ITU and UNECE have launched the United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) global initiative to advocate for public policy aimed at ensuring a catalytic role for information and communication technologies (ICTs) in enabling the transition to smart sustainable cities. The initiative will assist the response to Goal 11 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):  to “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”.

“ICTs have become central to innovation in almost every sphere of social and economic activity, making collaboration essential in maximizing the contribution of ICTs to sustainable development,” said ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao.

“The U4SSC global initiative will bring together stakeholders of the public and private sectors to ensure a coherent, integrated application of ICTs within smart sustainable cities,” said ITU Deputy Secretary-General Malcolm Johnson.

ITU and UNECE presented a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) they have developed to measure the “smartness” and “sustainability” of cities, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. Dubai, Singapore, Manizales, Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Valencia, Rimini and other selected cities have already agreed to trial these KPIs. 

Source: ITU