Say hello to the Global Goals 4 Cities network! That’s the name chosen for themselves by the 19 cities* participating in the first meeting of the URBACT network on the localisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) earlier this month.

Mayor of Tallinn Mihhail Kõlvart virtually welcomed the participants as the Estonian capital is the network lead. Over the next two years, the cities will focus on making sustainable development a reality in their territories and in particular on the drafting and implementation of their Integrated Action Plans.

URBACT is the European Union’s programme fostering cooperation and learning between cities. Adopted by 193 countries in 2015, the United Nations’ SDGs are an agreed-upon global framework with 17 specific objectives covering a wide range of social, environmental and other issues. Cities will be key to achieving many of these goals on the ground.

From the outset, cities exchanged on what these global goals mean for them, how they are interlinked conceptually, but also how they foster cross-sectoral thinking, compel departments to work together and how they relate to other urban development frameworks such as the Leipzig Charter.

During the conversation, cities mentioned how culture, understood as our beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of individuals, shapes and drives the development of cities. Although culture is key to sustainable urban development, it is not a specific SDG. Hence Tallin has created a 18^th SDG covering culture in its local development plans. (For a detailed analysis of the inclusion of culture in the SDGs, you can refer to this publication from UCLG.)

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