A new model for our cities

I’m going to analyze goal number 11 of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG): ‘Sustainable cities and communities – Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable’ because as a journalist I am concerned and interested in the present and the future of large cities. At a time like the present, and as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and the introduction of telework as an efficient and comfortable work model, cities may lose citizens who, until a few years ago, sought the city as a place that offers job opportunities and more day-to-day facilities. In addition, it is necessary to plan and execute programs that serve all the important European cities and that although they have frameworks such as the 2030 Agenda, they must have short-term indicators that serve the work teams to correct and redirect the present and the future of our cities.

It is necessary to indicate that more than half of us live in cities. By 2050, two-thirds of all humanity, 6.5 billion people, will be urban. Sustainable development cannot be achieved without significantly transforming the way we build and manage our urban spaces. The rapid growth of cities, a result of rising populations and increasing migration, has led to a boom in mega-cities, especially in the developing world, and slums are becoming a more significant feature of urban life. It’s for this reason that making cities sustainable means creating career and business opportunities, safe and affordable housing, and building resilient societies and economies. It involves investment in public transport, creating green public spaces, and improving urban planning and management in participatory and inclusive ways.

It is essential to guarantee the access of an entire population to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services and to improve the slums. It is a realistic indicator, but one that needs a well-studied execution plan that prioritizes the citizen and not the sale and rental of homes. Point 11.2, is being applied in many cities and without going any further, Barcelona is shaping a sustainable city by and for its citizens.

As point 11.3 points out, it is essential to improve inclusive and sustainable urbanization and the capacity for planning and managing participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlements in all countries. To make a city inclusive and sustainable, it is also necessary to take into account a factor such as the environment: point 11.6 highlights that by 2030, the aim is to reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities, even paying special attention to the air quality and municipal and other waste management; To achieve this point, it is necessary to further influence sustainable and ecological life models. It should be added that points 11 (a, b, c) are adequate and that they are key to achieving the general goal. The UN explains that by 2020, the number of cities and human settlements that adopt and implement integrated policies and plans for inclusion, resource efficiency, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, disaster resistance and development and implementation must be substantially increased. We must continue working on this and above all, organize and plan with the citizen in mind.

Localizing is the process of taking into account subnational contexts in the achievement of the 2030 Agenda, from the setting of goals and targets, to determining the means of implementation and using indicators to measure and monitor progress. It’s always useful to plan and take a good route to improve a large city and of course, to work it for the society. Localization relates at how local and regional governments can support the achievement of the SDGs at national level through action from the bottom up and also, how the SDGs can provide a framework for local development policy. The inclusion of this goal in the 2030 Agenda is the fruition of the advocacy work of the broad urban community. Linking Sustainable Development Goals 11 up with the urban and territorial dimensions of the other 16 goals will be an essential part of the localization of the SGDs. It’s important to say that all of the SDGs have targets directly related to the responsibilities of local and regional governments, particularly to their role in delivering basic services.

Locally, the economic and social projects of this goal make reference about to build tramline, to build some socio-cultural facilities, to build also some sports facilities, to upgrade sewage network, to add housing in coworking format and adapted to the resources and needs of young people who need to emancipate themselves. In this line, local government must develop some units of public housing and pedestrianize paths and create efficient and unified bike lanes. Most of the habitable buildings needs a renew of its facades. In the commercial way and to promote and enhance the neighborhood and commercial fabric, it will be necessary for the municipal urban planning department to renovate some municipal markets of some neighborhoods. Our city will transform to a better city with a large population only if the indicators are gradually and naturally implemented, always with the consensus of its population. The program must provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road safety, notably by expanding public transport, with special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations, women, children, persons with disabilities and older persons; there must be an EU mobility strategy that update whenever it will be necessary. For example, Barcelona, Amsterdam and Milan are making significant changes in the city model and are preparing a horizon in which sustainable transport wins and it is possible to access any part of the city without having to travel by car. Another point it’s to enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacity for participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management in all countries. Also, strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage it’s possible with nature action plans, environmental assessment and a EU civil protection mechanism, a EU green infrastructure strategy and EU support to cultural diversity in developing countries. We can’t forget that significantly reduce the number of deaths and the number of people affected and substantially decrease the direct economic losses relative to global gross domestic product caused by disasters, including water-related disasters, with focus on protecting the poor and people in vulnerable situations. It will be difficult to meet this objective in Barcelona if the protection model does not give people at risk of exclusion access to decent housing and also those at risk of eviction and food insecurity. In cities like Barcelona, Madrid, Paris or Rome, it’s important to support positive economic, social and environmental links between urban, per-urban and rural areas by strengthening national and regional development planning. Because by 2030, a city model that has cohesion and cooperation with its metropolitan areas and with rural areas that contribute to national GDP is not understood.

To finish this essay, I emphasize that both this SDG and the others are important to face the future of our society and also, in a moment as delicate as now, it is when good policies must be reaffirmed.