Smart and Caring Cities: Toward a New Urban Paradigm – UN Women

Report on the Integration of Care-Oriented Policies in Urban Planning for the Achievement of Sustainable Development Goals

Introduction: Re-evaluating Urban Intelligence Through the Lens of Sustainable Development Goals

The conventional definition of a “smart city,” centered on technology and digital connectivity, is insufficient for addressing holistic human well-being. A more advanced urban model, the “caring city,” reorients urban planning to prioritize the physical, emotional, and social welfare of its inhabitants. This report analyzes the concept of caring cities as a critical framework for achieving multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), and SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities).

The Centrality of Care in Achieving SDG 5: Gender Equality

Defining Care Work and Its Economic Invisibility

Care encompasses the essential activities required to sustain life, including attending to children, the elderly, and persons with disabilities, alongside daily domestic tasks. This work, while fundamental to social and economic stability, remains largely invisible, undervalued, and unpaid. This systemic oversight directly contravenes the objectives of SDG 5, specifically:

• SDG 5.4: Which calls for the recognition and valuation of unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure, and social protection policies.
• SDG 5.5: The unequal distribution of care responsibilities, historically placed upon women, curtails their autonomy and limits their access to education, economic opportunities, and leadership roles, thereby hindering progress toward full and effective participation in public life.

The Urban Environment as a Determinant of Gender Inequality

Urban design and the spatial organization of services significantly impact the burden of care. In many regions, territorial inequalities manifest as a lack of essential services in peripheral areas, including clean water, safe transport, and healthcare. This deficiency exacerbates the time and effort required for caregiving, disproportionately affecting women and creating barriers to achieving other SDGs, such as SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth).

Urban Planning as a Catalyst for SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

Integrating Care as Essential Urban Infrastructure

A caring city framework treats care-supporting services as essential urban infrastructure. Strategic planning that incorporates localized facilities and services can reduce and redistribute care burdens. This approach directly supports key targets within SDG 11:

1. SDG 11.1: By ensuring access to basic services.
2. SDG 11.2: By providing safe, accessible, and sustainable transport systems that consider the complex travel patterns (“trip chaining”) of caregivers.
3. SDG 11.7: By designing safe, inclusive, and accessible public spaces that facilitate care and improve quality of life.

When designed with a gender perspective, this infrastructure promotes women’s autonomy and contributes to more equitable and sustainable urban environments.

Addressing Territorial Disparities to Advance SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities

Urban planning must actively address the spatial manifestation of inequality. A focus on localizing urban policies to include peripheral, rural, and vulnerable neighborhoods is critical for advancing SDG 10. By ensuring equitable access to services and opportunities, a caring city model works to reduce the inequalities that prevent marginalized communities from fully participating in urban life.

A Framework for Feminist Urban Planning Aligned with Global Goals

Core Principles for Inclusive Urban Development

Strategic urban planning informed by a feminist perspective aligns with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Its core principles include:

• Participatory: Including diverse voices in decision-making, in line with SDG 11.3 and SDG 16.7, to ensure planning is responsive and representative.
• Integrated: Mainstreaming gender across all planning stages, a foundational requirement for achieving SDG 5.
• Universal: Addressing the needs of all ages and abilities, supporting the universal access goals of SDG 11.
• Knowledge-generating: Producing disaggregated data to inform policy and monitor progress, a key component of SDG 17.18.
• Properly Funded: Securing political commitment and financial resources, as emphasized in SDG 17.

An Intersectional Approach to Urban Equity

Effective urban planning must adopt an intersectional lens that recognizes how gender inequality intersects with poverty (SDG 1), migration, racialization, and disability (SDG 10). This approach is fundamental to the “leave no one behind” principle of the 2030 Agenda, ensuring that urban development models are truly inclusive and do not perpetuate structural inequalities.

Conclusion: Redefining the “Smart City” as a “Caring City” for Sustainable Development

True urban intelligence is not measured by technological advancement alone but by a city’s capacity to ensure well-being and equality for all its inhabitants. The caring city model provides a roadmap for this transformation. By integrating care as a central pillar of strategic planning, cities can become powerful engines for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. A truly smart city is one that cares, placing the sustainability of life and human dignity at the heart of its design and governance.

Analysis of Sustainable Development Goals in the Article

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

   The article on “caring cities” connects to several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by focusing on urban planning through a lens of gender equality, well-being, and inclusivity. The primary SDGs addressed are:

   • SDG 5: Gender Equality: This is the central theme, as the article emphasizes how the unequal burden of unpaid care work falls on women, limiting their autonomy and rights. It advocates for urban planning that recognizes and supports this work.
   • SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities: The entire article is framed around urban planning, calling for cities to be inclusive, safe, and accessible for all inhabitants, particularly women and vulnerable groups.
   • SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being: The concept of a “caring city” is built on ensuring the “physical, emotional, and social well-being of people,” which directly aligns with this goal.
   • SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation: The article explicitly mentions that a lack of “access to clean water” in peripheral urban areas increases the burden of care.
   • SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities: The text highlights “territorial inequalities” and calls for an “intersectional lens” that addresses how gender inequality intersects with poverty, migration, racialization, and disability.

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

   Based on the issues discussed, several specific SDG targets can be identified:

   • Target 5.4: Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies. The article’s core argument is that care should be treated as “an essential infrastructure for urban life” and that services should be planned to “reduce and redistribute care burdens.”
   • Target 5.2: Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres. The article references the “Safe Jakarta” project, which addresses how “violence and the fear of violence often obstruct women’s right to the city,” and workshops in Guatemala aimed at improving women’s safety in public spaces.
   • Target 11.1: By 2030, ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services. The article points out that “peripheral areas often lack access to clean water… and basic health and education services,” making caregiving more demanding.
   • Target 11.2: By 2030, provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all. The text notes women’s “greater reliance on public transport” and the need for cities to ensure “safety and mobility for everyone.”
   • Target 11.3: By 2030, enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacity for participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning. The article advocates for urban planning to be “participatory, including the voices of women, girls, and diverse groups.”
   • Target 11.7: By 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces. The need for “accessible public spaces” and safety for women and girls in these areas is a key point, as highlighted by the Guatemala project.
   • Target 10.2: By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all. The article calls for an “intersectional lens that highlights how gender inequalities intersect with poverty, migration, racialization, and disability” to create an urban model that “does not exclude.”

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

   While the article does not cite specific SDG indicators, it implies several metrics that could be used to measure progress:

   • Time spent on unpaid care work: The article emphasizes that time is a “critical factor” and that poor urban design makes caregiving “more demanding and time-consuming.” Measuring the time women spend on care, commuting, and waiting for services would be a relevant indicator for Target 5.4.
   • Women’s perception of safety in public spaces: The mention of projects in Jakarta and Guatemala focused on women’s “fear of violence” and “feelings of safety in public spaces” implies that surveys measuring women’s sense of security can be used as an indicator for Targets 5.2 and 11.7.
   • Access to basic services: The article’s focus on the lack of “clean water, safe transport, lighting… and basic health and education services” in peripheral areas suggests that the proportion of the population with access to these services is a key indicator for Targets 11.1 and 6.1.
   • Participation in urban planning: The call for “participatory” planning that includes “the voices of women, girls, and diverse groups” implies an indicator related to the level and effectiveness of their involvement in decision-making processes for Target 11.3.
   • Proximity and accessibility of services: The concept of designing “cities that are proximate and multifunctional” suggests that indicators could measure the travel time or distance to essential services like health centers, schools, and public transport for different population groups, which relates to Targets 11.1 and 11.2.

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators Analysis

Source: lac.unwomen.org