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Question: Opportunities for building sustainable cities:

Answer: The multidimensional impact of megatrends represents a strategic opportunity for taking an integrated approach to urban planning and a major opportunity for
investment in industrial transformation, improved infrastructure, social development and
environmental management. Sustainable development in growing cities, of poor countries
in particular, implies investment in infrastructure such as roads, water, sewers, electricity
and services such as schools, public transportation and health-care. Leapfrogging investment in green industrial transformation can generate employment for the “youth bulge”
dividend experienced by those countries. In cities of middle- and high-income countries,
investment in the production and use of renewable sources of energy, as well as in the
renovation of infrastructure, retrofitting of buildings and improved efficiency in the use of
electricity and water, is important. At the same time, investment in strategies for the reduction of waste production and improvement of waste collection and recycling systems are
needed in most cities across the world. Inevitably, there will be trade-offs between investments yielding benefits in the short term, e.g., infrastructure for development, and those
with benefits in the long term, such as environmental protection and disaster risk reduction.
Cities’ contribution to sustainable development can be multipled if more countries
are committed to that goal and when people are able to produce, consume and govern their
behaviour in a sustainable manner. Thus, urban sustainability defined within the framework
of a global integrated approach must include both developed and developing countries.

(Source: World Economic and Social Survey 2013, 25 Mar 2021)

Source Link: https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/policy/wess/wess_current/wess2013/Chapter3.pdf