11. Sustainable cities and communities

SDG 11. Sustainable cities and communities

Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

Targets*

11.1 Ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services and upgrade slums
11.2 Provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road safety, notably by expanding public transport
11.3 Enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanisation and capacity for participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management in all countries
11.4 Strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage
11.5 Significantly reduce the number of deaths and the number of people affected and substantially decrease the direct economic losses relative to global gross domestic product caused by disasters
11.6 Reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities, including by paying special attention to air quality and municipal and other waste management
11.7 Provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces

Key insights

• The proportion of the urban population living in slums, informal settlements, or inadequate housing is 55.1% in Cambodia, 41.0% in Myanmar, and 38.3% in the Philippines. Living in these conditions are almost 1 in 3 urban residents in Lao PDR, 1 in 4 urban residents in Thailand and Vietnam, and 1 in 5 urban residents in Indonesia.¹
• In 2018, the ASEAN Smart Cities Network (ASCN) was established as a collaborative platform to synergise efforts of governments and the private sector to build smart and resilient cities in the region.²

Business actions**

1. Research, develop, and deploy products and services which improve access to resilient buildings, transport, green spaces, and utilities
2. Protect and invest in cultural and natural heritage
3. Support access to essential services across the workplace, marketplace, and community

Example

• An American bank offered climate finance research regarding sustainable infrastructure financing to the C40, a group of large cities (including six in Southeast Asia) that are devoted to combating climate change, providing cities with important perspectives and fostering relationships with city administrators and other relevant stakeholders.³

Thought Leadership

Fit for the future

Find out how boosting household resilience could reduce institutional economic risks.

Delivering better outcomes together

Find out why and how the New Zealand government should adapt its policies to the pace of a changing ethnic landscape.   

Inclusive smart cities

Find out about the relationship between technological innovation and inclusion in today’s smart cities.  

The promise of smart rural communities

Find out about how farming is becoming more efficient, profitable, and environmental-friendly with the help of technology.

Social investment for our future

Find out about social investment and how it can be utilised to create measurable impact in New Zealand’s governmental institutions.

* All targets for SDG 1 to 17 have been derived from the United Nations Statistics Division (2018), from: https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/indicators/indicators-list/
** All business actions for SDG 1 to 17 have been derived from the United Nations Global Compact (2017), from: https://www.unglobalcompact.org/library/5461
1 Asian Development Bank (2018), from: https://www.adb.org/publications/key-indicators-asia-and-pacific-2018
2 Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC), from: https://www.clc.gov.sg/docs/default-source/books/book-asean-smart-cities-network.pdf
3 C40 (NA), from: https://www.c40.org/programmes/financing_sustainable_cities