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Number of pages
220
Publication date
2022
Publisher
UN HABITAT

The Global Urban Monitoring Framework

The Global Urban Monitoring Framework was endorsed by the UN Statistical Commission in March 2022 for implementation as part of the Harmonized Global UN Systemwide Strategy for monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and New Urban Agenda (NUA) and other regional, national, and subnational urban programs. It harmonizes existing urban indices and tools, including the widely implemented City Prosperity Index (CPI). The framework aims at ensuring thematic integration and interlinkages among various dimensions of development, disaggregation of data, and inclusion of groups that are traditionally excluded. It promotes working at different scales and functional urban areas, including ecological functional areas, enabling city comparability, and the possibility of more in-depth policy analysis.

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Number of pages
60
Publication date
2021

Urban Observatories: A Comparative Review

The report outlines the operations of urban observatories, their 'value proposition' and their challenges in a variety of urban contexts around the world. Drawing from 32 case studies in cities equally across the Global North and South, the report offers tangible comparative evidence of the functioning of these institutions and contextualises their functions, activities, and outputs against the current COVID-19 crisis.

It emphasises the important role these institutions play in urban governance in several ways. First, urban observatories support evidence-based decision-making with robust, longitudinal data and analytical expertise, either through strategic advisory roles or through capacity-filling roles in cities where state data is weak.

Second, observatories play a key role in bringing multiple forms of knowledge to inform the evidence base used by decision-makers, advocating for recognition of the diverse urban realities experienced by city dwellers rather than a singular vision that does not account for the complexities and variance within a single locality. And third, observatories network knowledge within and between cities, making knowledge inclusive and accessible to a wide range of stakeholders and giving cities the opportunity to reference the successes and failures of other places when attending to their own challenges.

Preparing Cities to Monitor and Report on Goal 11

Nairobi, 17 July 2018 - With support from UN-Habitat’s Global Urban Observatory and the Africa Center for Statistics at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), two cities in Tunisia are developing frameworks for monitoring and reporting on SDG 11. Specialized training workshops conducted in the cities of Monastir and Tozeur were attended by high level government officials, demonstrating commitment and goodwill.

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The journey to monitoring SDG 11 kicks off in the Asia-Pacific Region

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in collaboration with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) through its Global Urban Observatory unit organized the Asia-Pacific Regional Training Workshop on Human Settlement Indicators of the SDGs (SDG 11 and other urban related SDGs) at the United Nations Conference Centre (UNCC) in Bangkok, Thailand from 26 to

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Distinguishing slum from non-slum areas to identify occupants’ issues

30 November 2017, Bellagio Italy - Despite an estimated one billion people around the world living in slums, many global data collection exercises including censuses do not track spatial distinctions of populations living in places identified as slums. Today, slums are often invisible in official statistics, generally hidden within urban averages.

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Achieving SDG 11: One city at a time

Gaborone, 05 October 2017 – The Government of Botswana in partnership with UN-Habitat and UNECA held an inception workshop to kick-start the process of monitoring and reporting on Sustainable Development Goal 11. Botswana is one of the four selected countries in Africa (Botswana, Tunisia) and Latin America (Ecuador, Colombia) under the project “Monitoring and Reporting on Human Settlement Indicators in Africa and Latin America”.

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Brussels hosts Expert Group Meeting on SDG indicators

Brussels 27 April 2017-- The “Expert Group Meeting on Geospatial Definitions for Human Settlements Indicators of the SDGs” organized by UN-Habitat brings together leading experts on the detection of built-up areas and on the identification and classification of what is urban and what is rural. A standard definition of the city for purposes of global reporting is a requirement for monitoring the SDGs and will assist to explore implications of the urban extents on land indicators including those based on rural definitions.

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