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Improving the urban environment will ensure progress towards the goals and targets of Shaping the 21st CenturyP O T E N T I A L B E N E F I T SD E V E L O P M E N T F R A M E W O R K

G L O B A L C O N F E R E N C E S & O U T C O M E S

R E F E R E N C E M A N UA L

R E S O U R C E B O O K

G O A L S & TA R G E T S O FS H A P I N G T H E 2 1 S T C E N T U R Y

➜ Improvedlocal/regionaleconomies

➜ Health improvements

➜ Improved localenvironmental quality

➜ Reduced globalenvironmental impacts

Actions to improvethe urban

environmentrequire improved

quality of both‘integrating

processes’ and‘sectoral practices’.

Low

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High

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integ

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Quality of sectoral practices

“While expressed in terms of theirglobal impact, these goals andtargets must be pursued country bycountry through individualapproaches that reflect localconditions and locally-owneddevelopment strategies.” Shaping the

21st Century.

Improving the urban environment requiresthe resources, energy and commitment ofall departments in development co-operation organisations.

Integrating processes...provide the framework of sustainable development

within which effective urban environmental practice

can operate, with an emphasis on partnership and

participation, management and governance, cross-

sectoral and institutionally-based approaches.

Sectoral practices... are those activities, project and programmes that relatedirectly or indirectly to the urban environment whichtake place within the existing and established sectoralframeworks, where the quality of policies and practicethat relate to the urban environment can be improved.

Economic development:supporting effective environmentalcharges, taxes or subsidies andmeasures to provide moreadequate, stable and saferlivelihoods for low income groups.

Social Development: targeting thespecific environmental needs ofwomen and children areunderstood and acted on in allurban interventions.

Urban Infrastructure: targetingimproved water, sanitation anddrainage provision in unserved orinadequately served urban areas;using demand management to reducethe need for expensive services.

Solid Waste Management:supporting measures aimed atreducing environmental hazards forthose involved in the ‘waste’economy and also to strengthentheir livelihoods.

Pollution Control: supportingmeasures aimed at minimisingenvironmental hazards and thetransfer of environmental costs.

Natural Resources: protecting soils,forests and biodiversity, promotinggood practice in freshwater use andmanagement, and ensuringdevelopment patterns whichminimise greenhouse gas emissions.

Urban Planning: reducing urbansprawl and regional environmentalimpacts and improvingaccessibility, especially of theurban poor to their livelihoods.

Transport: reducing traffic impactsand making better use of publictransport.

Built Environment: preservingvaluable cultural heritage for asense of community, anddeveloping tourism; site planning,building design and constructionfor energy conservation andminimising polluting effects.

Landscape and EnvironmentalPlanning: making increased andbetter use of green space in urbanareas for recreation, urbanagriculture and forestry.

Health: improving primary healthcare in urban areas to reduce thehealth impact of manyenvironmental hazards.

Housing: targeting support to lowincome groups to secure tenureand develop better quality housingwith adequate provision for basicinfrastructure and services

Energy: utilising cross-sectorenergy conservation approachesthat bring benefits to urban,regional and global environments.

Disaster Preparedness: targetinggreater attention to disasterpreparedness as part of reducingthe urban population’s vulnerabilityto all environmental hazards.

Countries and Regions: supportingurban initiatives in countries wherean integrated and democraticapproach at the national and locallevel is being pursued.

Institutional development andgovernance: developing capacityfor investment, management andplanning at all levels; working inpartnership with recipientcountries to support ‘goodgovernance’; supporting localparticipatory processes.

Partnerships: supporting co-operation between governmentagencies, regulators, NGOs,communities and businesses onmeasures for improving resourceconservation and pollutionprevention at source; developingpublic-private partnerships for theurban environment.

Cross-sector collaboration:increasing co-ordination withinand across development co-operation agencies andgovernment departments;

developing a more holistic

approach to policy and practice

recognising the macro-micro and

urban/rural linkages.

Legislation and regulation:developing the legislative and

regulatory frameworks that support

urban environmental initiatives;

developing an appropriate mix of

regulatory and market reforms.

Information and planning:supporting participatory approaches

to planning, including Local Agenda

21; developing environmental

information bases accessible to all.

Development frameworks:developing tools for understanding

and managing the complex aspects

of the urban environment, such as

the Environmental Planning and

Management Framework of the UN. IMPROVED

URBAN

ENVIRONMENT

The International Development Targets (IDTs) are thesynthesis of the outcomes of the 1990s decade of UnitedNations global conferences as shown above. They arepublished by the OECD in “Shaping the 21st Century” (see www.oecd.org).

Further, more detailed, international development goalshave been developed by others, including the UN CommonCountry Assessments, which give depth to the conferenceoutcomes.

The Habitat Agenda, which promotes improved urbanenvironments, is the outcome of Habitat II, the UN CitiesSummit, held in Istanbul in June 1996, has beenencapsulated in the additional target, below.

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GOALS

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TARGETS➜ a reduction by one-half in the

proportion of people living in extremepoverty by 2015;

➜ reduction by two-thirds in themortality rates for infants andchildren under the age 5 and areduction by three-fourths in maternalmortality, all by 2015;

➜ access through the primary health-care system to reproductive healthservices for all individuals ofappropriate ages as soon as possibleand no later than the year 2015;

➜ universal primary education in allcountries by 2015;

➜ demonstrated progress toward genderequality and the empowerment ofwomen by eliminating genderdisparity in primary and secondaryeducation by 2005;

➜ the current implementation ofnational strategies for sustainabledevelopment in all countries by 2005,so as to ensure that current trends inthe loss of environmental resourcesare effectively reversed at both globaland national levels by 2015.

➜ Demonstrated progress towardsadequate shelter for all with securetenure and access to essential servicesin every community by 2015.

➜ Economic Well-being

➜ Social Development

➜ EnvironmentalSustainability

Shaping theUrban Environment

in the 21st CenturyShaping the 21st Century is based on the outcomes of the series of UN Global Conferences

Habitat II, Cities SummitIstanbul, 1996

H A B I TAT A G E N D AUN Commission on Human Settlements

www.undp.org/un/habitat/agenda

UNCEDRio de Janeiro, 1992

A G E N D A 2 1UN Commission on Sustainable Development

www.igc.apc.org/habitat/agenda21

L O C A L A G E N D A 2 1

S H A P I N G T H E 2 1 S T C E N T U R YOECD, Paris, 1996

www.oecd.org/dac/htm/stc.htm

SHAPING THE URBANENVIRONMENT IN THE

21ST CENTURYfull details of Shaping theUrban Environment can be

browsed or downloaded fromthe website

www.oecd.org/dac/urbenv

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Beijing, 1995 ➜ W O M E N

Copenhagen, 1995 ➜ S O C I A L

D E V E L O P M E N T

Cairo, 1994 ➜ P O P U L AT I O N

Vienna, 1993 ➜ H U M A N R I G H T S

New York, 1990 ➜ C H I L D R E N

Jomtien, 1990 ➜ E D U C AT I O N

Vancouver, 1976 ➜ S H E LT E R & U R B A N

E N V I R O N M E N T

Relevant UN global conferences and outcomes