Learn how government, the private sector, and other actors can support sustainable urban development
What you’ll learn:
- An overview of governance, land management, utilities, and other entities that make up urban systems
- Understanding how poverty, health, economic opportunity, and other people-focused issues impact urban systems and development
- How technology is shaping transportation, energy, urban resilience, and more
- Case studies of major cities in the Global North and South
Meet your instructors:
SDG Academy
Aromar Revi
Director
Indian Institute for Human Settlements
Joshua Castellino
Executive Director and Professor of Law
Minorities Rights Group International
Jeffrey D. Sachs
Professor
Columbia University
Susan Parnell
Chair in Human Geography
University of Bristol
Course Review: Sustainable Cities:
I just recently completed the Sustainable Cities course that was offered through SDG Academy. It was a very insightful experience because the course didn’t just focus on technology and innovation within the realm of sustainable city design but also on the people aspect of such projects. One of the course’s strongest aspects was the breakdown of the SDGs, how they were generated, and how they will be measured as we develop the infrastructure and systems necessary within our cities to continue to support them.
One of the biggest challenges in this area is the pragmatic aspect of implementation and the challenges faced with the different levels of government collaboration and the balancing of the public/private partnership. There is no one solution or approach to solving these issues, and the course reviewed these challenges and highlighted the different programs and methods being used to tackle them. The course also had a tremendous amount of information on the issues and challenges facing the world today and the various projects that other actors are trying to implement to combat them.
The course was definitely not one where you could get through without writing it. It was a lot of work, but it was well worth the effort. It covered so much ground and talked about so many different areas related to sustainability that by the time you get through the course you really get a good understanding of what the Sustainable Development Goals actually entail and how we as a society can make them a reality on a very concrete and pragmatic level.
