Goal 11 of 17 Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
More than half of humanity lives in cities, a share projected to reach about 60 per cent by 2030. Cities generate around 60 per cent of global GDP — and account for roughly 70 per cent of carbon emissions and over 60 per cent of resource use, so urban decisions shape every other Goal.
Housing is the sharpest failure: an estimated 1.16 billion people — about one in four urban residents — live in slums or informal settlements, many without safe water, sanitation or secure tenure. Rapid growth, migration and rising land prices keep pushing affordable housing further out of reach, and informal settlements are often the most exposed to floods, heat and landslides.
Making cities work means investment in public transport, safe and affordable housing, green public space, waste and water systems, and planning that is participatory and inclusive rather than imposed. Air quality and road safety remain urgent problems: road traffic kills more than a million people a year, most of them in developing countries.
Goal 11 asks for safe, inclusive and resilient settlements — with special attention to the needs of women, children, older people and people with disabilities — and for cities that are linked to their surrounding regions, not walled off from them.