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

World Federation of Scientific Workers

WFSW 1946 Mont-Saint-Aignan France C

World Federation of the Deaf

WFD 1951 Helsinki Finland B

World Federation of the Deafblind

WFDB 2001 B

World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations

WFTGA 1985 Vienna Austria C

World Federation of Trade Unions

WFTU 1945 Athens Greece A yt

World Federation of Travel Journalists and Writers

1954 C

World Federation of UNESCO Clubs, Centres and Associations

WFUCA 1981 Paris France E y

World Federation of United Nations Associations

WFUNA 1946 New York NY USA E

World Fish Migration Foundation

Groningen Netherlands G f

World Food Programme

WFP 1961 Rome Italy F g

World Food Safety Organization

WFSO 2001 D

World for World Organization

WFWO 2001 Rome Italy G

World Foresight Forum

WFF The Hague Netherlands G

World Forum for Alternatives

WFA 1997 Dakar Senegal F y

World Forum on Community Networking

WFCN 2001 Montréal QC Canada G

World Foundation for Smart Communities

1997 San Diego CA USA G f

World Free Press Institute

WFPI 1997 San Ramon CA USA G j

World Future Council

WFC 2007 Hamburg Germany F f

World Geospatial Industry Council

WGIC 2018 The Hague Netherlands C t

World Habitat

1976 Leicester UK G f

World Health Innovation Summit

WHIS Carlisle UK J

World Health Organization

WHO 1946 Geneva Switzerland B g

World Heritage Centre

WHC 1992 Paris France E g

World Heritage Committee

1976 Paris France E g

World Heritage Fund

1976 Paris France F fg

World Heritage Information Network

WHIN Paris France K

World Heritage Institute of Training and Research - Asia and Pacific

WHITRAP 2007 Shanghai China G gj

World Heritage Watch

WHW 2014 Berlin Germany G y

World Historic and Cultural Canal Cities Cooperation Organization

WCCO 2009 Yangzhou China C y

World Igbo Congress

WIC 1994 Houston TX USA G

World Indigenous Tourism Alliance

WINTA 2012 Porirua New Zealand C

World Information Service on Energy

WISE 1978 Amsterdam Netherlands F

World Information Transfer

WIT 1986 New York NY USA F

World Institute for Advanced Research and Science

WIARS N j

World Institute for Nuclear Security

WINS 2008 Vienna Austria E j

World Jewish Restitution Organization

WJRO 1992 Jerusalem Israel D y

World Land Trust

WLT 1989 Halesworth UK G

World Leisure Organization

WLO 1952 Bilbao Spain B y

World Lupus Federation

WLF 2015 Washington DC USA C

World Mayors Council on Climate Change

WMCCC 2005 Bonn Germany E

World Memom Organisation

WMO 2002 London UK E

World Monuments Fund

WMF 1965 New York NY USA F f

World Motor Sport Council

Paris France K

World Mountain People Association

WMPA 2001 Paris France C

World Naked Bike Ride

WNBR N

World Natural Health Organization

WNHO 1983 Burlington WA USA G

World Nuclear Transport Institute

WNTI 1998 London UK E j

World Ocean and Cruise Liner Society

WOCLS 1980 Stamford CT USA N

World of DMCs

2007 C

World Order Models Project

WOMP 1966 F v

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