It only takes a glance at the statistics to understand the role of urban living in our modern world. To put it simply, there is a 54 percent chance that anyone reading this will be doing so in a built-up area. And by 2030, the year the SDGs expire, that number will be significantly higher.

Indeed, according to UN predictions, 15 years from now almost 60 percent of us will be city-dwellers, and there will be no less than 41 megacities – agglomerations with populations of more than 10 million - as compared to 28 today and a mere ten back in the, let's face it, not so distant past of 2009.

What we are talking about here is rapid, explosive growth that implies a development challenge as grand in scale as the cities themselves. Meeting the SDG goal of becoming “inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable” will require visionary, inclusive thinking and mega solutions.

So where to begin? Perhaps by asking exactly what constitutes a safe, inclusive, peaceful, resilient and sustainable society? The answer rather depends on who you ask.

Asmita Basu, a law and gender expert who works with the Safe Cities Initiative of the Madhya Pradesh Urban Infrastructure Investment Program (MPUIIP) in India defines such a society as somewhere where “opportunities for violence against women are reduced.”

While according to Rene Peter Hohmann, senior urban specialist with Cities Alliance - a global partnership for urban poverty reduction and the promotion of the role of cities in sustainable development, it is a place that “ensures that public goods such as housing, transport, clean water, health services and green space, are accessible to all citizens.”

Inclusive thinking

In short, the definition is informed by location, stage of development, culture and tradition. Although that does little to narrow its scope, those working on the issue of creating safe and inclusive cities agree that the only sensible approach is to engage with, and involve, inhabitants.

“The process begins on the doorstep,” Hohmann said. “So besides the concerted effort required from experts, academics and policy makers, every household needs to be involved.”

He advocates a process in which local development priorities, as seen by those affected, are set alongside a city’s plans for short to medium-term change. Citing Copenhagen’s plans to cut CO2 emissions by 2025, he says it will only work if citizens are on board. And for that to happen they will have to be assured safe cycling routes, affordable bus fares and so on.

The Danish capital may not seem like a city in dire need of change in order to meet the SDGs, but this agenda applies to both developing and industrialized nations. That is something its supporters say it has in its favor. And as Hohmann is keen to point out, there is always room for improvement.

“There have been promising approaches in the past that give us an idea of what it takes," he said. "But it would be wrong to say we've done it and can think about something else. The question has never been resolved.”

Women and drinking men

In India, the MPUIIP Safe Cities Initiative is aiming to create safer environments in slums in four cities by reducing violence against women. Asmita Basu says that involves economically empowering the female population in the affected areas and talking to young men and boys about the role of violence against women in Indian society.

"It is extremely challenging," she told DW. "We are trying to change attitudes that have been bred over centuries."

But optimistic that a hands-on, inclusive approach can yield results, she encourages women to go out at night so they can create a map of unsafe places to present to their local authorities, and to take matters into their own hands in other ways too.

“If women are afraid to go to a certain place because men will be sitting there drinking and gambling, we tell them to hold their weekly meetings there so that men will be discouraged from coming,” Basu told DW. “That gives them more confidence about their own space.”

Although the project will only run for two years, she says they will extrapolate best practices which can be applied at a broader level in future development plans that incorporate the issue of women’s safety.

The Colombian example

Jocelyn Sweet of the International Development Research Center in Ottawa agrees there is a need to engage those who are most vulnerable to violence, exclusion and poverty.

“Decision makers should consider how best to reach out to a wide variety of community members to ensure that the policies and programs they put in place respond to the needs of vulnerable populations who are often excluded from policy processes.”

One place often held up as an example of how targeted urban planning can increase the security and inclusivity of a city is Medellin in Colombia. Cut off from the rest of the city the hillside slums used to be dogged by gang, drug and violent crime. But a new mayor with a vision changed all that. Under his watch, cable cars were installed to connect the disparate parts of the city, and libraries were prominently built in deprived areas. It was, Hohmann says, something of a coup.

“We should not downplay the symbolic value of this investment,” he said, as it allows people to see fringe districts as part of the overall urban fabric.

But Medellin is by no means the only place that has done well in terms of improving its safety and inclusivity, and Hohmann warns against ignoring the progress made in secondary cities.

“The next step of implementing the SGD framework is to look at these successful examples and collect and use them as a point of reference to inspire other cities.”