#Goal11: #SustainableCities and #SustainableCommunities

Image credit: Daniel Thornton

Tonight, more than 100,000 people around the country will go to sleep without having the basic human right of a place to call home.

Homelessness in Australia is an urgent concern. Goal 11 of the Global Goals looks into how we can make our cities and communities sustainable by 2030. Eradicating homelessness is just one aspect.

Goal 11 also requires the government to provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all. According to a recent report, Australia’s cost for public transport is ranked as one of the most affordable in the world. However, frequency and coverage of public transport services still need improvement.

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Target 11.3 aims to enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanisation and capacity for participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management in all countries.

Target 11.4 refers to the strengthening of efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage.

Goal 11 also touches on one of the targets in Goal 1 of significantly reducing the number of deaths and the number of people affected by disasters as well as substantially decreasing the direct economic losses relative to global GDP (gross domestic product) caused by disasters.

Target 11.6 aims to reduce the adverse per capita environmental impacts of cities with direct reference to air quality and municipal and other waste management. In Australia, we are blessed with high standards of air quality; however, we must continue to work towards lowering pollutants in the atmosphere as some cities around the country are starting to experience the effects of smog. One way to do improve air quality is to increase the amount of public, open, green spaces for people to access. The Global Goals explicitly refer to increased access to these spaces for women and children. Many local governments around Australia have championed initiatives of greening their cities such as City of Vincent in the inner-north area of Perth.

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In order to achieve Goal 11, we need to strengthen national and regional development planning. We also need to substantially increase the number of cities and human settlements which are adopting and implementing integrated policies and plans which move towards inclusion, resource efficiency, mitigation and adaption to climate change and resilience to disasters by 2020.

These goals don’t just apply to Australia; we must also look at how we can support least developed countries overseas through financial and technical assistance and in building sustainable and resilient buildings which utilise local materials.

If you are passionate about building sustainable cities and communities in Australia and in our neighbouring countries, check out “Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities” and head over to our “What Can I Do?” page to see how you can become involved in achieving the Global Goals!

This article was originally published on the Global Goals Australia Campaign website.

#globalgoals #goal11 #sustainablecities #sustainablecommunities