Forum: Sustainable Development Goals 11

Topic: Measures to improve urban planning and management

Main-Submitter: Germany
Co-Submitter: France, Thailand

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL 11,

Reaffirming the right of every human being, without distinction of any kind, to be able to
access the highest attainable quality of life in urban areas,

Acknowledging the rapid growth of people living in cities and the exponential increase of
urban areas in size and quantity,

Noting with concern that the high cost of living in urban areas at the moment could leave
people homeless and stressed,

Alarmed by the informal economy, of which around 60% of all employed workers in the
world operates in,

Deeply conscious that the individuals affected by the negative outcomes of natural and man-
made disasters are those who face poverty,

Expressing appreciation to the organizations that have aid in improving measures to help
develop urban planning and management,

1. Encourages national governments alongside the ISOCARP and other relevant

governmental organizations to maximize teaching and mobilizing their communities
regarding the importance of sustainability in ways such as but not limited the following;
a. Collaborate with UNICEF to reach out to the youth and educate them about
sustainability and the importance of it in ways such as but not limited to
i. Focusing on children as a resource group and enlisting their help in the
promotion of being environmentally friendly among their friends and in their
families and communities,
ii. Encouraging the youth to start being environmentally aware from a
young age to help them develop a good habit like recycling, saving energy etc.
by hosting fun activities and events amongst schools regarding the issue,
iii. Conducting seminars, presentations, using educational videos, etc. to
educate students,
 b. Utilizing mass media such as but not limited to television, newspapers,
posters, radio, social media, and the internet to spread awareness, through
methods such as but not limited to;
Conducting various workshops, programs, awareness campaign
about the negative impact of climate change and the risks it has on
global communities and urban cities,
Distributing informative leaflets, pamphlets, articles, infographics, etc.;

2. Calls upon major corporations and companies to station in developing cities as well as
initiating local businesses to increase job opportunities in the area, this can be operated in
ways such as but not limited to;

a. Instilling a single tax model for small businesses with the average social safety nets
that come with it to the developing member states in the global south that are
suffering from the effects of an informal economy so as to speed up urbanization and
save lives, to take Uruguay as an example,
i. Involving informal and illegal settlers into the local economy by providing
them with job opportunities in the primary and secondary economic sectors
instead of punishing them for unlicensed work,
ii. This is so that civilians’ income needs are met for the betterment of their own
and their families’ lives, as well as to expand small local businesses’ potential
for economic growth;
b. Suggesting a form of tourism in the city to increase the source of income and invites
many to work and visit the city, this could be advertised by;
i. Developing amusement parks and attractions much like Universal Studio
and such,
ii. Offering more accommodations and hotels for tourists to reside in and for
the leisure of the locals
iii. Building infrastructures and business blocks in designated areas for more
formal companies and major corporations to station in;
iv. This will interest locals who are looking for job opportunities as well as
employees from different cities to help in developing the city financially,
3. Emphasizes the need to decrease the cost of living for individuals earning low income or
minimum wage, this issue could be tackled in ways such as but not limited to;
a. Promote sustainable living to civilians living in urban areas to aid in cutting
off certain expenses through ways such as;

i. Encouraging civilians to buy local goods and products, especially from

small- and medium-sized enterprises to reduce tariffs (import and export
taxes), which pose a disadvantage on consumers as high tariffs add to their
daily expenses,

ii. Incentivize individuals to consider the amount of energy and water they use
per day and promoting good habit of saving as water/energy expenses makes
up about 35% of one’s total living cost,

iii. Through government funding and local charities, finances for the living
expenses of low-income civilians should be offered to assist them in ways
such as but not limited to;

b. Cutting shelter, food, transport, and apparel and footwear expenses, which are
basic human needs and should be provided by government funds for low-
income households,

i. Lowering high childcare expenses to assist poor families, as parents from

low-income families, or with lower educational degree, are less likely to work,
therefore not making sufficient money to pay for these high expenses,

4. Urges the implementation of safety measures and protocols to prepare civilians for natural
disasters and maximize the effectiveness of existing procedures and initiatives as part of risk
management in urban cities by

a. Regulating earthquake, tsunami, wildfire, and typhoon/hurricane drills and to

ensure civilians’ attentiveness along with allocating multiple save zones and
setting up evacuation plans focusing more on areas prone to larger risks and
impact but establishing it ubiquitously nevertheless;

i. Start by educating the youth on safety protocols to follow in

the case of an earthquake, tsunami etc. through video demonstrations,
presentations as well as utilizing multimedia like television channels,
radio channels, and mobile phones,

ii. Densely populated areas in cities where the urban poor reside
are subject to major disfigurement as housings and infrastructures
aren’t capable of withholding earthquakes, hurricanes and immense
flooding,

b. Directing international funding and private funding to disaster risk reduction

to increase the efficiency of assessing and minimizing the effects of a
catastrophic event to help reduce socioeconomic vulnerability as well as
dealing with the environmental and other hazards that trigger them;
 i. 2016 saw the largest damage repair expenses on natural disasters totalling a
staggering sum of $175 billion, this is partly due to the unexpected amount of
occurrences and lack of preparation for it,

ii. Innovative and MEDCs are prioritizing early precautions, along with UN's
Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030), of which 187 countries
are involved in establishing forecasting and early warning systems for extreme
climatic events,

iii. Consider to partner with NGOs such as the C40 and initiate new groups
dedicated to help developing urban areas prepare and cope for future adversities by
financing resources to develop resilient infrastructures, decentralized microgrids, etc.,

iv. Developing coastal cities with no thorough DRR plans and measures to
tackle the rising sea levels (which results in greater number of floods) could
potentially lose $1 trillion globally in a year to damage repair costs and
reconstruction. The figure will rise significantly if immediate actions and precautions
are not taken;

5. Recommends the development of more green spaces as well as expanding entertainment

and leisure centres for all demographics within the population, this can be established by;

a. Build more public parks and large green areas as to encourage civilians to take
part in physical activities and exercises for a healthier lifestyle;
i. Calls upon the local government to fund public parks that will benefit not
only the city environmentally but also the health and public-welfare of the
people,
ii. These parks will include many features such as bicycle tracks, outdoor
exercise equipment, including cardio walkers and balance beams, artificial
lakes and ponds etc.
iii. The features listed above will motivate civilians to visit these green
spaces which is a start to a more productive lifestyle as well as strengthen the
bond of the community,
iv. In heavily urbanized areas, large parks and green spaces will offer clean
air and a pleasant environment for people of all ages to enjoy,
v. By establishing a greater number of parks, it’ll help reduce the impact of
heatwaves as more heat from asphalt and concrete can be absorbed. The parks
will also improve the city’s performance against heavy rainfalls and decrease
the chances of flooding;

b. Expanding entertainment and leisure centres such as but not limited to malls,
cinemas, arcades, restaurants, cafes, theaters etc. to fulfill the demands and
wants of civilians in the city,

i. Invites major corporations and companies to establish leisure centres and

expand entertainment for the public
6. Suggests urban informal settlement, or slum, upgrading and rehabilitation without
changing the essential layout and fabric of the community residing in such accommodation,
this can be done in ways such as but not limited to;
a. Work with utility companies, private sector, and community-based
organizations to advance the provision of basic services, particularly
water supply, electricity, sanitation, and waste management,
i. Relocation removes people in slums from their sources of
income and reduces their capacity for economic survival;
ii. Therefore, improving what slum dwellers already have and
providing them with what they do not have eliminates the
possibility of a large burden on public funding;
b. Improve transportation networks such as building complete streets,
making user-oriented public transport affordable, and ensuring that slum dwellers
have easy access to such public transport to alleviate long commute hours,

7. Calls upon all nations in the global south to partner and work together against the informal
economy and to move at least 20% of the workforce to the formal economy by the year 2027;

a. Considers that the fastest way to create economically sustainable cities is to combat
the informal economy globally,

i. Encourages for member states to offer people in the informal economy to be

brought into the formal economy as that would mean more enforceable
commercial contracts, tax breaks and incentive packages to raise their
competitiveness, membership with trade union associations, access to
government subsidies and incentives, employer contribution to pensions, and
rights to organize and bargain collectively;

ii. Further recommends this system since the shadow economy is filled to the
brim with illegal manufacturing and that if a member state wishes to rid many
of these invisible workers, they could try this solution;

b. Reminds that the ILO could help in shaping other policies in your countries taking
Uruguay as an example with it’s monotax and shifting of its informal economy after
2001;

8. Trusts LEDCs member states and developing countries to work alongside the UN to invest
more in an efficient and highly capable national public healthcare system furthermore
offering civilians the highest attainable and most affordable medical facilities, this could be
done by implementing policies and in ways such as but not limited to;

a. For every national government must take responsibility for building a fair public
health system and must prepare to be held accountable, both by its own people and,
given the externalities, by the
international community,
b. International organizations such as WHO should send its officials to these
developing states and ensure that the relevant organizations are duly and sole
purposely integrating their time and effort on public health care that benefits the
system and people, this can be made sure by:
i. Having an annual report drafted by the national government submitted
to the particular officials responsible of the organization;
Equipping low/minimal income civilians as well as their families free healthcare
insurance;
i. Those with minimum income are constantly being denied healthcare
which is a clear violation to their basic human rights,
ii. Offering free healthcare service to those with low and minimum wage
will essentially decrease the financial difficulties and barriers the people face
when trying to access healthcare,
iii. Should provide low/minimum wage civilians with terminal or any
diseases that requires costly and extensive treatments a form of discount
conditional to the amount they make per year

9. Further recommends the development of public transport systems such as but not
limited to trains, metro, trams, subways and assure that it is accessible to every
civilian in the city;
a. The development of a reliable public transport would help immensely with
cost and environment;
i. Populated urban cities are most polluted due to the vast amount of
vehicles that release carbon emissions into the atmosphere. By
developing a public transport, the civilians will resort in utilizing these
transports on a daily basis to go to workplaces as it is cheaper than
driving cars,
ii. If this is the case, the carbon emissions in urban cities could
significantly drop and the negative impacts it has on the people and
environment would decrease,
b. Incorporate the latest technological advances, such as intelligent transportation
systems (ITS), in day-to-day operations and fare collection practices, as well as
encourage research that explore new approaches and incorporate them into current
practice,
i. Recent trends include Seoul’s new night bus services based on an analysis of
night-time mobile phone location data and New Orleans’ optimization of the
location of its standby ambulances based on patterns of emergency calls.
These same ITS strategies can be implemented in other countries.

10. Strong encourages that all other nations in the committee will continue to remain
actively engaged over this motion.