7
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
D. B. Abraham, S. D. Iyer (eds.), Promoting the Sustainable Development Goals in North American
Cities, Sustainable Development Goals Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59173-1_2
Localizing the SDGs in Baltimore:
Challenges and Opportunities
of the USA Sustainable Cities
Initiative
Seema D. Iyer
2.1
Introduction
In the same year that the member countries of the
United Nations adopted the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs), the city of Baltimore
was in the grips of challenging times. In late
April 2015, the death of a young black man,
Freddie Gray, while in police custody set in
motion civil and racial unrest at a level not seen
in Baltimore and many US cities since 1968. In
the wake of significant physical and emotional
distress in the city, many community-based organizations, foundations, and civic groups, including a newly formed non-profit in response to the
unrest called One Baltimore, galvanized into
action by bringing people in Baltimore together
to reflect on what happened, to help everyone
heal from not only the acute trauma of the unrest
but also the chronic conditions that led to such an
uprising. However, within a few months, thenmayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced that
she would not be seeking reelection in 2016,
which heralded an unprecedented field of 14 different candidates vying for the Democratic primary nomination and the attention of the voting
electorate in Baltimore.
With this backdrop, when the UN
Sustainable Development Solutions Network
(SDSN) selected Baltimore as one of three cities to participate in the launch of the USA
Sustainable Cities Initiative (USA-SCI) in
September 2015, it was clear that there would
be many challenges to overcome to take advantage of a yet-unknown set of potential benefits.
The objective of the USA- SCI program was to
bring the global agenda down to the local level
of the American urban environment by piloting
a process of “localizing” the SDGs in three cities: New York, NY; San Jose, CA; and
Baltimore, MD. The approach was conceived
to initiate collaborations among academic
institutions and non-profit organizations in
each of these cities to support the development
of city-level development strategies that align
with the 17 SDGs.
For Baltimore, the invitation to be a part of
USA-SCI represented a moment of opportunity
to be at the forefront of a global conversation.
However, with such traumatic events stemming
from the death of Freddie Gray and a vacuum
in local executive leadership, the localization
process in Baltimore relied on leveraging and
highlighting the strength of local stakeholders
involved in sustainable development. Much of
what would become the SCI-Baltimore initiative
sought to raise awareness about the newly
adopted SDGs among the strong civil society
sector in Baltimore consisting of non-profits, philanthropy, community-based organizations, and
advocacy groups.
S. D. Iyer (*)
University of Baltimore, Baltimore, MD, USA
e-mail: siyer@ubalt.edu
2
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
D. B. Abraham, S. D. Iyer (eds.), Promoting the Sustainable Development Goals in North American
Cities, Sustainable Development Goals Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59173-1_2
Localizing the SDGs in Baltimore:
Challenges and Opportunities
of the USA Sustainable Cities
Initiative
Seema D. Iyer
2.1
Introduction
In the same year that the member countries of the
United Nations adopted the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs), the city of Baltimore
was in the grips of challenging times. In late
April 2015, the death of a young black man,
Freddie Gray, while in police custody set in
motion civil and racial unrest at a level not seen
in Baltimore and many US cities since 1968. In
the wake of significant physical and emotional
distress in the city, many community-based organizations, foundations, and civic groups, including a newly formed non-profit in response to the
unrest called One Baltimore, galvanized into
action by bringing people in Baltimore together
to reflect on what happened, to help everyone
heal from not only the acute trauma of the unrest
but also the chronic conditions that led to such an
uprising. However, within a few months, thenmayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced that
she would not be seeking reelection in 2016,
which heralded an unprecedented field of 14 different candidates vying for the Democratic primary nomination and the attention of the voting
electorate in Baltimore.
With this backdrop, when the UN
Sustainable Development Solutions Network
(SDSN) selected Baltimore as one of three cities to participate in the launch of the USA
Sustainable Cities Initiative (USA-SCI) in
September 2015, it was clear that there would
be many challenges to overcome to take advantage of a yet-unknown set of potential benefits.
The objective of the USA- SCI program was to
bring the global agenda down to the local level
of the American urban environment by piloting
a process of “localizing” the SDGs in three cities: New York, NY; San Jose, CA; and
Baltimore, MD. The approach was conceived
to initiate collaborations among academic
institutions and non-profit organizations in
each of these cities to support the development
of city-level development strategies that align
with the 17 SDGs.
For Baltimore, the invitation to be a part of
USA-SCI represented a moment of opportunity
to be at the forefront of a global conversation.
However, with such traumatic events stemming
from the death of Freddie Gray and a vacuum
in local executive leadership, the localization
process in Baltimore relied on leveraging and
highlighting the strength of local stakeholders
involved in sustainable development. Much of
what would become the SCI-Baltimore initiative
sought to raise awareness about the newly
adopted SDGs among the strong civil society
sector in Baltimore consisting of non-profits, philanthropy, community-based organizations, and
advocacy groups.
S. D. Iyer (*)
University of Baltimore, Baltimore, MD, USA
e-mail: siyer@ubalt.edu
2