The first Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Cities Conference co-hosted by UN-Habitat and the Municipality of Shanghai aimed at supporting 1000 cities become economically, socially and environmentally sustainable by 2030, announced seven new pilot projects.

Conference participants including international and local leaders, academics, business leaders, investors and civil society activists discussed how to make cities engines of sustainable development and improve life for their residents through data analysis, strategic planning, institutional capacity development, impact project development and financing.

New pilot SDG Cities were announced. They included Shanghai; La Paz, Bolivia; Vitoria Gasteiz, Basque, Spain; Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo; Menzel Ennour in Tunisia; Kuwait City; and Penang Bay, Malaysia. They will be joined by ten more by the end of the year and will test an array of SDG Cities digital tools being availed by UN-Habitat and partners in areas of urban data, institutional capacity assessment and development and project preparation and financing.