"Cities are drivers of economic growth and contribute more than 80 per cent of global GDP. However, they also account for more than 70 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions."
—United Nations (un.org)
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals—adopted by all United Nations member states—serve as a blueprint to protect the planet and improve the lives of all people, with no one left behind.
Sustainable Development Goal or SDG 11 aims to make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
The United Nations established targets for achieving and measuring progress towards SDG 11 including:
By 2030, ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services and upgrade slums
By 2030, enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacity for participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management in all countries
By 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, in particular for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities
Explore place-based stories, created with ArcGIS StoryMaps, that examine historical to modern factors that shape cities around the world and the approaches being taken to achieve sustainable futures.
Urban Africa
by Esri
Examine population data to visualize the urbanization that has taken place in Africa over the last decade.
A scanned image of a historic map produced by the Home Owners Loan Corporation shows the city of Oakland, California and the surrounding area depicting neighborhood boundaries using green, blue, yellow, and red to differentiate the neighborhoods
The age of megacities
by Esri
More than half of Earth's population lives in cities—and many of them reside in megacities, the world's largest urban aggregations. Take a tour of ten megacities.
Access a few data sources and apps behind the sample stories and consider ways to tell your own SDG 11 narrative.
Africapolis
Africapolis data is based on a large inventory of housing and population censuses, electoral registers and other official population sources.
NASA EarthData
NASA EarthData provides data from a variety of sources, including remote sensing instruments on satellite and airborne platforms, field campaigns, in situ measurements, and model outputs.
Geoportal
Geoportal by IPR collects relevant data for the purposes of spatial planning and further development in Prague.
Get hands-on experience with SDG 11 geospatial data through Esri learning materials. Then build your storytelling skills with ArcGIS StoryMaps tutorials, for beginners and beyond.
