More than half the world’s population now lives in cities around the globe and that number is expected to rise to 2/3 by 2050. When thinking about sustainable development, that means cities will be ground zero for innovation and achievement. This week you studied what sustainable development means and some great examples of those leading the way. Here let’s discuss how your city is doing! Using the following resources (and those from the course) look up your city to see where they place. Then check out the Sustainable Cities Review and pick out a few ideas that you think would work well where you are and why you believe it would be successful in your area.
• United States Sustainable Development Report 2021 (find your state here by clicking on state profiles at the top) – https://us-states.sdgindex.org/
• Then find your city in the 2019 report (if yours is not listed, find the closest one or one you are interested in) – https://www.sustainabledevelopment.report/reports/2019-us-cities-sustainable-development-report/
• Princeton, Sustainable Cities Review (examples of what others are doing – https://psci.princeton.edu/tips/2020/6/16/sustainable-cities
Answer the following questions:
• How is your state doing overall? Summarize their standing.
• Where does your city fall on the sustainable development report list? (A screenshot is great but make sure to embed it in the post rather than attached and discuss your findings too). Highlight some of the SDG dashboards and trends that your city is “doing well” and “not so well”.
• What are a couple of practical ways the city could become more sustainable?