Page 164 - Connecting cities and communities with the Sustainable Development Goals

United for Smart Sustainable Cities
Connecting cities and communities with the Sustainable Development Goals

1 Introduction

1.1 Challenge and response
Since the end of the last decade, nearly 50 percent of the world’s population has been living in urban areas.
Urban populations have been projected to constitute 66 percent of the global population by 2050. With its
increasing populations, cities are being recognized as growth hubs, which can unlock economic potential and
empower citizens with the capability to drive sustainable urbanization.

Recent urbanization trends revolve around making cities energy efficient and eco-friendly. Many cities are
also climbing on the smart-city bandwagon to facilitate the adoption of technologies such as smart grids and
Internet of Things (IoT).

Despite such efforts for smart and sustainable urban transitions, there was no global platform to facilitate
discussions on successful smart sustainable city ventures and support their replication. The United for Smart
Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) initiative was created by the ITU and UNECE to fill this void and provide
international visibility to successful smart and sustainable city measures and highlight best practices and
guidelines which can be adopted across the world.

Keeping in mind the catalytic role of ICTs in enabling the transition to smart sustainable cities, this initiative
will also assist with the attainment of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 to “Make cities and human
settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”. Given the large-scale cooperation for smart sustainable
cities within U4SSC, this initiative also caters to SDG 17 to “strengthen the means of implementation and
revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development”.
Within the umbrella of the U4SSC, ITU and UNECE have also created an Advisory Board for Smart Sustainable
Cities. This Advisory bBoard is tasked with the responsibility of refining the existing key performance
indicators (KPIs) for smart sustainable cities developed by ITU and UNECE. Members of the aAdvisory Board
comprise city representatives, United Nations officials, associates from NGOs, ministry officials, as well as
participants from academia. Following the revision of the KPIs, the Advisory Board will develop a Global Smart
Sustainable City Index, based on pilot projects conducted by its member organizations. The refined KPIs will
also be submitted to ITU-T Study Group 20 on IoT and Smart Cities and Communities for facilitating its
approval as an international standard.
The U4SSC is supported by 16 United Nations agencies and programmes including ITU, UNECE, United
Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Economic Commission for Latin America and the
Caribbean (ECLAC), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Secretariat of United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), World Meteorological Organization (WMO), UN Women, United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), UNEP Finance Initiative (UNEP-FI), World Trade Organization
(WTO), Secretariat of United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), United Nations
University-Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS), UN-Habitat, United Nations
Economic Commission for Africa and the Secretariat of Convention on Biological Diversity.

2 Implementation

The U4SSC management team includes two co-chairs and two vice-chairs. The work of the U4SSC is carried
out by designated leaders who are given charge of specific areas of work and deliverables. The leaders are
appointed by the two vice-chairs who are responsible for the overall development and implementation of
the U4SSC Action Plan.
The first U4SSC meeting was held on 21-22 July 2016 in Geneva, Switzerland. This meeting was attended by
over 150 global smart-city experts.
During this meeting, the terms of reference and the vision of the U4SSC were approved. Participants to this
meeting also helped to define the future action plan for the first phase of U4SSC.

158 U4SSC series