After 18 months of deliberation, the UN Open Working Group (OWG) closed in New York on 19th June 2014 by proposing a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be presented to the UN General Assembly in September 2014.

A sustained global campaign for an urban SDG supported by over 200 cities, major urban networks and institutions in September 2013 played a major role in the passage of SDG 11: Make Cities and Human Settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

This is a major achievement for the urban community from across the world. But an unfinished agenda needs to be closed: a reframing of the current Targets and Indicators associated with the urban SDG and up to ten other related SDGs to help build synergy between them, enhance their ’scientific’ credibility and implementability at city, regional and national levels – with a wider range of stakeholders, who were not fully present in the OWG intergovernmental negotiations.

A three day consultation (see Annex A for details) supported by Mistra Urban Futures and SDSN at Royal Holloway, London over 22-24 August 2014, brought together over three dozen participants from across the globe representing major urban organisations, institutions and movements; cities and global thought and practice leaders working on the SDGs (see Annex B for details).