Crafting an Urban SDG: Goal and Targets for Consideration

Source: Shagun Mehrotra, 2012

April, 9 and 10, 2013, NEW YORK — Having secured strong support for the Sustainable Cities Thematic Group at the first UNSDSN leadership council meeting, Professor Shagun Mehrotra joined the Second Leadership Council Meeting with Aromar Revi and Cynthia Rosenzweig.

Professor Mehrotra was charged with drafting the text for an Urban SDG (Goal 7: Empower Inclusive, Productive and Resilient Cities) and three associated preliminary targets.  The conceptual text he crafted during the meeting drew on expertise of the Urban Thematic Group (Sustainable Cities Thematic Group) and was adopted in the UNSDSN Report (p.24) released by the Leadership Council for public consultation and then submitted to the UN Secretary General as an input to the Post 2015 process. These inputs on the Urban SDG by the Sustainable Cities Thematic Group of the SDSN were reflected in the UN Secretary General’s Report: A life of dignity for all: accelerating progress towards the Millennium Development Goals and advancing the United Nations development agenda beyond 2015 (Meet the challenges of urbanization, para 94, p.15).

The New School University Provost’s Faculty Research Grant supported the participation of Sustainable Development Solutions Center Project Managers Susan Yoon and Matthew Woundy, who worked closely with Professor Mehrotra in pre-meeting document preparations and assisted the Urban Thematic Group during the second Leadership Council, tag-teaming with co-chair Revi’s team in India.  SDS Center took the lead in preparing a grant proposal for financing the Urban Thematic Group activities.