Localising the SDGs: A Strategic Prioritisation Framework for City of Melbourne
We worked with the City of Melbourne to develop a best-practice framework for localising and prioritising the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within the way the city plans, delivers and measures its work.
Building on the engagement of City of Melbourne in the SDGs Cities Challenge, this project developed a state-of-the-art SDG localisation framework tailored to the City’s existing data collection processes, strategic planning environment, and governance settings.
The first phase of the project, which ran throughout the second half of 2020, focused on compiling data specific to the City of Melbourne drawn from a global classified urban-related subset of the 231 Global SDG indicator framework. This maximised compatibility with national, regional, and global reporting mechanisms, including the World Council on City Data, UN Reporting on SDG Progress for the Asia-Pacific (through collaboration with UN ESCAP), and the Australian Urban Infrastructure Research Network (AURIN).
An internal target localisation process then scoped the 169 SDG sub-targets, accounting for City of Melbourne’s capacity to leverage and advocate for sustainability across these aspects of the Global Goals.
These two processes provided a baseline for the establishment of a Melbourne Voluntary Local Review, with a Strategic Prioritisation Framework being put forward for the incoming City Council to consider more widespread consultation and participatory input into the City’s progress towards the SDGs.
The Framework included scope for sharing learnings with the global network of cities engaged in the development of Voluntary Local Reviews. Future phases will be designed to provide for the deployment of City of Melbourne resources and capabilities to support city governments elsewhere in our Asia-Pacific region. This would be one of the first efforts by any city globally to localise action relating to SDG Target 11.C; supporting Least Developed Countries in sustainable and resilient building utilizing local materials
Outputs
Project team
Michele Acuto, Centre Director
Alexei Trundle, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Sustainable Urban Development
Jessie Briggs, Research Fellow in Urban Sustainability
Giorgia Fornari, Research Assistant
