The Sustainable Urban Development and Livable Garden Community Programme

Sustainable urban development is fundamental to our sustainable future. More than half the world's populations currently live in cities and by 2050 more than 65% of the world's population will be living in cities (UN 2014). Between 2014 and 2050, China alone is projected to add 292 million urban dwellers (UN 2014). These urbanisation trends imply challenges that need to be addressed by a robust sustainable development framework. The “Sustainable Urban Development and Liveable Garden Community Programme” (SUC) is a three years initiative launched in January 2015 by UNEP and JCEP (China). The initiatives will contribute to build sustainable cities and communities in China and in other developing countries. As part of the initiative, UNEP and JCEP will collaborate to elaborate the “Guidelines for sustainable cities and communities in China (SUC Guideline), largely drawing from the tools and methodology developed by UNEP under the Global Initiative for Resource Efficient Cities (GI-REC). The guidelines, which include sections on “Evaluation Criteria”, on “Management Systems”, and on “Technical Guidelines” will be pilot tested in three Chinese cities and in three communities. Particular attention will be given to the potential for replicability in other cities and communities in China and other developing countries.

A SUC Forum, held on 13th July 2015 in Beijing, hosted the official launch of the Guiding Principles for the SUC Guidelines. The event has drawn vast attention and received recognition from various stakeholders and the public, and was useful to bring the sustainable urban agenda to the attention of relevant governments officials. A SUC Alliance was launched during the COP 21 in Paris, December 2015. The objective of the alliance is to bring together the strengths from various stakeholders, and to mobilize resources from different sectors concerned with urban sustainability, including research institutes, businesses, NGOs and the media. Currently the “Evaluation Criteria” section, and the “Management System” section of the SUC Guideline are being drafted. The First three pilot cities and communities from China will also be selected shortly. _