Page 20 - Implementing Sustainable Development Goal 11 by connecting sustainability policies and urban-planning practices through ICTs

United for Smart Sustainable Cities
Implementing Sustainable Development Goal 11 by connecting sustainability policies
and urban-planning practices through ICTs

Recommendations on STRATEGIC urban-planning PRACTICES to implement urban-sustainability POLICIES
STRATEGY Facilitate resilience to climate change

POLICY --To increase human security by strengthening environmental and socioeconomic resilience,
enhancing mitigation (of), and adaptation to, climate change, and improving the management
of natural and environmental hazards and risks--
PRACTICES Distributed power and water systems
Development of renewable energy
Striving for carbon-neutral cities
Recommendations on physical urban-planning interventions
 Relocate any vulnerable and non-efficient infrastructure which causes disruption to decentralization efforts;
 retrofit existing networks for a more distributed system that can be operated in a clustered manner;
 install appropriate renewable equipment in both domestic and public buildings;
 relocate industrial polluting activities to release space for technological and green industries;

 promote compactness by increasing densities wherever possible. This will have a positive impact on the
reduction of energy consumption for heating and transportation. Increase in densities should go hand in hand
with the creation of a connected system of self-sustainability;
 foster strategic positioning of trees around buildings to reduce congestion, promote greenery, facilitate air
circulation and reduce heating and air-conditioning costs;
 promote affordable climate-resilient housing with good connections to public transportation;
 redesign mobility lanes to prioritise public transport and non-fuel vehicles;
 identify most polluted streets and ban high-emission vehicles in these areas.
Recommendations on non-physical urban-planning actions
 Mapping and identifying the existing infrastructures is encouraged, along with the inclusion of socio-urban
surveys to assess the distribution fitness of the current infrastructure network along with social characteristics.
It is essential to combine this with the mapping of areas with potential for renewables (solar radiation, wind
speed, etc.).
 The mapping of areas vulnerable to air and soil pollution along with high-risk zones (including flood prone areas
and low-lying coastal regions with potential inundations) to implement diagnosis before designing subsequent
resilience plans, should be encouraged.
 It is important to ensure alignment with laws and institutions responsible for the implementation of resilience
plans.
 Seamless integrated planning and multi-sectoral urban management should be fostered.
 Using a systems-of-systems approach to infrastructure planning and leveraging complimentary network
capabilities should be facilitated.
 Decentralized planning requires more collaborative funding models to succeed. PPPs should therefore be more
engaging for stakeholders and provide a better participatory setting with an orientation towards the new
economy of knowledge to offer attractive business opportunities.
 Effective distribution systems have a direct positive impact on the fair distribution of resources. Therefore,
resilience plans should include the new distribution channel for city resources along with the proposed
decentralized infrastructure network.
 Developing a forum for ideas where all stakeholders (including insurance companies) can share options should
be promoted to mitigate climate change and increase urban resilience. This will provide opportunities for
entrepreneurship, to create new products and services that are more “fit-for-purpose” and based on the needs
reported in the forum.
 It is pertinent to set up municipal programmes to promote greener attitudes amongst residents.

14 U4SSC series