The City of Melbourne and the University of Melbourne’s Connected Cities Lab will work together to implement the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The 17 goals will be used to review and benchmark the way the city is addressing global challenges such as poverty, climate change, clean energy, sustainable buildings, economic development and water use.
The Connected Cities Lab will collaborate with a number of branches across Council to support the city’s planning, use data and evidence as the foundation for priority and planning, and strengthen Melbourne’s global profile.
Engagement with key stakeholder groups, businesses and the community will also build awareness of and engagement with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The ambitious global framework around the SDGs was endorsed by all 193 member states of the United Nations.
The project will highlight best practice ways where major global cities are leveraging the SDGs in recovery efforts, such as New York, Barcelona and Los Angeles.
Melbourne will also be linked with other cities across the Asia Pacific region which are also using the goals.
City of Melbourne CEO, Justin Hanney, said that he is proud of the way the City of Melbourne has supported businesses and the community through the pandemic, while continuing to respond to the climate and biodiversity emergency.
“Embracing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals means making Melbourne a better place to live and work. The goals will help guide our planning and measure our success, by providing a benchmark for comparison with other leading cities around the world,” he said.
“The goals will help guide our thinking when we invest in services such as recycling, renewable energy, open space, cycling lanes, water conservation and planting trees and will ultimately benefit our city.”
“We are proud to partner with the University of Melbourne to leverage our connection to leading cities around the globe and contribute to the growing body of knowledge in localisation of the Sustainable Development Goals.”
The Director of the Connected Cities Lab, Professor Michele Acuto, commented: “This sets the City of Melbourne as a leader internationally in sustainable urban development, not only in the implementation of global goals, but also in the application of practical data-driven analysis to next-generation urban planning and in the integration of the SDGs at the heart of city governance.”
The University of Melbourne’s Vice-President, Strategy and Culture, Dr Julie Wells, added that the University shares the City’s vision for Melbourne as a thriving and sustainable global city.
“With that comes an imperative to address shared challenges and deploy our academic expertise to create public value with our city, as part of an important global movement,” she said.
More information on the project can be found here.
