Paper short abstract:

Goal 11 of the Sustainable Development Goals captures the ambition to make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. This paper critically examines the present approaches to smart, inclusive and sustainable cities and identifies some of the biggest challenges.

Paper long abstract:

Goal 11 of the Sustainable Development Goals captures the ambition to make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. The very drivers of city growth, namely productivity, innovation and enterprise are also contributors to widening the gap. Glaeser et al (2006) noted a peculiar feature that cities are attractive to the poor people and as a result may have a bigger concentration of poor people than rural areas. Income inequality in American cities has increased between 2007 and 2014. We do not have similar city-wide data for many developing countries but limited evidence from India suggests that urban income inequality especially in the larger cities has increased.

This paper based on a current three year British Academy funded research critically examines the present approaches to smart, inclusive and sustainable cities and identifies some of the biggest challenges to realising SDG11. Each of these adjectives applied to cities calls for various interventions and opens membership for global or national networks and indices. However, whether such programmes contribute to incorrectly focusing on cities for addressing issues which cannot be resolved at city level and require national and even international interventions is a moot point. Who can argue against being a smart or a sustainable city? The real challenge is one of how to address current challenges and deficits while maintaining long term strategic focus on sustainability and well-being and how to develop institutions that are truly inclusive in city that is changing all the time. This paper aims to examine these challenges.