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Dr Robert Ndugwa describes the UN’s work on city data and the New Urban Agenda

Dr. Robert Ndugwa is Head of the Global Urban Observatory (GUO) Unit at the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat).... "Our function is to lead the global monitoring of the urban aspects of the SDGs, as well as the objectives of the New Urban Agenda, and other UN initiatives linked to cities."

date:  08/03/2017

interviewee:  Dr Robert Ndugwa

Dr. Robert Ndugwa is Head of the Global Urban Observatory (GUO) Unit at the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat). His responsibilities in this role include supporting UN-Habitat’s global urban monitoring and reporting on Sustainable Development Goals and as chief statistician for UN-Habitat. Previously, Robert worked for several years as a Research and Evaluation Specialist for UNICEF Kenya.

What is the role of the Global Urban Observatory Unit?

Our function is to lead the global monitoring of the urban aspects of the SDGs, as well as the objectives of the New Urban Agenda, and other UN initiatives linked to cities. This includes work on GIS (geographic information systems), primary analysis of data from household surveys, and providing urban statistical and technical support to national authorities through our networks across the world.

Why are cities so important in driving sustainable development?

Cities are engines for growth. It is estimated that more than 80% of global GDP is generated in cities, demonstrating their importance for the economy. Most of the world’s population already live in cities, and projections suggest that seven in ten will live in cities by 2050. There are clear reasons why people choose to live in cities; they are centres for prosperity, innovation, culture, recreation etc. When you consider the different pillars of sustainable development, these are all issues that are core to cities. Therefore, it has to be acknowledged that urbanisation has changed the way we live, and how we approach questions about sustainable development.

Tell us about the New Urban Agenda (NUA), what are its primary objectives?

The NUA was adopted in October 2016 as the outcome of the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III). It provides us with a new platform for sustainable urban development for the next 20 years. The agenda is composed of a range of elements such as partnerships, civic participation, planning and design, financing mechanisms, and other areas of urban sustainability. The NUA has reemphasised the centrality of cities within sustainable development blueprints at the national level. It is also apparent that, just as with the SDGs, data will play a central role with the NUA.

How are the NUA and the Sustainable Development Goals related? What are the differences?

There are several differences between the SDGs and the NUA. From the perspective of cities, the NUA is a more comprehensive agenda, containing a number of elements that are not covered by the SDGs. For instance, culture is an important element in the NUA and it is recognised as instrumental in the development of cities. For this reason, not everything that we consider important for cities is included in the SDGs. This means that there are some areas in the NUA for which further indicators will need to be put forward, in addition to what has already been proposed for the SDGs.

How does the City Prosperity Initiative (CPI) fit into these two agendas?

The City Prosperity Initiative (CPI), works towards developing a metric and policy dialogue that can monitor and inform the NUA and the SDGs. Within the SDGs, we argue that it is not sufficient for cities to focus on “Goal 11 Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable” alone, which includes just ten targets. Many of the other SDGs, such as poverty, the environment, water and sanitation, governance aspects etc., are also relevant to cities. The aim of the CPI is to show the progress of a city as a whole, for this purpose we have applied around 70 indicators, nearly 35 of which come directly from the SDGs. Therefore, the CPI offers a method to monitor city performance, ensuring that we can advise cities in an integrated manner on what they need to do, in a way that simply is not possible with the SDG indicators as standalones.

Are there any limitations in applying city benchmarking?

There are indeed limitations in benchmarking for cities. It is difficult to make a recommendation based on global averages, particularly as there are often significant differences from region to region. In addition, in some cases the data from cities is not reliable enough to contribute to those averages. Over the last years, we have tried to build a global model with the CPI and include benchmarks with some of the indicators. However, now with the SDGs and the global indicator sets we will have another opportunity to develop realistic benchmarks, which can be integrated into the CPI.

What innovations do you see being applied in the development of urban indicators? Such as spatial analysis?

If we consider the SDGs concept of “no one is left behind”, the same approach can be taken for urban spaces. Spaces of deprivation in a city should be measured and integrated into reporting. We are working with several partners to develop new methods on how to collect data, how to analyse it and how to report on that data. Some of the approaches being applied include mobile data collection techniques, which have already been piloted in a few cities. We have also collaborated with a range of institutions, from the private sector and academia, with the idea of working together, building on their specific expertise.

What are the challenges associated with urban data collection? Establishing a global framework on city data?

Cities will be instrumental in defining the success of the SDGs. We tried to put in place a framework that will support urban data collection but there is still a big capacity gap, in terms of collection, verification and reporting on data. We are trying to address this with technology but also developing partnerships that go further than what any of us can achieve on our own.