Sustainable cities and communities

By 2030, 60 per cent of the global population will reside in cities. As dense hubs of global activity, cities present some of the greatest challenges among the Sustainable Development Goals. From housing, public health, and employment, to natural resource consumption and transportation, achieving the SDGs will hinge on urban planning initiated now.

UNU research on sustainable urbanisation seeks to overcome the tendency to treat urban issues (such as governance, water, waste, health, economic development, or vulnerability to natural hazards) as discrete problems and instead find integrated, interdisciplinary solutions.

Showing 361-372 of 377 results

Project

Vertical Farming for Urban Food Security: Social Acceptance of a Resource Nexus Solution (VerFarming Social)

This project aims to explore the potential of vertical farming to revolutionise agriculture and provide a more resilient solution to food security.

19 Aug 2022

Project

Transformative Climate Action using Participatory data driven decision making platforms (T-CAP)

This project aims to enhance local actors' capacity for collaborative & transformative climate actions by using data-driven decision-making platforms.

15 Jul 2022

Project

AFTER Carbon: African Facility for Transitions Research

AFTER Carbon is a ‘go-to policy to research hub' for the African continent, to find solutions for a post-carbon Africa.

30 Nov 2024

Project

Environmental Assessment of Vertical Farming from a Resource Nexus Perspective

This project aims to provide holistic environmental assessment of vertical farming and investigate the economic feasibility of VF projects.

24 Aug 2022

Project

Global Assessment of Responsible AI in cities (AI4Cities)

Enhance city governance with AI through a global survey assessing the technology's use, focusing on service design and human-centered data, to inform robust policy recommendations.

28 Oct 2022

Project

Accelerating the digital transformation of the public sector of Qatar

Support MCIT inputs regarding the leading global and regional trends regarding the digital transformation of the public sector.

17 Jan 2023

Project

Conceptual advancement of the Resource Nexus, capacity development and quality assurance

The project aims to advance the Resource Nexus concept through analytics development, urban water security evaluation, and awareness promotion.

09 Jul 2024

Project

NewCityConcepts: A Model for Sustainable Urban Development

The project establishes a real-world lab for urban development in Hoyerswerda, aiming to be a model for structural transformation in the Lausitz region.

09 Jul 2024

Project

Resource Nexus Approach to Building a House of No Waste (HoW)

In this project an architectural competition will invite a broad range/high level of innovation in design solutions to construct a 'House of No Waste'.

06 Nov 2024

Project

Innovation Labs and Sustainable Development Whitepaper

Project explores innovation labs' role in sustainable development, with insights to guide policy, prototypes, and public sector innovation in Egypt.

01 May 2024

Project

Barriers and Drivers for Novel Urban Agriculture from a Resource Nexus Perspective (VerFarming Dresden)

The project enhances our understanding of food system transformation and agricultural practices

07 Nov 2025

Project

Resource Nexus Approaches to Sustainability Transformations in Plastic and Packaging Material Use, Reuse and Reduction (TRANS-PLAST)

This project examines plastics and packaging through the lens of the Resource Nexus, focusing on materials and waste.

06 Nov 2024