Page 151 - Shaping smarter and more sustainable cities - Striving for sustainable development goals

1 Introduction

Within an increasingly inter‐connected world, rapid urbanization constitutes one of the most
st
challenging facets of the 21 century. 54% of the world's population resides in urban areas, a
2
percentage that is expected to reach 66% by 2050 . The growth of the world's urban population is
evidencing the need to re‐think traditional approaches to sustainable development and urban
planning, in both developed and developing countries. During the period between 1950‐2010, small
cities have grown in population (1.3 billion) much more than medium cities (632 million) or large
3
cities (570 million) . According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), in 2007, for the first
time in the history, people living in cities were more than those in rural areas .
4
Due to migration flows, the natural population growth and certain policies, among other factors,
urban areas are becoming more congested. Rapid urbanization is adding pressure to the existing
resource base, while increasing the demand for energy, water, sanitation, and public services such
as education and health care. In parallel to the rising demand for services, cities are developing into
vast consumers of energy and major producers of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and have been
estimated to represent three quarters of the global energy consumption and 80% of CO2 emissions
5
worldwide .
In order to meet the growing needs and the opportunities associated with an increasing urban
population, cities require innovative approaches to achieve sustainable development. This involves
an improvement in the efficiency of all aspects of a city's operation (e.g., public services,
construction, transportation), which are crucial to ensure more inclusive development pathways,
and a higher quality of life (QoL) for its inhabitants.
Smart Sustainable Cites (SSC) are key enablers for the achievement of these goals. Despite the
6
recent emergence of SSC initiatives around the globe , efforts to realize an integrated vision based
on the notions and implications of 'smartness' and sustainability, including the standardization
efforts needed to assess their efficiency, are still in the early stages.
As the momentum of SSC continues to grow, there is an increasing need to better understand and
foster the use of new technologies, particularly of rapidly diffusing Information and Communication
Technologies (ICTs). Addressing this need is at the core of the Focus Group on Smart Sustainable
Cities' (FG‐SSC) mandate.

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2 UNDESA (2014), 'World Urbanization Prospects: The 2014 Revision, Highlights', United Nations,
Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division.
http://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/Highlights/WUP2014‐Highlights.pdf

3 UNDESA (2013),'World Economic and Social Survey 2013: Sustainable Development Challenges Overview',
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), http://www.un.org/
en/development/desa/policy/wess/wess_current/WESS%20Overview%202013%20E.pdf
4 UNFPA (2007) 'State of the World Population 2007: Unleashing the Potential of Urban Growth', United
Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2007/english/introduction.html
5 Provoost, R. (2013), 'Smart Cities: Innovation in Energy will Drive Sustainable Cities', The Guardian
Professional, 13 November, http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable‐business/smart‐cities‐innovation‐
energy‐sustainable
6 See for example the Partnership for Smart and Sustainable Cities,
http://www.urbanknowledge.org/smartsustainablecities.html

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