Sustainable Development Goals: A Creative Approach for a Sustainable City

20 November 2015, Glasgow, United Kingdom – On 26 October Glasgow Green Year, CIFAL Scotland, UNITAR and Creative Carbon Scotland hosted a Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) debate at Glasgow City Council Chambers. In a dynamic and highly interactive working session, participants from the public & private sectors and the creative community highlighted where Glasgow is making great strides in SDGs implementation, as well as areas where improvement would put the city in the vanguard.

The working session began with a welcome from Duncan Booker, Sustainable Glasgow Manager at Glasgow City Council. Baillie Liz Cameron continued the welcome on behalf of the council by sharing the importance of the SDGs for Glasgow; she highlighted the great value of green jobs and outlined how Sustainable Glasgow is a beacon for post-industrial cities in Europe.

Ben Twist, the director of Creative Carbon Scotland, drew on his experience of working in the arts sector to outline how creative communities can have a significant influence on the creation of a sustainable city.  

May East, CIFAL Scotland’s Director, followed with an update on the latest news from the UN Summit on Sustainable Development from where she had just returned.

The session continued with two interactive group activities using flash cards. Firstly, the participants were each given a goal and began by giving 5 second ‘elevator pitches’ to other delegates on that particular goal and its targets.

Then, delegates were split in to groups and each given one of the 5 P’s of sustainable development: People, Partnership, Planet, Prosperity and Peace. Ideas were then shared between the groups about existing or new projects, which could be developed collaboratively to bring about the realization of the SDGs in Glasgow.

The event finished with a report from each group summarising the different ideas for SDGs implementation that had emerged in the session.

Alistair Brown, Head of Sustainability and the Environment at Glasgow City Council. concluded by highlighting actions that could be implemented to take Glasgow forward as a green and sustainable city. He emphasised that this should be an inclusive process and that local communities must be engaged in order for it to succeed. 


Photo: Group photo of participants present at the SDGs debate. 

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