© Gábor Molnár/usplash Gábor © 9 in 10 SUSTAINABLE CITIES: people living in WHY THEY MATTER urban areas

What’s the goal here? world’s cities faced wors- worldwide ening air pollution, inade- To make cities inclu- quate infrastructure and were breathing sive, safe, resilient services, and unplanned and sustainable urban sprawl. Successful air that did examples of containing not meet the Why? COVID-19 demonstrate Over 90 per cent of COVID- the remarkable resil- World Health 19 cases are occurring ience and adaptability in urban areas, with the of urban communities in Organization’s 1 billion residents of the adjusting to new norms. world’s densely popu- air quality lated slums being hit the What are some of the hardest. Even before the most pressing challenges guidelines coronavirus, rapid urban- that cities face today? ization meant that 4 billion people – over half of the Inequality and the levels of global pupulation – in the urban energy consumption and pollution are some emissions and sprawl- What can I do to help of the challenges. Cities ing suburbs all over the occupy just 3 per cent world. By choosing to act achieve this goal? of the Earth’s land, but sustainably we choose to Take an active interest account for 60-80 per build cities where all citi- in the governance and cent of energy consump- zens live a decent quality management of your city. tion and 75 per cent of of life, and form a part Advocate for the kind of carbon emissions. Many of the city’s productive city you believe you need. cities are also more vul- dynamic, creating shared Develop a vision for your nerable to climate change prosperity and social building, street, and and natural disasters stability without harming neighbourhood, and act due to their high con- the environment. As of on that vision. Are there centration of people May 2020, the majority of enough jobs? Can your and location so building national and city govern- children walk to school urban resilience is crucial ments are revisiting urban safely? Can you walk to avoid human, social planning to help prevent with your family at night? and economic losses. the next pandemic. How far is the nearest Why should I care? Is it expensive to public transport? What’s the air quality like? What All these issues will even- put sustainable are your shared public tually affect every citizen. practices in place? spaces like? The better Inequality can lead to the conditions you create The cost is minimal in unrest and insecurity, pol- in your community, comparison with the ben- lution deteriorates every- the greater the effect efits. For example, there one’s health and affects on quality of life. is a cost to creating a workers’ productivity and functional public transport To find out more therefore the economy, network, but the bene- about Goal #11 and and natural disasters have fits are huge in terms of other Sustainable the potential to disrupt economic activity, quality Development Goals, visit: everyone’s lifestyles. of life, the environment, http://www.un.org/ and the overall success What happens if sustainabledevelopment cities are just left to of a networked city. grow organically? The cost of poorly planned urbanization can be seen in some of the huge slums, tangled traffic, greenhouse gas