The problems related to the process of industrialisation such as biodiversity depletion
climate change and a worsening of health and living conditions especially but not only in
developing countries intensify. Therefore there is an increasing need to search for
integrated solutions to make development more sustainable. The United Nations has acknowledged
the problem and approved the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. On 1st January 2016 the
17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the Agenda officially came into force. These goals
cover the three dimensions of sustainable development: economic growth social inclusion and
environmental protection. The Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals
comprehensively addresses the SDGs in an integrated way. The Encyclopedia encompasses 17
volumes each one devoted to one of the 17 SDGs. This volume addresses SDG 11 namely Make
cities and human settlements inclusive safe resilient and sustainable and contains the
description of a range of terms which allows a better understanding and fosters knowledge.
This book presents a set of papers on the state of the art of knowledge and practices about the
numerous challenges for cities solutions and opportunities for the future.Concretely the
defined targets are: Ensure access for all to adequate safe and affordable housing and basic
services and upgrade slums Provide access to safe affordable accessible and sustainable
transport systems for all improving road safety notably by expanding public transport with
special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations women children persons with
disabilities and older persons Enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacity for
participatory integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management in all
countries Strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world's cultural and natural heritage
Significantly reduce the number of deaths and the number of people affected and substantially
decrease the direct economic losses relative to global gross domestic product caused by
disasters including water-related disasters with a focus on protecting the poor and people in
vulnerable situations Reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities including
by paying special attention to air quality and municipal and other waste management Provide
universal access to safe inclusive and accessible green and public spaces in particular for
women and children older persons and persons with disabilities Support positive economic
social and environmental links between urban peri-urban and rural areas by strengthening
national and regional development planning Substantially increase the number of cities and
human settlements adopting and implementing integrated policies and plans towards inclusion
resource efficiency mitigation and adaptation to climate change resilience to disasters and
develop and implement in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030
holistic disaster risk management at all levels Support least developed countries including
through financial and technical assistance in building sustainable and resilient buildings
utilizing local materials Editorial Board Samuel Borges Barbosa Luciana Londero Brandli Elisa
Conticelli Erin A. Hopkins Olga Kuznetsova Astrid Skjerven Hari Srinivas
