Today, more than half of the world’s population live in cities, and by mid-century it is predicted that more than two-thirds of the world’s population will live in urban areas. This sees cities at the forefront of sustainability, needing to meet social needs within our ecological boundaries. An overarching guiding roadmap to consider sustainability is the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals - the SDGs. These 17 goals cover all aspects of sustainable development, and cities have an important role to play as more than half of the targets will need engagement from local and regional authorities in order to be achieved.

How then are these international goals integrated into local city planning and development?

In today’s episode we address this question, and explore how academia and cities may support each other in this endeavour. We talk to Roland Zinkernagel, a municipal PhD student who shares his unique experiences from working with sustainable urban planning in the Swedish city of Malmö, while also researching how the SDGs can be applied in a local city context.