Urban Innovation Essential to Achieve SDGs

A new report suggests ways to support and accelerate the city-level innovation needed to reach the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Penn IUR co-authored, with the Guangzhou Institute for Urban Innovation, the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, and Wellcome Trust, the 5th Guangzhou Award Report on Local Implementation of SDGs, which analyzes 45 case studies of innovative urban initiatives around the world, providing evidence that city-level innovation is essential to achieving the SDGs and suggesting ways nations can partner with and support cities in pursuit of this common goal. 

“Cities around the world are moving quickly, taking risks, and cooperating with one another to create more sustainable and inclusive development,” says Penn IUR’s Amanda Lloyd, co-author of the report. “We are identifying ways to encourage and harness that innovation on behalf of sustainable and inclusive development.”

Focused on innovations related to the COVID-19 pandemic response and the eight SDGs reviewed at the UN High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) held July 13-15, 2021, the report includes lessons drawn from the Guangzhou International Award for Urban Innovation (Guangzhou Award). Established in 2012 to advocate urban innovation, accelerate the attainment of the SDGs, and encourage international exchanges and city-to-city cooperation, the award was co-founded by the City of Guangzhou with the United Cities and Local Government (UCLG) and the World Association of Major Metropolises (Metropolis). Penn IUR Co-Director Eugénie Birch has been part of the peer review jury process for the Guangzhou Award since 2018.

This year, the Guangzhou Institute for Urban Innovation asked Penn IUR and co-authors to analyze the 45 semi-finalists for the 2020 award to suggest how to better support cities in moving toward a more sustainable world; the 5th Guangzhou Award Report on Local Implementation of SDGs shares lessons from this analysis. Cities have embraced SDG 11—to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable—and are envisioning paradigm shifts driven by local demands, visionary leaders, and institutional changes. The report draws lessons from forward-thinking cities tackling challenges as diverse as food security in Antananarivo, Madagascar; reducing waste through circular business models in Capetown, South Africa; and eco-efficiency land use policies in Quito, Ecuador.

In addition to lessons related to the SDGs, the report co-authors have identified four factors necessary for innovation to take hold in cities and to realize results at the necessary pace and scale. “Cities need to put people first, to have local leadership, to take a systems approach, and—last but not least—they need to pursue the right goals,” says Nicholas You, Executive Director, Guangzhou Institute for Urban Innovation, Project Director and Editor.

Download the report from the Penn IUR website.