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Real Estate Business Review | Monday, April 12, 2021
This paper examines nine city and subnational pilot projects conducted between 2015 and 2019 to assess the role of a data-based approach to governance in improving decision-making for sustainable development.
FREMONT, CA: With more than 60 percent of the world's population expected to live in cities by 2030, the importance of cities in achieving human and environmental well-being was emphasized in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, mainly through the inclusion of a stand-alone target for towns. It has long been recognized that a place-based strategy, with a particular focus on metropolitan areas, will be critical to fulfilling all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), not just SDGs.
A process of SDG 'localization' has emerged to make global goals and targets relevant at the local level, recognizing that 'local-level indicators must be included in any future development framework because local governments are the primary point of institutional contact for the majority of individuals.' Localization procedures have evolved to serve two goals: gaining local government support for achieving the SDGs through action on the ground and making the SDGs a usable framework for local, sustainable development policies.
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Even though the worldwide agreement on the 2030 Agenda was reached more than five years ago, many cities are still uninformed of the SDGs or are hesitant to implement what they see as yet another onerous reporting system. Institutional and political resistance to the agenda exists in some circumstances when there is no national motivation to incentivize SDG implementation or where resources are insufficient to meet everyday local-level goals. Sustainable development will be unlikely to be accomplished at scale by 2030 if the Agenda is seen as merely a compliance exercise by local agencies. To get more political support and boost uptake, it is critical to rethink the approach to SDG localization.
While there may be other routes to successful localization, addressing local governments' goals and current capabilities for providing local-level development plans is an excellent place to start. Institutions such as the United Nations and the United Cities and Local Governments have highlighted a functioning local data system as a critical factor for effective local decision-making at the global and regional levels.
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