91
understanding common challenges and trends
across US cities, around which mayors and local
government leaders can mobilize and share lessons. Trend analysis such as this also hints at
policy interventions, such as targeted policies
early in the life cycle, which can help disrupt
inherited disadvantage and the intergenerational
transfer of poverty.
However, the utility of this kind of analysis for
policy development is limited by the fact that
only federally comparable data could be used,
which is often geographically limited, meaning it
cannot be disaggregated within cities, by blocks,
or specific grid streets. This kind of disaggregation is often essential for local governments looking to provide cost-effective targeted interventions
to particular communities.
7.4
Political Engagement
The US Cities SDG Index reports are intended to
be a technical resource but also an advocacy tool.
Even in the past year, the index report has helped
to foster interest in the SDGs among mayors and
other local government leaders on the relevance
and utility of the SDG framework, for example,
through discussion sessions at meetings of the
US Conference of Mayors and by encouraging
shared learning among well- performing and
struggling cities.
6
San Jose and Los Angeles, for
example, who both perform well on the 2017 and
2018 index reports have used their rankings to
produce articles and host local seminars on the
relevance of the SDGs with the active engagement of their city leadership, thereby cementing
their political commitment to the SDG agenda.
7
6 http://unsdsn.org/news/2018/01/29/us-mayors-inspiringlocal-change-through-global-sdgs/
[Last
accessed
27.10.2019]
http://unsdsn.org/news/2019/03/01/sdsnpublishes-new-guide-for-us-cities/
[Last
accessed
27.10.2019] https://www.sdgcompacts.org/news/2018/1/
25/us-conference-of-mayors-sdgs
[Last
accessed
27.10.2019].
7 https://www.fastcompany.com/40451569/how-u-s-cities-stack-up-on-the-sustainable-development-goals
[Last accessed 27.10.2019] https://grist.org/article/
which-american-cities-are-the-most-sustainable/ [Last
accessed 27.10.2019].
The reports themselves have also garnered considerable media interest from outlets such as
USA News, Bloomberg, Vice, Fast Company, the
Seattle Times, and the Boston Globe.
8
This has
helped to spur interest from city officials in areas
not currently mainstreaming or adopting the
SDG framework and thereby kick- starting conversations on SDG implementation, for example,
in Boston, MA; Cambridge, MA; Orlando, FL;
and Atlanta, GA.
Given that the indices derive a large number of
the measures from federal data sources, the
national-level cities index has encouraged positive exchange with the US federal government
regarding open data and governance. Focus is on
how to integrate these metrics into the federal
government dashboard (https://sdg.data.gov) and
use the index to help track the status of sustainable development across its cities and MSAs.
While this kind of media attention and federallevel engagement has helped to focus attention
on the SDGs and has piqued the interest of new
localities, it has not encouraged a substantive discussion about how we approach local monitoring
or policy implementation. Instead, most cities
SDSN has engaged with have referred to the
index reports as a tool to kick-start a conversation
on shared challenges and collaborative working
across cities.
7.5
Data Availability
A major constraint in preparing the 2017, 2018
and 2019 indexes was data availability. Many
crucial sustainable development indicators had to
be excluded as the data were either unavailable,
were not standardized across cities, or had limited coverage. It was therefore necessary to use
data at the level of the broader metropolitan statistical area, which opened up data sources like
nership-occidental-college-advance-sustainable-development-goals [Last accessed 27.10.2019].
8 http://unsdsn.org/news/2018/06/26/media-wrap-up-ofthe-2018-u-s-cities-sdg-index-report/ [Last accessed
27.10.2019].
7 Top-Down and Bottom-Up Approaches to the SDG Monitoring Challenge
understanding common challenges and trends
across US cities, around which mayors and local
government leaders can mobilize and share lessons. Trend analysis such as this also hints at
policy interventions, such as targeted policies
early in the life cycle, which can help disrupt
inherited disadvantage and the intergenerational
transfer of poverty.
However, the utility of this kind of analysis for
policy development is limited by the fact that
only federally comparable data could be used,
which is often geographically limited, meaning it
cannot be disaggregated within cities, by blocks,
or specific grid streets. This kind of disaggregation is often essential for local governments looking to provide cost-effective targeted interventions
to particular communities.
7.4
Political Engagement
The US Cities SDG Index reports are intended to
be a technical resource but also an advocacy tool.
Even in the past year, the index report has helped
to foster interest in the SDGs among mayors and
other local government leaders on the relevance
and utility of the SDG framework, for example,
through discussion sessions at meetings of the
US Conference of Mayors and by encouraging
shared learning among well- performing and
struggling cities.
6
San Jose and Los Angeles, for
example, who both perform well on the 2017 and
2018 index reports have used their rankings to
produce articles and host local seminars on the
relevance of the SDGs with the active engagement of their city leadership, thereby cementing
their political commitment to the SDG agenda.
7
6 http://unsdsn.org/news/2018/01/29/us-mayors-inspiringlocal-change-through-global-sdgs/
[Last
accessed
27.10.2019]
http://unsdsn.org/news/2019/03/01/sdsnpublishes-new-guide-for-us-cities/
[Last
accessed
27.10.2019] https://www.sdgcompacts.org/news/2018/1/
25/us-conference-of-mayors-sdgs
[Last
accessed
27.10.2019].
7 https://www.fastcompany.com/40451569/how-u-s-cities-stack-up-on-the-sustainable-development-goals
[Last accessed 27.10.2019] https://grist.org/article/
which-american-cities-are-the-most-sustainable/ [Last
accessed 27.10.2019].
The reports themselves have also garnered considerable media interest from outlets such as
USA News, Bloomberg, Vice, Fast Company, the
Seattle Times, and the Boston Globe.
8
This has
helped to spur interest from city officials in areas
not currently mainstreaming or adopting the
SDG framework and thereby kick- starting conversations on SDG implementation, for example,
in Boston, MA; Cambridge, MA; Orlando, FL;
and Atlanta, GA.
Given that the indices derive a large number of
the measures from federal data sources, the
national-level cities index has encouraged positive exchange with the US federal government
regarding open data and governance. Focus is on
how to integrate these metrics into the federal
government dashboard (https://sdg.data.gov) and
use the index to help track the status of sustainable development across its cities and MSAs.
While this kind of media attention and federallevel engagement has helped to focus attention
on the SDGs and has piqued the interest of new
localities, it has not encouraged a substantive discussion about how we approach local monitoring
or policy implementation. Instead, most cities
SDSN has engaged with have referred to the
index reports as a tool to kick-start a conversation
on shared challenges and collaborative working
across cities.
7.5
Data Availability
A major constraint in preparing the 2017, 2018
and 2019 indexes was data availability. Many
crucial sustainable development indicators had to
be excluded as the data were either unavailable,
were not standardized across cities, or had limited coverage. It was therefore necessary to use
data at the level of the broader metropolitan statistical area, which opened up data sources like
nership-occidental-college-advance-sustainable-development-goals [Last accessed 27.10.2019].
8 http://unsdsn.org/news/2018/06/26/media-wrap-up-ofthe-2018-u-s-cities-sdg-index-report/ [Last accessed
27.10.2019].
7 Top-Down and Bottom-Up Approaches to the SDG Monitoring Challenge