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 began 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

Union Internationale des Concierges d'Hôtels "Les Clefs d'Or"

UICH 1952 Paris France F

Union internationale des services médicaux des chemins de fer

UIMC 1949 Paris France C

Union Méditerranéenne des architectes

UMAR 1994 Paris France D

Union nationale des maisons familiales rurales d'éducation et d'orientation

UNMFREO 1942 Paris France G

Union of Arab Chambers

UAC 1951 Beirut Lebanon D

Union of Arab Community-Based Associations

Ittijah Haifa Israel G

Union of European Chambers of Commerce for Transport

UECC 1949 Basel Switzerland D

Union of Ibero-American Capital Cities

1982 Madrid Spain D

Union of Road Transport Associations in the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Region

BSEC-URTA 2001 Istanbul Türkiye D

Union of the Baltic Cities

UBC 1991 Gdansk Poland D

Union of the Electricity Industry - Eurelectric

1999 Brussels Belgium D t

Unione Volontariato Internazionale per lo Sviluppo e La Pace

UVISP-Assisi 1987 Bastia Umbra Italy G

United Cities and Local Governments Asia Pacific

UCLG ASPAC 2004 Jakarta Indonesia E

United Cities and Local Governments Middle East and West Asia

UCLG-MEWA 2004 Istanbul Türkiye E

United Cities and Local Governments of Africa

UCLG Africa 2003 Rabat Morocco E

United Federation of Travel Agents' Associations

UFTAA 1966 Monte Carlo Monaco B

United Kingdom One World Linking Association

UKOWLA 1985 Bridgewater UK G

United Nations

UN 1945 New York NY USA A gy

United Nations African Institute for Economic Development and Planning

1962 Dakar Senegal E gj

United Nations Alliance of Civilizations

UNAOC 2005 New York NY USA E gy

United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business

UN/CEFACT 1997 Geneva Switzerland E gt

United Nations Children's Fund

UNICEF 1946 New York NY USA F fg

United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development

CSTD 1992 Geneva Switzerland E g

United Nations Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods and on the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals

Committee of Experts on TDG and GHS 1953 Geneva Switzerland E g

United Nations Conference on Environment and Development

UNCED S cg

United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances

1988 T g

United Nations Convention on International Multimodal Transport of Goods

1980 T g

United Nations Convention on the Liability of Operators of Transport Terminals in International Trade

1991 Vienna Austria T g

United Nations Development Programme

UNDP 1965 New York NY USA E g

United Nations Economic and Social Council

ECOSOC 1945 New York NY USA E g

United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

UNECE 1947 Geneva Switzerland E g

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

UNESCO 1945 Paris France B g

United Nations Environment Programme

UNEP 1972 Nairobi Kenya E g

United Nations Global Compact

UNGC 2000 New York NY USA F y

United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names

UNGEGN 1959 New York NY USA E g

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

UNHCR 1951 Geneva Switzerland E g

United Nations Human Settlements Programme

UN-Habitat 1978 Nairobi Kenya E g

United Nations Institute for Training and Research

UNITAR 1963 Geneva Switzerland E gj

United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei

UNISFA 2011 F g

United Nations International Computing Centre

UNICC 1971 Geneva Switzerland E g

United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute

UNICRI 1968 Turin Italy E gj

United Nations Mine Action Service

UNMAS 1997 New York NY USA E g

United Nations Non-Governmental Liaison Service

NGLS 1975 New York NY USA E g

United Nations Office at Geneva

UNOG Geneva Switzerland E g

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction

UNDRR 1999 Geneva Switzerland E g

United Nations Office for Project Services

UNOPS 1973 Copenhagen Denmark E g

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

OCHA 1992 New York NY USA E g

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

UNODC 1997 Vienna Austria E g

United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia

UNRCCA 2007 Ashgabat Turkmenistan E g

United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe

UNRIC 2004 Brussels Belgium E g

Pages