The UN Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (herein, Agenda 30) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer both a set of aspirations for the kind of future we would like to see for the world and a suite of targets and indicators to support goal implementation. Goal 4 promotes quality education and Target 4.7 specifically addresses Education for Sustainability. However, creating a monitoring and evaluation framework for Target 4.7 has been challenging. The aim of this research was to develop a meaningful assessment process. We used a dialogical intervention across complementary expertises and piloted concepts in a trainer workshop. We then developed a modified competency framework, drawing on previous competency models but innovating through the addition of intrapersonal competencies, a self-reflective validation scheme, a focus on non-formal learning, and specific alignment with SDG 4.7 requirements. Through exploration of how such learning could be activated, we proposed the use of multiple intelligences. Education plays a synergistic role in achieving the aspirations embedded within Agenda 2030 and the SDGs. We concluded that Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) will require individuals to acquire ‘key competencies’, aligning with notions of transformational learning, in addition to other generic and context specific competencies.

There is an international consensus that our generation is facing a convergence of multiple crises and that the same mindset that has created this convergence is incapable of solving it. Paradigms evolve and shift when the prevailing frameworks are unable to explain and address new anomalies in development processes. For some, the sustainability concept fails to offer guidance on how to arbitrate between the conflicting drivers of economic growth, planetary boundaries and social justice. The concept of nine Planetary Boundaries (PB) involving Earth system processes which humanity should aim to operate safely, include global biogeochemical cycles (nitrogen, phosphorus, carbon and water), the major physical circulation systems of the planet (the climate, stratosphere and ocean systems), marine and terrestrial biodiversity and anthropogenic forcing (aerosol loading and chemical pollution). According to recent research, four of the nine planetary boundaries had been crossed due to the adverse impacts of human activities. The solution is the regenerative concept manifested in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which implies locally adaptable, resource conserving policies, activities and products, carefully tailored to the biocultural uniqueness of each location. Regenerative design is grounded in a deep understanding of the integral and interdependent nature of living systems, providing viable management solutions for economies in order to not exceed the environmental, social and economic carrying capacity of ecosystems.

Community-led approaches and interventions for the regeneration of abandoned towns in Southern Italy

Since 1996, the UN-Habitat Best Practice Unit and its network of partners have helped identify, evaluate, document and disseminate close to 5,000 proven solutions from over 140 countries to the world’s common social, economic and environmental problems. These success stories are contained in a searchable and regularly updated database known as the Best Practices Database. Best practices can be defined as initiatives which make outstanding contributions to improving the quality of life in cities and communities around the world.

The future of the biosphere, indeed of humanity, will be determined in the cities of the 21st century. In 2007, for the first time in history, the global urban population exceeded the global rural population (UN Habitat, 2010). The world population has remained predominantly urban ever since. Cities cover a mere 3% of the planet surface (Columbia University, 2005) but account for 60 - 80% of global energy consumption, 75% of carbon emissions (UNEP, 2012) and more than 75% of the world’s natural resources (Girardet, 2008). With the world now more than half urban and given the ecological consequences of the high-consumption urban centres (Sutto & Plunz 1991), there simply cannot be a sustainable world without sustainable cities.

Urban planning suffers from a historic gender gap in theory, policy and practice. While some research has focused on how urban planning fails to respond to women’s needs and perspectives, the concept of an ‘urban planning gender gap’ remains undertheorized and underrepresented in the realm of practical applications. Adopting a systems critical analysis perspective, the aim of this paper is to investigate to what extent do the UN Sustainable Development Goals support or hinder the capabilities of women to participate equally and meaningfully in urban planning. To do so, this article first provides an overview of existing frameworks for the conceptualisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) interdependencies followed by a systematic investigation of the interlinkages between SDG 5 Gender Equality and SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities. Secondly, it questions why at the target level SDG 11 positions women amongst the vulnerable segments of society requiring protection alongside children, older persons and persons with disabilities. It concludes by highlighting that not only are urban spaces gendered, but so are urban policies and international accords as well. Based on these findings, the article proposes new narratives highlighting the interdependencies between women and cities, which if adopted, could bridge the historic urban planning gender gap.