- Communities are at the heart of the transition towards sustainability
- A sustainable community takes into account, and addresses, multiple human needs, not just one at the exclusion of all others.
SDG 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities
- Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
- Cities represent the future of global living. The world’s population reached 8 billion in 2022 with over half living in urban areas. This figure is expected to rise, with 70 per cent of people expected to live in cities by 2050.
- Many of these cities are not yet 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.
- Sustainable development cannot be achieved without significantly transforming the way urban spaces are built and managed.
- Communities play an important and varied role in enabling a sustainable future. Many communities are already experiencing profound changes on their doorstep at the hands of this transition, such as changes:
- to their built environment,
- transportation networks,
- energy systems,
- food supply chains
- land use practices.
- Community-Led Solutions are initiatives where communities are central in identifying problems and developing solutions, highlighting local agency and knowledge.
Imagine a rural village facing water scarcity:
Traditional top-down approach
Involve a government agency installing a standardised water system, perhaps without fully considering the village’s specific needs or existing infrastructure
Community-led bottom-up approach
Villagers would collectively analyse their water sources, identify the root causes of scarcity, and then design and implement a solution that is tailored to their unique context.
- The European Commission’s green city awards recognise and reward local action towards a transition to a greener, more sustainable future.
- Winning cities are including their citizens in this transition, improve the urban environment, combat pollution and mitigate and prepare for more resilience to climate change.
Interactive Activity 2
Instructions: Fill in the blanks in the sentences below using the words included in the “Word bank”
Word bank:
Sustainability, Needs, Managed, Human, Development, Transition
