Active civic participation and a collective effort is needed to bring us closer to achieving SDG11

The need to create Sustainable Communities and Cities (SDG11) remains one of the largest structural challenges to achieving fair and meaningful outcomes for the global community. However, this goal is heavily reliant on local governments to meet the needs of this crucial moment. The opportunity is available to all of us to participate actively to make "cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable", and it will require a meaningful shift in our thinking, effort, and commitment to building new partnerships rooted in trust and alternative thinking writes Andrew Ihsaan Gasnolar.

Image: Jordan Opel.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or the Global Goals are a collection of 17 interlinked global goals designed to be a "blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all". The SDGs were set in 2015 by the United Nations General Assembly and are intended to be achieved by the year 2030.

A crucial year in our collective history where it is estimated that almost 60% of the world's population will be urbanised by 2030. A society and world clustered in many urban areas dominated by inequality, scarce resources, high rates of crime and violence, which structurally will entrench systemic challenges resulting in impaired growth and impeding social development, particularly affecting the poor.

The stakes could not be higher, and yet the need to create Sustainable Communities and Cities (SDG11) remains one of the largest structural challenges to achieving fair and meaningful outcomes for the global community, in particular, the poor, marginalised and disenfranchised.

SDG11 remains a critical goal and metric within the context of the Global South, and in particular across emerging markets. However, this goal is heavily reliant on local governments to meet the needs of this crucial moment. The opportunity is available to all of us to participate actively to make "cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable", and it will require a meaningful shift in our thinking, effort, and commitment to building new partnerships rooted in trust and alternative thinking.

Image: Jennifer-Ann Coffin-Grey.

Local government is the vital layer to create the framework to enable sustainable communities and cities especially since this sphere of government is the closest to the people, and it can have a significant role around how decision-making takes place (how public policy meets the needs of people), and the spending power that local governments continue to play. The future success — and possibly the pitfalls — are heavily reliant on how this goal and policy interventions are adopted within cities, and crucially, our solutions will need to be localised within the context that must be driven by urban policy-makers, planners, communities, and government role-players.

Kembali Consulting is committed to coordinating its efforts and pan-African network to start thinking differently around how public policy interventions are conceptualised, shaped, and implemented with the overriding commitment to achieving the Global Goal of making "cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable".

The focus of this article is to place the spotlight on a person that inspires this work, but importantly that for us highlights the pressing need to put people at the centre of this work. Our focus this week is on Razi, a young Malaysian waiter, who in many respects is a reminder of the energy that must be leveraged to confront these challenges, but also a reminder that millions continue to migrate and move to cities to fulfil their aspirations. Razi's story is not unique and is shared by millions across the Global South such as Fatma and Peter from Tanzania, "who represent the nearly 1 billion urban poor who live in informal settlements around the world".

We are presented with a unique position to pivot our public policy interventions to fulfil the ambitious and aspirational Global Goals, but also to meet the aspirations, dreams and promise that billions like Razi, Fatma and Peter are seeking. Fortunately, the work in driving this shift has been developed further by organisations such as the World Bank that have conceptualised the responses, broadly into three-key steps or drivers, to this unprecedented human migration and possible explosive opportunity/misstep by proposing firstly, that we must finance this new reality and agenda. Secondly, we must promote the integration and meaningful development of our city landscape. And finally, we must transform our communities and cities to meet the growing threat of climate change and risks and this itself provides an immediate opportunity to reshape our communities, cities, and world.

Source: United Nations.

The challenge for the billions like Razi, Fatma and Peter are that government continues to struggle to deliver on the promise of delivery and achievement of noble objectives such as the Sustainable Development Goals. Within the context of the Global South, and in particular within African communities and cities, the capacity of local government to conceptualise, manage, implement, and disburse public funds will remain a major chokehold on the ability to meaningfully invest in the urgent agenda to invest in our collective future. The World Bank may have identified the first key step in investing in this future, but the more fundamental challenge for Razi, Fatma and Peter is that government continues to struggle with its capacity.

Kembali Consulting in the coming weeks will further outline its thinking around the key drivers as outlined by the World Bank, as well as the role that communities and cities must play to achieve in making "cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable", which will serve the billions such as Razi, Fatma, and Peter. Crucially this work must reconstruct the role that cities play particularly in the Global South, the prevalence of inequality and systemic violence that exists across the globe, and how stakeholder engagement and integration and rooting within communities will ensure that the voices of young people like Razi and migrants such as Fatma and Peter are not only included in the conversation but are key drivers in shifting our world and ultimately fulfilling on the ambitious Global Goals adopted by the United Nations General Assembly.

Image: Abigail Keenan.

The opportunities of young people like Razi, migrants such as Fatma and Peter must provide us all with the inspiration to push for more meaningful work that brings urban policymakers, planners, communities, and government role-players together to confront this unique opportunity.

Beyond refocusing our thinking and efforts on the Global Goals, it will assist in realigning our solutions, framing and implementation to ensure that it truly lives up to the aspirations and dreams of the billions like Razi, Fatma, and Peter.

- Andrew Ihsaan Gasnolar