The role of urban transport in delivering Sustainable Development Goal 11: Learning from two Indian cities

Abstract

The next wave of unprecedented urbanisation is expected to occur in South Asia and Africa, with India being the most populous country. India's urbanisation choices will influence the success of the three global agendas: New Urban Agenda, Sustainable Development Goals, and the Paris Agreement. Sustainable urban transport is vital in delivering United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG11) on inclusive and sustainable urbanisation. SDG11 includes dimensions such as equity, gender equality, health, employment, and climate change. Through a mixed-methods approach, the paper develops an assessment framework to investigate: ‘What are the roles of existing urban transport interventions in delivering SDG11?’ in two Indian cities: Surat (an industrial city of 5.9 million) and Udaipur (a tourist city of 0.8 million) across three interrelated transport roles: providing Inclusive Access, delivering Climate-Resilient Development, and delivering Context-Sensitive Planning. Each urban transport interaction is assigned synergy (+1), trade-off (−1) or mixed impacts (−/+1). The paper finds that current transport interventions in Surat & Udaipur largely result in trade-offs across all three themes Inclusive Access (−1 for Surat & Udaipur), Climate Vulnerability (−1 for Surat & Udaipur), and Context-Sensitive Planning (−1 for Surat & +1 for Udaipur).