December 10th local time, the Geneva-based International Telecommunication Union pointed out on its official website that about 3.5 billion people live in cities with half of the total human population, and it is expected to rise to 5 billion by 2030.
Governments, industry, academia and civil society are working together to accelerate the digital transformation of cities and communities to meet current and future challenges.
A new memorandum of understanding signed between ITU and UN-Habitat emphasizes the commitment of the two organizations to cooperate with each other to support the innovation needed to achieve the New Urban Agenda and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, support organizations in encouraging responsible investment and financing in smart city projects, and around digital technology and related Inclusive dialogue on standards and guidelines.
ITU said that the memorandum of understanding is a new step for cooperation between ITU and UN-Habitat, based on initiatives such as “building a sustainable smart city together”. This initiative is supported by 17 United Nations partners to achieve inclusive, safe, disaster-resilient and sustainable urban and human settlements in achieving sustainable development goals.
The project is supporting a United Nations system-wide work led by UN-Habitat to develop an urban monitoring framework to strengthen the links between national and local monitoring and reporting processes in support of sustainable urban development.
ITU also pointed out that the three major standards bodies in the world: ITU, the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission have established joint task forces to coordinate the international standardization of smart cities.
The Joint Task Force will bring together stakeholders to ensure that standards bodies work together to develop comprehensive standardized solutions for smart cities.
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is the specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for information and communication technologies. UN-Habitat is the United Nations agency for sustainable human settlements and urban development.
