Sustainable Development Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

Sustainable Development Goal 11 aims to promote inclusiveness and sustainable urbanisation so that cities can become productive and accessible in terms of attracting talent, encouraging innovations, and fostering economic growth. The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG from here on) Index score for Goal 11 ranges between 22 and 79 for states and between 33 and 83 for UTs. Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar are the top performer among the states and union territories (UTs). According to the NITI Aayog Report 2019–2020, four states and one UT were classified in the category of front-runners with index scores higher than or equal to 65, which include Goa, Gujarat, and Himachal Pradesh. However, 13 states and three UTs have lagged behind in the aspirant category with index scores less than five, such as Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Arunachal Pradesh. This report focuses on identifying and classifying the performance of SDG indicators related to Goal 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities across all Indian States / UTs and also highlighting the challenges and implications for sustainable development. The main objectives of NITI Ayog report are (a). to gauge the emerging trends in the analysis of the performance of SDG indicators regarding Goal 11, across all the states of India in terms of Aspirant (0–49), Performer (50–64), Front-Runner (65–99), and Achiever (100) and (b). to assess the implications for sustainable development and Goal 11, i.e., sustainable cities and communities. This chapter’s methodology is based on secondary sources of data collected from official websites and reports such as the NITI Aayog website, the SDG India Index reports, and the SDG India Index Dashboard. Over 5 years of data have been used for trend analysis.