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

International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War Canada

IPPNWC 1980 Ottawa ON Canada G

International Place Branding Association

IPBA 2015 Amerongen Netherlands D

International Planned Music Association

1950 North Charleston SC USA N

International Planning History Society

1993 Adelaide SA Australia D

International Polar Tourism Research Network

IPTRN 2006 F

International Pole and Line Foundation

IPNLF 2012 Oxford UK F f

International Police Mountain Bike Association

IPMBA 1991 Baltimore MD USA N

International Port Community Systems Association

IPCSA 2011 Felixstowe UK D

International Postgraduate Organization for Knowledge Transfer Research and Teaching Excellent Students

IPOKRaTES Mannheim Germany D

International Primatological Society

IPS 1964 Porto Alegre Brazil C

International Professional Security Association

IPSA 1958 Littlehampton UK F t

International Public Relations Network

IPRN 1995 Madrid Spain F

International Public Safety Consortium

ICC S c

International Quality Management and Organisational Development Conference

QMOD S c

International Radioecology Laboratory

IRL 1997 Slavutych Ukraine G

International Rafting Federation

IRF 1997 Cape Town South Africa C

International Rainwater Harvesting Alliance

IRHA 2002 Geneva Switzerland F y

International Ranger Federation

IRF 1992 Sydney NSW Australia D

International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement

1928 Geneva Switzerland F

International Renaissance Foundation

IRF 1990 Kiev Ukraine G f

International Rescue and Emergency Care Association

IRECA 1948 Minneapolis MN USA N

International Rescue Committee

IRC 1933 New York NY USA F

International Research and Exchanges Board

IREX 1968 Washington DC USA G

International Research Association for History and Social Sciences Education

IRAHSSE 2009 Bulle Switzerland C

International Research Center for Artificial Intelligence under the auspices of UNESCO

IRCAI 2020 Ljubljana Slovenia J g

International Research Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region under the Auspices of UNESCO

IRCI Osaka Japan E g

International Research Group for Psycho-Societal Analysis

IRGFPSA Stavanger Norway D

International Research Group on Law and Urban Space

IRGLUS 1996 Mexico City Mexico E

International Research Group on Wood Protection

IRG 1969 Stockholm Sweden B v

International Research Network of Young Historians of European Integration

RICHIE Association 2004 Orléans France F

International Research Network on Urbanism

Delft Netherlands N

International Research Society for Public Management

IRSPM 2006 Bern Switzerland D

International Rett Syndrome Foundation

IRSF 1985 Cincinnati OH USA F f

International Revival Network

IRN Kelowna BC Canada F

International River Foundation

IRF 2003 South Bank QLD Australia G f

International Road Federation

IRF Global 1948 Alexandria VA USA B y

International Road Transport Union

IRU 1948 Geneva Switzerland B y

International Roerich Memorial Trust

IRMT Naggar India N v

International Rubber Study Group

IRSG 1944 Singapore Singapore C g

International Rural Sociology Association

IRSA 1976 East Lansing MI USA C y

International Safe Transit Association

ISTA 1948 East Lansing MI USA N

International Safety Council

1992 Itasca IL USA N

International Sand Collectors Society

ISCS 1969 North Haven CT USA N

International Science Council

ISC 2018 Paris France A y

International Sea Turtle Society

ISTS 1981 La Jolla CA USA B

International Search and Rescue Advisory Group

INSARAG 1991 Geneva Switzerland F g

International Security Association

ISA 1972 Rietheim Switzerland D

International Security Industry Organization

ISIO 2002 G t

International Security Information Service

ISIS 1989 Brussels Belgium G

International Security Ligue

1934 Zollikofen Switzerland C

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