Initiative to help cities unleash potential for sustainable growth

Dyfed Aubrey, senior human settlements officer of UN-Habitat and Lead of SDG Cities, shared his opinions on SDG Cities, a global initiative that unleashes the potential of cities to accelerate sustainable development and improve well-being for all.

The initiative offers a systematic way to support cities to become sustainable and resilient by connecting a value chain of data, inclusive, evidence-based strategic planning, strengthened capacity of local institutions and the development and financing of high-impact projects.

According to Aubrey, the initiative aims to reach 1,000 cities and 1 billion people by 2030. It provides an online bank of tools for data collection and analysis, institutional capacity development, and project preparation and financial matchmaking. And it supports hubs that provide technical support to participating cities at each stage of the SDG City cycle, and fosters strategic partnerships with cities and investors.

In the interview, the UN-Habitat senior advisor shared his views about the relationship between the initiative and China, and gave advice on the future development of Shanghai.

In his opinion, what was now really important for China as it continued to urbanize was to take stock of its economy, society and environment so that urbanization could be a very positive process for the country, the people, the environment and the planet.

Aubrey said the UN-Habitat would support China in urbanization, including adopting a sustainable urban development measurement tool that Shanghai developed into the SDG Cities initiative.

He suggested Shanghai take the opportunity to ensure that its growth was more than economic and physical only, and to ensure that it had very good social and environmental impacts.

The SDG Cities initiative is helping many cities in the world achieve transformative changes and improve the quality of life.

A representative from Bangladesh gave an introduction to his home city, Dhaka, and shared his opinion on the relationship between the city and the SDG Cities initiative.

The Bangladeshi representative said that it was very important for the Sustainable Development Goals to be achieved by 2030, and that the SDG Cities initiative was giving cities without enough expertise and experience in sustainable development the opportunities to draw on the experience of other cities so that none of them would be left behind.