
Displaying 16 - 30 of 277

Paragraph 89 of the 2030 Agenda calls on major groups and other stakeholders, including local authorities, to report on their contribution to the implementation of the Agenda. Local and regional governments have a wealth of valuable experience in the "localization" of the 2030 Agenda, where they provide leadership in the mobilization of a wide range of stakeholders, the facilitation of "bottom-up" and inclusive processes, and the formation of multi-stakeholder partnerships.

Please follow this link to see a list of reports from local authorities.