Sustainable Development Goal 11
Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG 11), titled "Sustainable Cities and Communities," is one of seventeen global objectives adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015 through the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with the aim of making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable amid rapid urbanization.[1] The goal encompasses ten targets measured by fifteen indicators, focusing on ensuring access to adequate housing and slum upgrading (target 11.1), affordable sustainable transport (11.2), inclusive urban planning (11.3), protection of cultural and natural heritage (11.4), reduction of disaster impacts (11.5), minimization of urban environmental effects (11.6), access to green spaces (11.7), support for least developed countries in sustainable building (11.c), and integrated policies for inclusion and resilience (11.a and 11.b).[2] Progress toward SDG 11 has been uneven, with global urbanization accelerating—reaching 57 percent of the world's population by 2022—but key metrics showing stagnation or reversal despite the goal's framework.[3] The proportion of urban residents in slums dipped slightly to 24.8 percent in 2022 from 25 percent in 2015, yet the absolute slum population swelled to 1.12 billion, an increase of 130 million since 2015, reversing prior declines and highlighting how population growth outpaces housing improvements driven by economic migration rather than policy interventions alone.[1][4] Disaster mortality has declined due to better early warning and evacuation, but economic losses and infrastructure damage persist, with limited fiscal decentralization impeding local resilience efforts; as of 2024, only 110 countries align local disaster strategies with national plans, covering 73 percent of municipalities on average.[5] Data availability remains a bottleneck, adequate for just four of ten targets, complicating empirical assessment and revealing gaps in monitoring that undermine causal accountability for outcomes.[6] Critics point to inherent tensions in SDG 11's prescriptions, where ambitions for environmental sustainability and resilience often conflict with the economic imperatives fueling urbanization, such as infrastructure demands that top-down regulations may constrain through added costs without proportional gains in affordability or safety.[7] Empirical reviews of smart city initiatives linked to SDG 11 expose overlaps and contradictions, including governance hurdles that prioritize technological fixes over addressing root causes like property rights and market incentives for slum reduction.[8] Overall, UN assessments confirm the broader 2030 Agenda is off-track, with only 35 percent of targets showing moderate progress or better, underscoring SDG 11's challenges in a context where voluntary national implementations yield inconsistent results amid competing priorities like poverty alleviation and growth.[9]Origins and Historical Context
Adoption in the 2030 Agenda
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was unanimously adopted by all 193 United Nations member states on 25 September 2015 during the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit in New York, formalized through General Assembly Resolution 70/1, titled "Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development." This resolution outlines a framework comprising 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 169 targets, and over 230 indicators, succeeding the Millennium Development Goals and aiming to address interconnected global challenges such as poverty, inequality, and environmental degradation by 2030.[10] The agenda emphasizes universal application, integration of economic, social, and environmental dimensions, and partnerships among governments, civil society, and the private sector. Sustainable Development Goal 11, focused on making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable, was integrated as one of the 17 core goals within this agenda, marking the first standalone urban-focused objective in a global development framework.[11] Its inclusion reflects recognition of rapid urbanization's scale—projected to house 68% of the world's population in cities by 2050—and associated risks like slum proliferation and disaster vulnerability, drawing from empirical data on urban growth patterns. The goal's targets encompass housing affordability, sustainable transport, waste management, cultural heritage protection, and disaster risk reduction, with indicators tied to measurable outcomes such as the proportion of urban population in slums.[12] The adoption process for SDG 11 built on the Open Working Group's (OWG) proposal, established by General Assembly Resolution 67/224 in 2013, which submitted its report (A/68/970) in August 2014 outlining 17 goals and 169 targets after consultations involving 193 member states and stakeholders. This OWG framework, largely preserved through eight months of intergovernmental negotiations from January to July 2015, ensured SDG 11's retention with minor refinements for clarity and feasibility, prioritizing evidence-based targets over expansive ambitions amid debates on resource allocation and measurability. The final consensus avoided dilution of urban-specific commitments, though implementation relies on national ownership and data availability, as custodian agencies like UN-Habitat were designated post-adoption to track progress.Precedents in Urban Development Policy
The United Nations Conference on Human Settlements, known as Habitat I, convened in Vancouver, Canada, from 31 May to 11 June 1976, marking the initial global policy framework for urban development. The conference produced the Vancouver Declaration, affirming the fundamental right to adequate shelter and a suitable living environment for all, and the Recommendations for National Action Programme, which urged governments to integrate human settlements planning into national development strategies, emphasizing land use, infrastructure, and slum prevention. These outcomes highlighted the growing urbanization challenges, with over one billion people in inadequate housing at the time, and established principles of participatory planning and equitable resource allocation that influenced subsequent urban policies.[13] Building on Habitat I, the second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II), held in Istanbul, Turkey, from 3 to 14 June 1996, adopted the Istanbul Declaration and the Habitat Agenda. The agenda committed nations to achieving adequate shelter for all by the year 2000—a target not met, as slum populations continued to grow—and to fostering sustainable urban development by addressing poverty, environmental degradation, and social exclusion in cities, where urban populations had reached 2.8 billion. It promoted integrated policies for housing, transport, and disaster mitigation, while recognizing local governments' roles, laying groundwork for monitoring urban indicators and international cooperation on human settlements.[14] The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), adopted by the UN General Assembly in September 2000, further advanced urban-focused targets under Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability. Specifically, Target 7.D aimed to achieve, by 2020, significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers through better access to water, sanitation, and durable housing, reducing the global slum population share from 39% in 2000. Progress under this target, tracked via indicators like access to improved sanitation, demonstrated empirical gains—slum improvements benefited over 100 million by 2015—but revealed limitations in scope, as urban populations swelled to 3.9 billion, prompting calls for comprehensive urban resilience beyond poverty alleviation. SDG 11 directly extended this continuity, broadening to inclusive, safe, and resilient cities while retaining slum upgrading as Target 11.1, with indicators aligned to MDG metrics for overcrowding and services.[15][16] These precedents collectively shifted urban policy from ad hoc national efforts to coordinated global commitments, emphasizing data-driven targets amid rapid urbanization—from 37% urban in 1975 to 54% by 2014—yet faced critiques for uneven implementation, particularly in developing regions where policy gaps persisted despite rhetorical advances.[17]Objectives, Targets, and Indicators
Detailed Targets
Target 11.1 aims to ensure access for all to adequate, safe, and affordable housing and basic services, alongside upgrading slums, by 2030.[18] This target addresses the global urban housing deficit, where as of 2022, approximately 1.1 billion people resided in slums or slum-like conditions.[11] Target 11.2 seeks to provide access to safe, affordable, accessible, and sustainable transport systems for all by 2030, with improvements in road safety through expanded public transport and attention to vulnerable groups including women, children, persons with disabilities, and older persons.[18] Target 11.3 focuses on enhancing inclusive and sustainable urbanization by 2030, building capacity for participatory, integrated, and sustainable human settlement planning and management across all countries.[18] This involves promoting urban policies that balance population growth with resource use and equity. Target 11.4 calls for strengthened efforts to protect and safeguard the world's cultural and natural heritage from threats like urbanization and climate change.[18] Target 11.5 targets a significant reduction by 2030 in deaths, affected populations, and direct economic losses relative to global GDP from disasters, including water-related ones, prioritizing protection for the poor and vulnerable.[18] Target 11.6 aims to reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities by 2030, emphasizing air quality and waste management.[18] Urban areas contribute substantially to global emissions and pollution, necessitating localized interventions. Target 11.7 strives for universal access to safe, inclusive, accessible, green, and public spaces by 2030, particularly benefiting women, children, older persons, and persons with disabilities.[18] Target 11.a supports positive economic, social, and environmental linkages between urban, peri-urban, and rural areas via strengthened national and regional development planning.[18] Target 11.b required substantially increasing by 2020 the number of cities and settlements implementing integrated policies for inclusion, resource efficiency, climate mitigation and adaptation, and disaster resilience, aligned with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030.[18] Target 11.c involves supporting least developed countries through financial and technical assistance to build sustainable and resilient structures using local materials.[18]Measurement Indicators and Custodian Agencies
Sustainable Development Goal 11 is monitored via 15 indicators aligned with its 10 targets, as established in the global indicator framework adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 6 July 2017.[19] These indicators measure progress toward inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable cities and human settlements, with methodologies varying in maturity: Tier I indicators have established methods and regular data production, Tier II have methods but limited data, and Tier III lack fully developed methodologies.[12] Custodian agencies, designated by the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators (IAEG-SDGs), lead the development of measurement standards, data compilation from national sources, and global reporting, often collaborating with statistical offices and other entities.[19] UN-Habitat serves as the primary custodian for nine indicators, reflecting its mandate on urban issues, while others involve specialized agencies like WHO for air quality or UNDRR for disasters.[20] The indicators are disaggregated where feasible by sex, age, disability, and location to capture inequities, with data primarily sourced from national censuses, household surveys, administrative records, and satellite imagery for land use metrics.[21] Challenges in measurement include data gaps in developing countries, inconsistencies in definitions (e.g., "slum" households), and the need for geospatial integration, prompting ongoing methodological refinements by custodians as of 2023.[12]| Target | Indicator | Description | Custodian Agency(ies) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11.1 | 11.1.1 | Proportion of urban population living in slums, informal settlements, or inadequate housing | UN-Habitat |
| 11.2 | 11.2.1 | Proportion of population with convenient access to public transport, by sex, age, and persons with disabilities | UN-Habitat |
| 11.3 | 11.3.1 | Ratio of land consumption rate to population growth rate | UN-Habitat, World Bank |
| 11.3 | 11.3.2 | Proportion of cities with direct participation of civil society in urban planning and management | UN-Habitat |
| 11.4 | 11.4.1 | Total per capita expenditure on the preservation, protection, and conservation of all cultural and natural heritage, by source of funding and type of heritage | UNESCO, UNEP |
| 11.5 | 11.5.1 | Number of deaths, missing persons, and directly affected persons attributed to disasters per 100,000 population | UNDRR, WHO |
| 11.5 | 11.5.2 | Direct economic loss in relation to global GDP, damage to critical infrastructure, and number of disruptions to basic services attributed to disasters | UNDRR, World Bank |
| 11.5 | 11.5.3 | (a) Damage to critical infrastructure and (b) number of disruptions to basic services, attributed to disasters | UNDRR |
| 11.6 | 11.6.1 | Proportion of municipal solid waste collected and managed in controlled facilities out of total municipal waste generated | UN-Habitat |
| 11.6 | 11.6.2 | Annual mean levels of fine particulate matter (e.g., PM2.5 and PM10) in cities (population weighted) | WHO |
| 11.7 | 11.7.1 | Average share of the built-up area of cities that is open space for public use for all, by sex, age, and persons with disabilities | UN-Habitat |
| 11.7 | 11.7.2 | Proportion of persons victim of physical or sexual harassment, by sex, age, disability status, and place of occurrence | UN-Habitat, UN Women |
| 11.a | 11.a.1 | Number of countries that have national urban policies or regional development plans that (a) respond to population dynamics; (b) ensure balanced territorial development; and (c) increase local fiscal space | UN-Habitat |
| 11.b | 11.b.1 | Number of countries that adopt and implement national disaster risk reduction strategies in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 | UNDRR |
| 11.b | 11.b.2 | Proportion of local governments that adopt and implement local disaster risk reduction strategies in line with national strategies | UNDRR |
| 11.c | 11.c.1 | Amount of official development assistance (ODA) for infrastructure in developing countries to support sustainable and resilient building | OECD, UN-Habitat |
This visualization illustrates global trends in Indicator 11.1.1, a key metric for housing adequacy.[12]