Here is a chance to influence global urban policy (but please be quick)

Many of you will be aware that the United Nations is busy assessing the Millennium Development Goals and defining a post 2015 Development Agenda. A key part of this is the selection of a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Importantly there is a proposal for a stand alone SDG on cities (SD#G11). While the wording of the goal is now set, the targets and indicators have yet to be firmed up. There is a small but critical moment to influence the SDGs through the framing of the targets and indicators. Please read on …

ACC has been involved in the Urban SDG campaign and was part of the group that produced the ‘Bangalore Outcome Document on Urban SDG Targets and Indicators’ which is attached here and reflects what was developed at the Second Urban Sustainable Development Goal Campaign Consultation on Targets and Indicators held in Bangalore 12-14th January, 2015 and subsequent email and telecon consultations. It builds on an earlier meeting (co-hosted by Mistra Urban Futures in London where several ACC staff and the new MUF Director participated.) A report from that meeting is also available here for information.

The Bangalore Outcome Document will be submitted from the Urban SDG Campaign during the Open Comment period of the SDSN Draft Indicators Report before it closes on January 31, 2015. Please feel free to submit your own individual and group comments to the SDSN Draft Indicators Report during the Open Comment period as well.

Post your comments on: http://unsdsn.org/what-we-do/monitoring-the-sdgs/indicators/consultation/

For individual indicators, please respond indicator by indicator as written in the Report (pp. 93 on). The urban indicators in the Report are #69, #5 (Note that there two different statements and descriptions of this indicator in the document), #70, and #72 sequentially.

Then there is a box in which you can comment on the main text giving the page number and comment. Here you have an opportunity to comment on p. 25 (that contains the Summary Chart of Goal 11 and recommended Indicators).  In this box you may wish to note that #5 is already covered and does not need to be repeated under the Urban SDG.

Then you could say that the following indicators should be added:

*Area of public space as a proportion of total city space
*Presence of a national urban and human settlements policy framework
*Percentage of urban solid waste regularly collected and well managed
*Percent of cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants that are
implementing risk reduction and resilience strategies informed by
accepted international frameworks (such as forthcoming Hyogo-2
Framework).

A final request: Please respond to the Indicators Priorities Survey if you haven’t already done so (see link to the survey below). We need everyone to participate so that we have a strong base from which to represent the priorities of the urban community on the indicators for the Urban SDG.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CQKRCCR