As the international community gears up to review global progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 11, the so-called “urban SDG,” getting cities right is increasingly seen by many development experts as essential to deliver on the entire 2030 Agenda. That perspective was the message delivered over the past week in the Malaysian capital during the ninth World Urban Forum, the world’s largest conference on cities, hosted by UN-Habitat.

Well-planned and well-managed urbanization is a positive tool for development and the effects are felt through villages and townships, in rural as well as urban areas and across regional and country borders.

In the Kuala Lumpur Declaration, which over 160 countries agreed upon after the seven-day conference that drew 22,000 people, investing in urban development is considered an “accelerator” for delivering on the SDGs with the United Nations recently adopted New Urban Agenda as key roadmap to that approach. Goal 11 will be among the five focus goals at this year’s annual SDG review in July.

Read the full article on urban SDGs by Gregory Scruggs at Devex International Development