Page 7 - 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

Guideline document: design of an active framework to

successfully achieve Sustainable Development Goal 11

Deriving recommendations to successfully implement Sustainable Development Goal 11, by transforming
urban-sustainability policies into digitally-enabled urban-planning practices

1 Introduction

Today’s common urban challenges such as climate change, crime, poverty, disease and the exhaustion of
natural resources do not respect borders between countries or limits between the built and the non-built
1
domains. Therefore, the scope of urbanization should always include the liveable environment while also
considering the global dimension.

International instruments and global agendas are aimed at providing the required guidance on urbanization
and development to improve the liveable environment. These include Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)
3
2
11 and the New Urban Agenda (NUA) , which facilitate the implementation of effective public policies,
adoption of enhanced novel planning techniques and the integration of technology-supported frameworks.
As such, treaties, conventions, charters, and declarations, amongst other instruments, are promulgated by
international bodies such as the United Nations. These international instruments can often evolve as
concrete international agendas, if implementation mechanisms such as indicators are elaborated upon for a
more guided execution of their principles. Furthermore, these international instruments are usually
voluntary and it is left to each country’s discretion whether to adopt them. This often restricts the global
scope of such agendas. It is also noted that even in countries where these agendas and instruments have
been adopted, their practical application by local administrations is quite limited.

Relevant examples of finite implementations include the United Nations Rio Declaration of 1992, which later
evolved as the Local Agenda 21 (LA21); or the EU SET Plan of 2000. This EU Set Plan of 2000, which moved
towards the Covenant of Mayors (CoM), was intended to be the European energy agenda.
It is important to note that while the LA21 included several indicators to help measure sustainability, it could
not be adequately implemented by cities around the world. A similar situation was faced with CoM, as
implementation of the programme could not progress despite the inclusion of several indicators to deliver
the 20/20/20 energy goals.

The limited uptake of international agendas is caused by two very diverse reasons:
 The first reason is the lack of correspondence between policies included in the agendas and the
actual physical master planning for cities.
 The second reason is attributed to the fact that the data-collection process required to feed the
indicators may be quite expensive.
As the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by world leaders is a landmark decision for
the benefit of future generations, the attainment of its goals cannot be left to chance. The SDGs, specifically

1 This includes both urban and non-urban areas.
2 SDG 11 forms one of the key goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The specific target addressed
by this output document is 11.3 – “By 2030, enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacity for
participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management in all countries”
3 Please refer to the final page of this document for extracts on specific commitments made by the NUA to help achieve
SDG 11.
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