Localizing the SDGs at city level: a few European examples
BOX 4
Hannover (Germany) In March 2016, the City Council committed to implement the 2030 Agenda at the local level and, in June 2016, adopted the “My Hannover 2030” strategy. 12 goals, 41 sub-goals and a total of 85 related sustainable development indicators are being used to draft the “1st Sustainability Report”, which will be presented by the end of 2017. More information is available online at this address: http://www.hannovernachhaltigkeit.de. Malmö (Sweden) In September 2015, Malmö signed a declaration to support the 2030 Agenda. By spring of 2016. the city had already linked its own local goals to the SDGs and introduced them into the city budget in 2017 as part of its regular activities. Malmö committed to reduce economic and social inequalities, increase gender equality, foster urban planning measures that give fair access to housing, seek sustainable energy solutions and mitigate climate change effects. More innovative projects are being implementing in socially-deprived areas (e.g., South Sofielund). The city, moreover, has integrated the SDGs in its international cooperation frameworks, in special partnership with local governments in Africa and China. Saint-Fons (France) With the support of an NGO and the technical assistance of the Lyon Urban Planning Agency, the municipality of Saint-Fons (17,000 inhabitants within Lyon’s metropolitan area) has tested a “new approach” using the SDGs as the framework to assess its own development plans. The municipality faces core vulnerabilities due to precarious and energy-poor households, marginalized in unattractive or risk-prone areas with high unemployment rates and inadequate transit and services, yet embedded in an attractive, competitive and innovative metropolitan area such as Lyon. According to a first assessment, 72% of planned local goals and actions were aligned with SDGs. The municipality hopes that the updated strategic vision towards 2030 and the improved alignment of its measures with the SDGs may lead to the creation of local identity, core values and a more coherent linkage with metropolitan policies. Utrecht (the Netherlands) The City of Utrecht has a long-standing tradition when it comes to sustainability: it was declared the first Dutch ‘human rights city’ in 2012, it ranks high in the National Monitor of Sustainable Cities and already has sustainable procurement policies in effect. Once the city explicitly embraced the SDGs as a framework for sustainability policy in the area, a myriad of local stakeholders, companies and societal actors and organizations followed its lead. Utrecht, moreover, has already set ambitious new targets: in 2018, it aims to have the Netherlands’ lowest unemployment rate; it wants to expand the number of solar panels from 4,000 in 2015 to 15,000 in 2020; and it wants 75% of its citizens to be familiar with the SDGs by 2030. The city, finally, has also developed local indicators and baselines
As mentioned above, the three Dutch associations of decentralized authorities (municipal, provincial and water boards) wrote a chapter in the report that the Dutch government presented to the Parliament in May 2017. Their chapter reviews the main tasks, roles and mandates of the three authorities in relation to the SDGs. Their mandate covers the social dimension (reducing poverty, inclusive education, healthy lives, and social inclusion), the economic dimension (sustainable production and consumption, work opportunities), physical
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