In September 2015, 193 world leaders agreed to 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development. If these Goals are completed, it would mean an end to extreme poverty, inequality and climate change by 2030.
Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

• The continued commitment to a net-zero emissions trajectory will be critical to the UK's economic and environmental wellbeing in the coming years, including not only sustainable growth but also cities where we can move and breathe and ecosystems which are robust and fruitful.
• Recognizing cities as engines of growth, Uzbekistan has set sustainable urbanization as a priority agenda, with the goal of increasing its urbanization level to 60% by 2030.
• Geographic information generated by social media's users discloses opportunities for building analytical scenarios related to urban and regional planning and it offers useful suggestions for sustainable development based on tourism strategies.
• Cities from diverse regions and countries will realize the benefits of electric mobility and achieve a sustainable energy future.
• With 70 percent of the world's population expected to live in cities by 2050, cities are at the forefront of sustainable thought and need to be resilient.
• Do not forget to join in for the 2019 Catalyst Awards where the Green Electronics Council will present awards to public and private sector organizations that are leveraging sensor technology to build smart, sustainable and resilient cities!
• Smart Cities, based on visions of ICT-based urban development, have emerged as one response to the challenges and opportunities created by rapid urbanization and are considered major engines for pursuing the Sustainable Development Goals in both the global south and the north.
• Three other Spanish cities - Malaga, Palma de Mallorca and Valencia - are among the 10 most sustainable cities in Europe, and each one of them hope to become the European Capital of Sustainable Tourism in 2019.
• Home to the growing majority of the world's population and tangled in a complicated web of sustainable development challenges, cities will be crucial agents in realizing 2030 targets.
• Smart cities are expected to be the key to combining a sustainable future with continued economic growth and job creation.
• The full potential of engineering and technology to contribute to more sustainable cities will not be achieved by reducing all urban questions to engineering problems.
• Building the sustainable cities of the future will be a massive new economic engine of growth.
• The world's top 100 cities will account for 35% of global GDP growth between now and 2025 as the global population continues to migrate to urban living, with 68% estimated to be residing in cities by 2050.
• A seed grant of $6 million to launch the New Urban Mobility (NUMO) alliance in 2019 is a collaborative effort aimed at harnessing tech-based disruptions in the area of urban transportation to make cities more sustainable.
• 68 per cent of the world population is projected to live in urban areas by 2050, which will place the responsibility of sustainable development and mitigating climate change on the shoulders of planners across the world who are trying to manage urban growth.
• While cities and urban areas will offer important opportunities for economic development, they will also become increasingly vulnerable to the physical and transition risks posed by climate change.
• Achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals - which include clean water, clean energy, sustainable cities, climate action, responsible consumption, reduced inequality and more - could open a market opportunity of $12 trillion by 2030.
• Achieving the SDGs could open up US$12 trillion of market opportunities in food and agriculture, cities, energy and materials.
• A Code of Good Agricultural Practice on Ammonia is being prepared for Northern Ireland and will be published during 2019.
• C40's Deadline 2020 report sets out the critical role that world's major cities have to play in delivering the historic Paris Agreement to prevent catastrophic climate change.
• In order to meet the Sustainable Development Goals, capital investment in urban sanitation alone will require at least US$46 billion every year, with an additional US$25 billionayear for sanitation in rural areas.
• By 2050 urban areas will house 68 per cent of the global population, municipalities will need to be creative in their approach to building liveable and sustainable environments.

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Last updated: 27 September 2020