To help communities develop and support neighborhoods that provide transportation choices and affordable housing, increase economic competitiveness, and direct resources toward places with existing infrastructure, EPA has compiled this list of useful tools and key resources. This page will be periodically updated.

This publication includes some inspiring examples on how the European Reference Framework for Sustainable Communities (RFSC) is used by those who are committed to develop green, inclusive and attractive cities. In this selection of case studies which aim also at demonstrating the flexibility of the RFSC tool, you will learn how local governments and other actors from different countries are implementing integrated sustainable development strategies focusing specific issues (i.e.

New York, 8 July 2019 – Today, the Sustainable Development Solutions Network’s United States Network (SDSN USA) launched the 2019 US Cities Sustainable Development Report, SDSN’s third city-level report ranking 105 US cities on progress towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 (SDGs). The results show that there will be significant work to do across the board if the SDGs are to be achieved by 2030, as cities on average scored only 48.9%.

From the Executive Summary:

In the summer 2018, STAR Communities announced that it had formally merged with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). STAR certification programs, services and staff have now transitioned into the LEED for Cities and Communities program at USGBC. 

ABSTRACT

"In 2011, 81 per cent of Canadians lived in urban centres (Statistics Canada, 2011). Cities are the epicentres of arts and culture as well as hubs for business and economic growth, and as such they are important stakeholders in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. To ensure that cities are on track to contribute to these goals, assessments of indicators aligned with the SDG framework are necessary to identify what is working and where more attention should be devoted. IISD’s SGD Indicator Portal tracks SDG progress in 13 cities across Canada.

"This [Brookings Institution Working Paper 108, October 2017] paper presents a framework for assessing Canada’s status on the SDGs. It aims to adhere as much as practical to the formal U.N. targets, indicators, and database, while also drawing extensively from other sources, especially for sub-national assessments.