Tendencias de largo plazo sobre conurbación y desarrollo urbano muestran que en vez de dispersarse aleatoriamente sobre el territorio, la población y la actividad económica en el mundo están cambiando y concentrándose en grandes centros. Estos centros se encuentran muchas veces constituidos, además de las ciudades, por los municipios cercanos a las mismas, conformando de esta manera lo que conocemos actualmente como las áreas metropolitanas.

En 1981 el Área Metropolitana de Bucaramanga (AMB) fue creada por mutuo acuerdo entre Bucaramanga, Floridablanca y Girón. Se acordó la creación de una entidad administrativa que gestionara las relaciones funcionales que en materia social, ambiental, económica, demográfica y cultural, existían entre dichos municipios1 . En 1984, el municipio de Piedecuesta se adhirió a esta iniciativa, consolidando así un territorio funcional en el que aproximadamente viven 1.2 millones de personas según datos de 2018 de su Observatorio Metropolitano.

Urbanization is one of the global megatrends of our time, unstoppable and irreversible. In 30 years, two-thirds of the world’s population will live in urban areas; 90 per cent of this urban growth will take place in less developed regions such as East Asia, South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. These are regions where capacity and resources are already constrained, and development challenges are ever more complex and concentrated. Urbanization in such areas is largely unplanned, fuelling the continuous growth of informal settlements, the physical manifestation of urban poverty and inequality. Currently home to some 1 billion people, informal settlements are where the impact of climate change is most acute and where resilience must be strengthened.

The State of Sri Lankan Cities 2018 presents the first comprehensive assessment of Sri Lanka’s recent urban development. The Report is  a key output of the State of Sri Lankan Cities Project. It outlines a vision of a better urban future for all Sri Lankans, drawing on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and New Urban Agenda, as well as key Government of Sri Lanka strategic documents. The Report provides an analysis of the spatial attributes of Sri Lanka’s urbanization, an overview of its people and functions and examines city economies, urban housing, municipal services, urban connectivity and municipal transport, climate risk and resilience, and governance.

UN-Habitat’s Global Public Space Programme, launched in 2012, is now active in more than 30 cities across the world. The programme’s objective is to promote public spaces as a keystone for sustainable cities to ensure good quality of life for all. This is done through policy guides, capacity building, knowledge sharing, carrying out advocacy work and actual implementation. Together with local government and civil society partners, the programme has implemented more than 80 concrete public space upgrading projects selected through annual expressions of interests. The programme assist cities to determine their needs for public space through mapping exercises and city-wide public space strategies as well as urban development frameworks. Our work has been proven to be effective in achieving social, economic and environmental benefits. The good policy and practices that we have on a global level is shared through a network of more than hundred partner organizations.

SDG target 6.3 calls for improving ambient water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimizing release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and increasing recycling and safe reuse globally.

The indicators used to measure progress are SDG 6.3.1 “proportion of wastewater safely treated” and 6.3.2 “proportion of water bodies with good water quality”. Wastewater treatment is separated by domestic and industrial sources and domestic sources are further disaggregated by wastewater and faecal sludge from both facilities connected to sewers and septic tanks. Domestic wastewater is monitored in coordination with monitoring of indicator 6.2.1 on safely managed sanitation that also estimates containment, emptying, transport and treatment of wastewater and faecal sludge. Wastewater from economic activities is monitored by UN-Habitat and ambient water quality by UNEP GEMS-Water initiative.

The 2018 report on progress of wastewater treatment presents the monitoring methodology and preliminary estimates for domestic wastewater for 79 mostly high- and middle-income countries. The report also includes supplementary data on safe use of wastewater. Separate files can be downloaded for each country showing data sources, methods and assumptions applied to generate estimates.

The SDG 6.3.1 indicator report on “proportion of wastewater safely treated” describes the monitoring methodology developed and tested in consultation with wastewater experts, national sector experts and statistical authorities and harmonized with the International Recommendations for Water Statistics and established regional monitoring mechanisms.

The report also presents preliminary estimates for domestic wastewater for 79 mostly high- and middle-income countries and includes supplementary data on safe use of wastewater. Separate files can be downloaded for each country showing data sources, methods and assumptions applied to generate estimates.