SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

If your research contributes to meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities add the keyword "SDG 11", "SDG11: Sustainable Cities and Communities" and/or "Sustainable Development Goals" to your article/book/chapter/conference paper/ dataset and we will automatically add it to this rapidly growing collection of research outputs. See the instructions here. 

Rapid urbanization has resulted in a growing number of slum dwellers, inadequate and overburdened infrastructure and services and worsening air pollution. The pandemic will hit the hardest the more than 1 billion slum dwellers worldwide, who suffer from a lack of adequate housing, no running water at home, shared toilets, few or no waste management systems, overcrowded public transport and limited access to formal health-care facilities. Many in that population work in the informal sector and are at high risk of losing their livelihood as cities shut down. Urgent response plans are needed to prepare for and respond to outbreaks in informal settlements and slums.

The number of slum dwellers reached more than 1 billion in 2018, which represents 24 per cent of the urban population, up slightly from 23 per cent in 2014. The number of people living in urban slums is highest in Eastern and South-Eastern Asia (370 million), sub-Saharan Africa (238 million) and Central and Southern Asia (226 million).

Access to adequate, reliable and safe public transport is a basic urban need. As shown in data collected in 2019 from a sample of 610 cities in 95 countries, only half of the world’s urban population had convenient access to public transport, defined as living within 500 metres’ walking distance from a low-capacity transport system (such as a bus stop) and within 1,000 metres of a high-capacity transport system (such as a railway or a ferry terminal).

Data collected in 2019 from a sample of 755 cities in 95 countries show that, in the period 1990–2015, most urban areas recorded a general increase in the extent of built-up area (defined as the presence of buildings) per person. On average, all regions except sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern and South-Eastern Asia recorded a consistent increase in the built-up area per capita, with Australia and New Zealand recording the highest values.

Based on 2019 data from 610 cities in 95 countries, the share of land allocated to streets and open spaces, which is critical to cities’ productivity and the social and health dimensions of their populations, averaged only about 16 per cent globally. Of those, streets accounted for about three times as much urban land as open public spaces, such as parks and riverfronts. The share of the population that could obtain access to open public spaces within 400 metres’ walking distance along a street network averaged 46.7 per cent.

Source: Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, Report of the Secretary-General, https://undocs.org/en/E/2020/57

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If your research contributes to meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities add the keyword "SDG 11", "SDG11: Sustainable Cities and Communities" and/or "Sustainable Development Goals" to your article/book/chapter/conference paper/ dataset and we will automatically add it to this rapidly growing collection of research outputs. See the instructions here: 

To raise awareness for this important research, the UN Sustainable Development Goals on ScienceOpen collection is promoted throughout the discovery environment in search menus, as "Related collection" banners and article recommendations. If you are working on a particular SDG you can add your work to the collection in 4 easy steps:

1. Register on ScienceOpen at https://www.scienceopen.com/register.
2. Link to your ORCID profile (or create an ORCID ID): This will automatically add your publication list to ScienceOpen.
3. Choose the relevant article and then click on "Add keywords" from your profile page.
4. Add the relevant SDG(s) to the keyword section, for example "SDG 1" or "SDG1: No poverty" and/or "Sustainable Development Goals" and then hit save! Your article will now be automatically added to the relevant collection within 24 hours. You can also add a lay summary, catchy image, disciplines and data availability statements to your work to increase its visibility.

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