92
the Census and its associated American
Community Survey.
Positively, MSAs provide a more holistic picture of local sustainable development as they
typically represent a large central city and adjacent areas of regional influence. This provides a
larger representation of an urban settlement.
However, even at the level of the MSA, data
availability was limited. For example, to provide
an indicator for Goal 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for
all, state-level data had to be drawn upon and values assigned to the MSA. Therefore, the data
lacks a certain geographic precision, as data on
the source of energy at the city level was
unavailable.
Other indicators such as “number of homes
with rooftop solar panels” or “local investments
in renewable energy” were explored, but no consistent or standard metric was available. Similarly,
“carbon emissions per capita” is the only indicator under Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat
climate change and its impacts. This variable
comes from a nongovernmental source—
Berkeley University’s Cool Climate Institute.
9
Indicators that measured urban disaster risk management and resiliency planning were pursued,
but no standard measures across enough MSAs
were available.
Perhaps most shockingly, a number of fundamental life-saving indicators were also not available or were severely limited, such as maternal
mortality data, including teenage births, mental
health, and drug usage. There are a number of
reasons for this, including a lack of open data
policies, as well as the absence of federal standards for the compilation of many nationwide
health indicators. As such, many of the health
indicators collected sub-nationally are done so
using locally defined methodologies which are,
in some instances, irreconcilable:
As of 2018, only seven of the 100 MSAs had
accessible data on maternal mortality, while more
than half of the teenage birth data provided at the
9 For more information, visit their website. Available at:
http://coolclimate.berkeley.edu/index [Last accessed
March 2019].
MSA level have poor population coverage. A similar problem was experienced with regards to infant
mortality data; although 97 MSAs have some
available data on infant mortality, only 61 MSAs
have data covering 75% or more of the
population.
10
The limited availability of open, comparable
data across MSAs, and cities, poses a severe challenge for the federal government if it is to judiciously allocate resources and direct policies to
support the SDGs and for citizens to monitor
change and hold their leaders to account.
Furthermore,
it
compromises
regional
approaches, across cities and states, on shared
challenges such as waste management, population migration, drug policing, and other issues
which are central to all US cities and regions.
7.6
Ground-Up SDG Localization
7.6.1 Methods
In September 2015, the Sustainable Development
Solutions Network (SDSN) partnered with
leading academic institutions through the USA
Sustainable Cities Initiative (USA-SCI) to pilot
processes for long-term strategies on the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in three
US cities: New York, San José, and Baltimore.
The foundation of the pilot cities’ SDG strategy
process was “start with where we are” and as
such to look at existing city plans and programs,
as well as data to see how the city was fairing on
the 17 SDG goals and associated 149 targets.
Across all three cities, residents and officials
agreed that the SDG indicators and data provided
a common language for strategy building, helping to structure coherent discussions about coordinated city initiatives in order to meet the goals
by 2030 and beyond. The first activity undertaken
in all three cities was therefore to map existing
10 Espey, Jessica, Dahmm, Hayden, and Laurie Manderino
(2018) Leaving No US Cities Behind: The U.S. Cities
SDG Index, Issue 2018, New York: UNSDSN. Available
at:
http://unsdsn.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/
US-Cities-Index-Report.pdf (p. 33).
J. Espey
the Census and its associated American
Community Survey.
Positively, MSAs provide a more holistic picture of local sustainable development as they
typically represent a large central city and adjacent areas of regional influence. This provides a
larger representation of an urban settlement.
However, even at the level of the MSA, data
availability was limited. For example, to provide
an indicator for Goal 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for
all, state-level data had to be drawn upon and values assigned to the MSA. Therefore, the data
lacks a certain geographic precision, as data on
the source of energy at the city level was
unavailable.
Other indicators such as “number of homes
with rooftop solar panels” or “local investments
in renewable energy” were explored, but no consistent or standard metric was available. Similarly,
“carbon emissions per capita” is the only indicator under Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat
climate change and its impacts. This variable
comes from a nongovernmental source—
Berkeley University’s Cool Climate Institute.
9
Indicators that measured urban disaster risk management and resiliency planning were pursued,
but no standard measures across enough MSAs
were available.
Perhaps most shockingly, a number of fundamental life-saving indicators were also not available or were severely limited, such as maternal
mortality data, including teenage births, mental
health, and drug usage. There are a number of
reasons for this, including a lack of open data
policies, as well as the absence of federal standards for the compilation of many nationwide
health indicators. As such, many of the health
indicators collected sub-nationally are done so
using locally defined methodologies which are,
in some instances, irreconcilable:
As of 2018, only seven of the 100 MSAs had
accessible data on maternal mortality, while more
than half of the teenage birth data provided at the
9 For more information, visit their website. Available at:
http://coolclimate.berkeley.edu/index [Last accessed
March 2019].
MSA level have poor population coverage. A similar problem was experienced with regards to infant
mortality data; although 97 MSAs have some
available data on infant mortality, only 61 MSAs
have data covering 75% or more of the
population.
10
The limited availability of open, comparable
data across MSAs, and cities, poses a severe challenge for the federal government if it is to judiciously allocate resources and direct policies to
support the SDGs and for citizens to monitor
change and hold their leaders to account.
Furthermore,
it
compromises
regional
approaches, across cities and states, on shared
challenges such as waste management, population migration, drug policing, and other issues
which are central to all US cities and regions.
7.6
Ground-Up SDG Localization
7.6.1 Methods
In September 2015, the Sustainable Development
Solutions Network (SDSN) partnered with
leading academic institutions through the USA
Sustainable Cities Initiative (USA-SCI) to pilot
processes for long-term strategies on the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in three
US cities: New York, San José, and Baltimore.
The foundation of the pilot cities’ SDG strategy
process was “start with where we are” and as
such to look at existing city plans and programs,
as well as data to see how the city was fairing on
the 17 SDG goals and associated 149 targets.
Across all three cities, residents and officials
agreed that the SDG indicators and data provided
a common language for strategy building, helping to structure coherent discussions about coordinated city initiatives in order to meet the goals
by 2030 and beyond. The first activity undertaken
in all three cities was therefore to map existing
10 Espey, Jessica, Dahmm, Hayden, and Laurie Manderino
(2018) Leaving No US Cities Behind: The U.S. Cities
SDG Index, Issue 2018, New York: UNSDSN. Available
at:
http://unsdsn.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/
US-Cities-Index-Report.pdf (p. 33).
J. Espey