(Yicai Global) Nov. 1 -- The Shanghai Index, the world’s first sustainable urban development index based on a framework of economic, social, cultural, environmental and governance concepts, and this year’s Shanghai Manual were officially published yesterday on World Cities Day.

Released at the opening ceremony of the 2021 China Observance of World Cities Day and the First SDG Cities Global Conference held in Shanghai, the Shanghai Index aims to become an integrated application tool for scientific assessment and continuous monitoring of the progress level of sustainable development in cities around the world.

The index, developed on the basis of various authoritative international documents, including the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and New Urban Agenda and the Global Urban Monitoring Framework from the UN Human Settlements Programme, or UN-Habitat, consists of one comprehensive index and several theme indexes.

The indicators cover education, transport, infrastructure, employment, social security, public participation, pollution emissions, public space and emergency response.

The index can help cities define or adjust their development priorities, and push them to achieve sustainable development goals and the New Urban Agenda, thus leading the direction of sustainable development for global cities, by helping them assess their achievements and the challenges they face in sustainable urbanization.

The Shanghai Index will make key contributions in enhancing China’s voice in the field of global sustainable development.

Shanghai Manual

The 2021 Shanghai Manual, with the theme of Urban Sustainable Development: Promoting Inclusive Developments With Green and Low Carbon, offers policies and suggestions on common issues facing cities, and communicates new experience of urban practice in recent years. It was also released at the same event yesterday.

It also propagates advanced ideas on urban development while presenting typical cases of sustainable urban development worldwide, in the hope of providing a useful reference for urban managers and planning professionals.

The manual, jointly compiled and edited by UN-Habitat, the International Exhibitions Bureau and the Shanghai Municipal Government since 2011, is composed of a general report, revised every five years, and an annual report.

Widely recognized by the international community, the manual, with an Chinese-English bilingual version first published in 2011 and annual report available from 2017, has become a key knowledge product of World Cities Day, an important working document of the UN 2030 Agenda and the New Urban Agenda and also a renewable international document for multilateral cooperation.

The October 31 World Cities Day, the UN’s first international day with cities as the theme and the first international day proposed and promoted by the Chinese government, aims to promote the international community’s focus on sustainable urban development and work together to address the challenges facing cities.

Editors: Xu Wei, Peter Thomas