Sustainable Development Goals and Equity in Urban Planning: A Comparative Analysis of Chicago, São Paulo, and Delhi

Abstract

Today, for the first time in the history of human civilization, over half of the world’s population lives in urban areas. Due to this global urbanization, the United Nations included sustainable urban development in its recent Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda. SDG Goal 11 is one of 17 comprehensive SDGs, and it pays specific attention to making “cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”. This study comparatively analyzes the current state of participatory urban planning processes in three cities: Chicago, Illinois, U.S.; São Paulo, Brazil; and Delhi, India. Utilizing the cities’ most recent master plans, a content analysis found that public engagement was a key instrument that they adopted in the production of their planning documents, but the level of engagement and tools used to engage the public differed among cities, with Chicago and São Paulo demonstrating more robust public engagement than Delhi. The historical context of the comparative countries’ political, cultural, and socioeconomic development also plays a role in the degree to which a landscape for public engagement and participation exists. The study finds that the ideals of a just city can be determined by the level of participation with which cities engage their citizens during the planning process, and that sustainable urban development is further determined by the level of social equity that currently exists in a city itself.