Global Civil Society & the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Goal 11: Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

Sustainable Cities & Communities


Goal 11 is about making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

Cities represent the future of global living. The world’s population reached 8 billion on 2022 over half living in urban areas. This figure is only expected to rise, with 70 per cent of people expected to live in cities by 2050. Approximately 1.1 billion people currently live in slums or slum-like conditions in cities, with 2 billion more expected in the next 30 years.

However many of these cities are not ready for this rapid urbanisation, and it outpaces the development of housing, infrastructure and services, which led to a rise in slums or slum-like conditions.

Urban sprawl, air pollution and limited open public spaces persist in cities.

Good progress has been made since the implementation of the SDGs in 2015, and now the number of countries with national and local disaster risk reduction strategies has doubled. But issues still remain and in 2022, only half of the urban population had convenient access to public transport.

Sustainable development cannot be achieved without significantly transforming the way urban spaces are built and managed.

Name Acronym Founded City HQ Country/Territory HQ Type I Type II

Secretaria de Integración Turistica Centroamericana

SITCA 1965 Managua Nicaragua E g

Secretaria Permanente del Tratado General de Integración Económica Centroamericana

SIECA 1960 Guatemala Guatemala E g

Secretariat for the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer

Ozone Secretariat 1989 Nairobi Kenya E g

Secretariat of the Basel Convention

SBC Geneva Switzerland E g

Secretariat of the Convention of Wetlands

1987 Gland Switzerland E g

Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity

SCBD 1993 Montréal QC Canada E g

Secretariat of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals

UNEP/CMS Bonn Germany E g

Secure World Foundation

SWF Broomfield CO USA G f

Security Council Report

SCR 2005 New York NY USA E

Security Treaty

1951 T g

Seguridad Humana en América Latina y el Caribe

SEHLAC 2008 Buenos Aires Argentina F

Self Storage Association Asia

SSAA 2014 Sheung Wan Hong Kong D

Servants to Asia's Urban Poor

1983 Vancouver BC Canada G

Serve the City International

2005 Brussels Belgium F

Service Civil International

SCI 1920 Antwerp Belgium B

Service Design Network

SDN 2011 Cologne Germany F

Servicio Latinoamericano, Africano y Asiatico de Vivienda Popular

SELAVIP 1976 Kraainem Belgium F

Serving Europe

1995 Brussels Belgium D

SETAC Latin America

Sao Paulo Brazil K

Settlements Information Network Africa

SINA 1982 Nairobi Kenya F y

Sewa International

1993 New Delhi India G

Share the World's Resources

STWR 2003 London UK G

Shelter Centre

2005 J

Shelter for Life

SFL 1979 Maple Grove MN USA G

Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking

Shift2Rail JU 2014 Brussels Belgium E

Sigma Theta Tau International

1922 Indianapolis IN USA G

Sistema Andino de Integración

SAI 1996 Lima Peru F g

Sister Cities International

SCI 1956 Washington DC USA G

Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati

1852 Mount St Joseph OH USA R

Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary

1803 Brussels Belgium R

Sisters of Charity of Nazareth

SCN 1812 Nazareth KY USA R

Sisters of Charity of St Charles Borromeo

1837 Maastricht Netherlands R

Sisters of St Francis of Philadelphia

1855 Aston PA USA R

Sisters of St Louis Juilly-Monaghan

1859 Dublin Ireland R

Sisters of the Holy Cross

Menzingen Sisters 1844 Lucerne Switzerland R

Sisters of the Most Precious Blood of O'Fallon, Missouri

CPPS 1845 O'Fallon MO USA R

Sisters Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Scranton

IHM 1845 Scranton PA USA R

SITE Institute

2002 Washington DC USA N j

Slovak Heritage and Folklore Society International

SHFSI 1986 Rochester NY USA N

Slum Dwellers International

SDI 1996 Cape Town South Africa F

Small Business Standards

SBS 2013 Brussels Belgium D y

Smart Buildings Alliance for Smart Cities

SBA 2012 Saint-Didier-au-Mont-d'Or France N

Smart Cities & Sport Network

2014 Lausanne Switzerland F

Smart City Business America Institute

SCBA 2013 Sao Paulo Brazil D j

SMEunited

1980 Brussels Belgium D y

Smokers Association

Bucharest Romania N

Social Progress Imperative

2012 Washington DC USA F

Social Science Research Council

SSRC 1923 Brooklyn NY USA G v

Social Science Research Institute, Hawaii

SSRI 1965 Honolulu HI USA G j

Social Services Europe

2011 Brussels Belgium D y

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