Fostering sustainable cities through additional SDG11-related indicators

Abstract

Within a global strategy for the pursuit of Sustainable Development, the governments are responsible for following, developing, and reviewing the 2030 Agenda at global, national, and regional levels. However, it is possible to observe a lack, acknowledged by the scientific debate, of effective implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this context, the paper intends to contribute to addressing this gap in methodological and operational terms, focusing on SDG11, and more specifically on two of its targets: 11.1 (Affordable Housing) and 11.3 (Inclusive and Sustainable Urbanization). In this sense, the research focuses on cities as crucial points of intervention to tackle global challenges since they represent the places with greatest concentration of population. This paper proposes a new set of indicators for monitoring targets 11.1 and 11.3 of SDG11 capable of supporting public policymakers in observing the Italian territory. More specifically, the research provides: i) the state of the art of the existing indicators of the targets in analysis; ii) the selection criteria and gaps to be considered for reviewing indicators; iii) the modalities of implementation; iv) a new set of indicators to support the development of urban policies.