UN Global Urban Monitoring Framework

UN-Habitat

Cities already accommodate more than half the world’s population, with 3 billion more urban residents expected by 2050. Yet many cities plan for and implement development with insufficient information and data. Within these cities, entire populations and their needs can go uncounted, undermining the capacity to provide for the sustainable development of urban areas. In response, the UN Secretariat requested UN-Habitat to coordinate the development of a Global Urban Monitoring Framework (UMF). The UMF was to be a single mechanism to advise cities on how to measure critical indicators that track how well the city is meeting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and monitor the implementation of the New Urban Agenda.

Working with an international team of experts (the Task Team), Kevin Johnson designed the UMF and chose a preliminary set of indicators. With close to 500 possible indicators to choose from, it was necessary to first create an efficient mechanism for organising the indicators and defining what they are intended to measure. This was based on a matrix of city objectives (e.g. to be a safe city) for each broad domain (e.g. society, economy, environment etc). A selection process for choosing the best indicators was then devised. The UMF was endorsed by the UN Statistical Commission in November 2021.

Kevin is now working with the Shanghai Municipal Government, Tongji University and the Chinese Ministry and Housing and Rural-Urban Development on an adaptation of the UMF. In addition, he is involved in a study on quality of life indicators, also for UN-Habitat.