Sustainable Human Settlements within the Global Urban Agenda: Formulating and Implementing SDG 11

By David Simon

The UN's urban sustainability goal (#11) is fundamental to the global sustainable development agenda. David Simon explains the anatomy and dynamics of SDG 11, and critically assess how it is being used and understood in different local, regional and national contexts.

Supported by case studies throughout, Simon considers how SDG 11 interacts with other Sustainability Development Goals and how competing indicators, other external constraints, as well as lack of political will can present tough challenges to implementation. He provides a balanced and dispassionate analysis, highlighting problems and limitations alongside positive applications. A key aspect of the unfolding story of the SDGs is how they play out in practice. Although some of the connections and complementarities were designed, others are shown to have emerged by default. Drawing on lessons learnt so far, Simon considers how realistic sustainability goals are for cities and human settlements worldwide, and asks how different will cities be by the end of the SDG's 15-year lifespan in 2030?

Written for students, policy-makers and practitioners, the book provides an authoritative assessment of one of the most important and integrative SDGs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Agenda Publishing
• Release date: Nov 30, 2023
• ISBN: 9781788214988

David Simon

David Simon is Professor of Development Geography at Royal Holloway, University of London. His recent books include Transdisciplinary Knowledge Coproduction: A Guide for Sustainable Cities (coeditor) (2021), Comparative Urban Research from Theory to Practice: Co-production for Sustainability (coeditor) (2020) and Key Thinkers on Development (editor) (2e, 2019).

Book preview

Sustainable Human Settlements within the Global Urban Agenda

Sustainability Matters

This series provides accessible introductions to the many facets of sustainability and sustainable development. Each book explores a specific topic – for example, poverty, gender equality, water security, peace and justice – to consider the possibilities and challenges to achieving a sustainable future for all. The authors bring incisive analysis and theoretically robust thinking to the complex and interrelated issues.

Published

Poverty and the World Order: The Mirage of SDG 1

Robert Walker

Sustainable Human Settlements within the Global Urban Agenda: Formulating and Implementing SDG 11

David Simon

Sustainable Development, Education and Learning: The Challenge of Inclusive, Quality Education for All

Victoria W. Thoresen

Sustainable Human Settlements within the Global Urban Agenda

Formulating and Implementing SDG 11

David Simon

© David Simon 2024

This book is copyright under the Berne Convention.

No reproduction without permission.

All rights reserved.

First published in 2024 by Agenda Publishing

Agenda Publishing Limited

PO Box 185

Newcastle upon Tyne

NE20 2DH

www.agendapub.com

ISBN 978-1-78821-495-7 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-78821-496-4 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-78821-497-1 (ePdf)

ISBN 978-1-78821-498-8 (ePub)

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Typeset by Newgen Publishing UK

Printed and bound in the UK by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY

Contents

List of figures, tables and boxes

Note on terminology

Abbreviations and acronyms

Acknowledgements

1Origin and context

1.1 Introduction

1.2 From the MDGs to the SDGs

1.3 The distinctive rationale for SDG 11

1.4 The process to establish SDG 11

1.5 Conclusions

2Anatomy of SDG 11

2.1 Introduction

2.2 The logic and structure of Goal 11

2.3 Target 11.1

2.4 Target 11.2

2.5 Target 11.3

2.6 Target 11.4

2.7 Target 11.5

2.8 Target 11.6

2.9 Target 11.7

2.10 Supplementary Targets 11.a to 11.c

2.11 Data availability and appropriateness

2.12 Conclusions

3Interactions among the SDGs

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Anticipated synergies and trade-offs and guidance issued

3.3 Examples of conceptual synergies and trade-offs with SDG 11

3.4 Synergies and trade-offs as encountered and addressed during SDG implementation

3.5 Conclusions

4Embedding and implementing SDG 11

4.1 Introduction

4.2 Global reviews of progress with implementation

4.3 Assessing government progress in coordinating and implementing the SDGs

4.4 Localization of the SDGs

4.5 Voluntary Local Reviews and their assessment

4.6 Conclusions

5Additional challenges to achieving SDG 11

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Suggested modifications and alternatives to SDG 11

5.3 Challenges of subnational government implementation capacity

5.4 Appropriate funding and costs of implementation

5.5 Conclusions

6Synthesis and conclusions

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Progress with implementation to date

6.3 Smart cities, the SDGs and sustainability

6.4 Impact of the SDGs as a whole and Goal 11 in particular

6.5 Towards 2030: prospects for achieving SDG 11

Postscript

References

Index

List of figures, tables and boxes

Figures

1.1Diversity of relevance and data availability on draft Target 11.7, public space, in the five cities

3.1View into the Cheonggyecheon Stream in one of the best-vegetated sections (photo: David Simon)

3.2Cheonggyecheon Stream near its visible source, with sculpted seating and bridges integrated into the design and access points from street level (photo: David Simon)

3.3Historically and culturally iconographic tiles and legends illustrate part of the walls along the stream (photo: David Simon)

4.12022 SDG dashboards by region and income group (levels and trends)

4.2Alignment of Sheffield City policies with the SDGs

6.1Masdar City Podium: central hub (photo: David Simon)

6.2View of central quarter, Masdar City (photo: David Simon)

6.3Courtyard meeting point, Masdar City (photo: David Simon)

Tables

2.1Urban population and urbanization indicators by continental region, 2015–40

2.2Relationships between SDG 11 targets and indicators and the NUA

2.3Availability of SDG 11 indicator data in Angola and Mozambique

4.1Regional differences in (a) urban PM2.5 concentrations and (b) death rates per 100,000 inhabitants from PM2.5

4.2Annual VLR submissions by region, 2016–22

5.1Estimated average annual cost by city size class and SDG thematic category for a sample of four Asian and Latin American countries

5.2Estimated average total cost per capita by city size class, 2019–30

6.1Stages of SDG implementation

Boxes

1.1Key features of sustainable urban areas

1.2Ten UNSDSN principles for designing the Goal 11 targets and indicators

2.1UN-Habitat’s definition of slums

2.2SDG indicator tier classification criteria/definitions

3.1Multiple complementarities and co-benefits of a touchstone intervention

4.1Strong examples of comprehensive metropolitan SDG localization

4.2UCLG’s key arguments and lessons for localization of the SDGs

4.3The five priority axes of the Buenos Aires 2022–23 Plan

Note on terminology

Official UN and World Bank categorizations of countries, such as developed and developing, less and least developed, and of geographical groupings have been used where they represent the basis on which data are reported but do not signify approval of or agreement with them.

Abbreviations and acronyms

Acknowledgements

The opportunity to write this book arose from Camilla Erskine’s invitation, as commissioning editor for Agenda Publishing, to contribute to the series on the SDGs for which she was recruiting authors. The invitation was enticing and daunting in equal measure: enticing because my involvement in the formulation and subsequent implementation of SDG 11 from mid-2014 until the end of 2019 put me in a privileged position to tackle the project, and daunting because my increasingly vain efforts to keep up with the rapidly growing volume of new literature on SDG 11 and the other goals made me acutely aware of how challenging a task it would be. Nevertheless, I accepted the invitation, and how successful my efforts have been is for you, the reader, to judge. Camilla has provided reassurance, prompt answers to questions and experienced editorial support, for which I am most grateful. Credits for artwork are due to Jen Thornton.

My thanks also go to Jess Espey and Aro Revi for patiently answering my questions about details of the Urban SDG Campaign and related processes in which they played key roles. Jess also provided valuable comments on the draft of Chapter 1, as did an anonymous referee on the entire manuscript. Most of the book was written intensively during the final months of 2022, which would not have been possible without the supportive patience and forbearance of my wife, Sheryl.

More broadly, my understanding of the issues has been greatly enriched by the intense collaborative research I initiated within the programme of Mistra Urban Futures, as explained in the text. The research programme was funded by Mistra, the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research; Sida, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency; and the Gothenburg Consortium of public institutions. Particular thanks are therefore due to the pilot and longitudinal SDG 11 project teams, led by Helen Arfvidsson and Sandra Valencia respectively, and lead researchers and collaborators in the respective cities, including Mariana Cammisa, Sylvia Croese, Amy Davison, Kristina Diprose, Stina Hansson, Garima Jain, Louise Marix Evans, Nishendra Moodley, Julia Nesprias, Joakim Nordqvist, Michael Oloko, Beth Perry, Sara Pettersson, Tarun Sharma, Warren Smit, Aishwarya Krishnaswami Srinivas, Nick Taylor Buck, Ileana Versace, Yutika Vora and Carol Wright.

Some of the perspectives reflected in the pages of this book have benefited from long-standing collaborations with UN-Habitat on cities and climate change, the SDGs and as author of key chapters in the 2020 and 2022 editions of the World Cities Report – for which particular thanks are due to the Executive Director and UN Under-Secretary General, Maimuna Mohd Sharif, as well as Raf Tuts and Ben Arimah.

1

Origin and context

1.1 Introduction

The principal aim of this Sustainability Matters series is to produce an interesting, engaging and accessible set of titles addressing each of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a consistent style and format, framed by an introductory volume contextualizing the SDGs and exploring their rationale as an integrated suite that attempts to represent the holistic nature of sustainable development. This is explained by Agenda Publishing’s series specification as follows:

In 2014, the United Nations set out an ambitious global agenda for sustainable development, with a series of 17 interlinked goals and 169 associated targets to be met by 2030. Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is an action plan for the future of people, the planet and prosperity, representing the three essential pillars of sustainable development. The 2030 Agenda and goals are widely recognized as being aspirational rather than achievable in reality, especially in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition, scholars and activists have identified contradictions and compromises inherent within and between the goals as well as deeper ideological concerns. The Sustainability Matters series explores the most pressing contemporary economic, environmental and social issues faced by humanity against the backdrop of the 2030 Agenda while also looking to the longer term.

This book addresses SDG 11, on sustainable cities and communities. Since each title in the series should be sufficiently robust to serve as an authoritative reference work in its own right, it opens with a contextual discussion in this chapter of the origin and development of the global sustainable development agenda in 2015 and 2016, of which the 2030 Agenda and its 17 SDGs comprise a key element. The Campaign for an Urban SDG – which, along with other actors and coalitions, was ultimately successful in defining what became Goal 11 – is a key part of that story, told later in this chapter, and it draws on personal experience, other authoritative accounts and associated documents. The internal structure and composition of Goal 11 are set out and explained in Chapter 2, along with case studies of how SDG 11 is being used and understood in different contexts, sometimes positively but also selectively and highly instrumentally. The objective is to provide a balanced and dispassionate analysis, highlighting problems and limitations alongside positive applications.

One key aspect of the unfolding story is an analysis of the many interrelationships among SDGs and how they play out in practice. Attention in Chapter 3 of this book focuses on the interrelationships between SDG 11 and targets and indicators within other goals. Some of these connections were designed deliberately to foster complementarity and integration but others appear to be emerging by default. Some reflections are offered on the relative merits of SDG 11 in relation to other sets of urban targets and indicators already in use in certain countries and regions. In Chapter 4, the focus shifts to an examination of how SDG 11 is actually being embedded and implemented in different contexts. Although urban local governments are necessarily the key actors, they rarely have the autonomy and capacity to act independently, so an understanding of the nature of relationships among national, regional and local governments in each country, and sometimes each region of a country, is crucial. This underpins the ability to assess the effectiveness of multi-level governance (MLG), which is explicitly recognized in the global sustainable development agenda as being essential for success. Chapter 5 addresses the many mainly external obstacles and challenges to the successful implementation of SDG 11 and achievement of the targets by means of the respective indicators that have not been covered in earlier chapters. Finally, Chapter 6 provides a synthesis and conclusion, as well as reflections on the difference that SDG 11 and the urban-related elements of the other goals are likely to make by the end of their 15-year lifespan in 2030 from a vantage point, as this book is being written, halfway through that period.

1.2 From the MDGs to the SDGs

Details of the complex trajectory from the United Nations’ (UN’s) Millennium Declaration and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which operated from 2000 to 2015, to the elaborate international negotiations and multi-stakeholder processes within UN member states to flesh out and agree the set of 17 SDGs are beyond the scope of this volume. The SDGs act, in effect, as the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (UN DESA 2015). Nevertheless, the gist of this evolutionary context is important to enable readers to grasp the nature of the global agenda and commitments, and the divergent interests articulated by groups of UN member states and other sets of stakeholders.

It is noteworthy that what is widely referred to as the current global sustainable development agenda actually comprises five interrelated and complementary frameworks, agendas and agreements adopted by UN members in 2015 and 2016. In chronological order, these are the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction; the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development; the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (which includes the SDGs); the Paris Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC); and the New Urban Agenda. Concern in this book is therefore principally with the third and, to a lesser extent, also the fifth of these. Important academic critiques of the MDG experience, as well as of the SDGs, as being too instrumental, opportunistic, simplistic, complex and/or overambitious are addressed below.

The principal focus in this chapter is on the distinctively challenging process of formulating what became SDG 11 and its set of targets and indicators. As will become clear through the rest of this and subsequent chapters, this distinctiveness – and hence the value of recording and explaining the process – lies in the intersection of three principal factors. First, there was no precursor to SDG 11 in the MDGs, so the process of formulation had to begin from scratch. This was true of several other SDGs too. Second, SDG 11 is unique in terms of being place-based and hence integrative across sectors at the subnational scale, rather than being national and/or sectoral in nature. Third, by virtue of this spatiality, the range of actors and stakeholders to be included in the formulation process was uniquely large and diverse.

The account starts with a brief summary of lessons learnt from the quick and dirty process of formulating the MDGs as a basis for seeking the widest possible engagement and buy-in for the SDGs as part of a global initiative, in terms of which all countries have – to put it frankly – work to do in increasing the sustainability of their development trajectories and quality of life.

Indeed, this shift represents the most fundamental change. The MDGs had been formulated and implemented with minimal consultation and were perceived to have been imposed by OECD countries on low- and middle-income countries, which had to accept implementation and monitoring requirements as a condition of new official development assistance (ODA) or debt relief (Gunter 2011). This top-down and hierarchical arrangement reflected the power asymmetries in the UN global governance regime and caused wide resentment as