NCSG Partners with UN and UB to Launch Sustainable Cities Initiative in Baltimore

UMD’s National Center for Smart Growth Partners with United Nations, UB, to Launch USA Sustainable Cities Initiative in Baltimore

Collaboration poises city as a “trailblazer” for economic, social and environmental sustainability

November 10, 2015

College Park, Md. —The University of Maryland’s National Center for Smart Growth (NCSG) will work with the University of Baltimore, the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and Climate Nexus to envision a path to sustainable development for the City of Baltimore. Baltimore has been selected as one of three model cities for the new USA Sustainable Cities Initiative (USA-SCI), a collaborative plan to develop strategies to achieve the United Nation’s newly adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) —a series of global aspirations and priorities designed to take on major sustainable development challenges.

“As the state’s flagship land grant institution, the University of Maryland has an obligation to help the entire state become a more sustainable place to live,” said Gerrit Knaap, Director of the National Center for Smart Growth. “The National Center for Smart Growth couldn’t be more pleased to join with the University of Baltimore to help the largest, and in many ways, the most important city in the state advance its sustainability.”

Last September, world leaders gathered at the UN in New York to adopt 17 SDGs that articulate global aspirations and urgent priorities in the face of sustainable development challenges. The list of priorities reflects an evolution in the definition of sustainable development, one that captures a holistic approach across three pillars: economic development, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability. The SDSN and Climate Nexus have initiated USA-SCI to support the technical process of developing long-term SDG-based strategies in select US cities. These cities will be global pioneers— the first to develop SDG-based city-level development strategies that will serve as a model for other urban areas worldwide.

Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, Special Advisor to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Director of SDSN, believes Baltimore can serve as a trailblazer in demonstrating how the SDGs could work for US cities, and the importance of addressing social issues, such as race and class and poverty alleviation, along with economic ones.

“I am thrilled to be working with Baltimore and its citizens to build on past successes, to find new, innovative solutions to persistent development challenges, and to support Baltimore to become a leader in the world of sustainable development,” Sachs said.

President Obama has voiced strong support for the Sustainable Development Goals, calling them “one of the smartest investments we can make in our own future.”

The NCSG will combine efforts with the University of Baltimore, led by the College of Public Affairs and the Jacob France Institute, in the USA-SCI pilot. Efforts will include community dialogue to articulate city-specific goals, including poverty, health, education, jobs and environmental protection, as well as identify best practices for achieving them. By serving as a model city, Baltimore has the opportunity to showcase the value of the SDGs, producing measurable sustainable development targets that can be monitored and evaluated into the future.

Located at the University of Maryland, College Park, the National Center for Smart Growth (NCSG) is a non-partisan center for research and leadership training on smart growth and related land use issues in Maryland, in metropolitan regions around the nation, and in Asia and Europe. The mission of the NCSG is to bring the diverse resources of the University of Maryland and a network of national experts to bear on issues related to land use and the environment, transportation and public health, housing and community development, and international urban development.

Learn more about the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and USA Sustainable Cities Initiative, here.