Applying the SDGs to Cities: Business as Usual or a New Dawn?

Roland Zinkernagel, James Evans and Lena Neij
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Roland Zinkernagel: International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics, Lund University, P.O. Box 196, 22100 Lund, Sweden
James Evans: Department of Geography, University of Manchester; Oxford Rd, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
Lena Neij: International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics, Lund University, P.O. Box 196, 22100 Lund, Sweden

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 9, 1-18

Abstract: With growing urbanisation the sustainability of cities has become increasingly important. Although cities have been using indicators for a long time it is only in the last decades that attempts have been made to collate indicators into sets that reflect the many different aspects required to assess the sustainability of a city. The aim of this paper is to review the evolution of indicators for monitoring sustainable urban development in order to understand how ‘new’ the indicators suggested by the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are for cities and the challenges they may face in using them. The review reveals that previous indicator sets emphasised environmental sustainability, health and economic growth. It is also shown that indicator sets that pre-date the SDGs lacked dimensions such as gender equality and reduced inequalities. In all, the SDG indicators provide the possibility of a more balanced and integrated approach to urban sustainability monitoring. At the same time, further research is needed to understand how to adapt the SDGs, targets and indicators to specific urban contexts. Challenges of local application include their large number, their generic characteristics and the need to complement them with specific indicators that are more relevant at the city level.

Keywords: sustainable development goals; urban sustainable development; indicators; evolution of sustainability assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

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