NUML SDGs MARATHON-SDG#11(Sustainable Cities And Communities)

Group members: Areej Fatima & Khadija Ashfaq

Department: Governance and Public Policy

Semester: BS-4 (Morning)

In this blog, we are going to share our whole experience of NUML SDG`S Marathon. This Marathon was part of our Social Action Project which is supervised by Dr. Athar Rashid. The main motives of the marathon were to create awareness among local people about sustainable development goals and to engage with the community. We were working on Sustainable development goal 11.

What is SDG-11?

Goal 11 of the Sustainable Development Goals aims to make cities more inclusive for all citizens by ensuring that everyone has access to appropriate, safe, and affordable housing. Slum upgrading, inexpensive and sustainable transportation systems, cultural and heritage site protection, decreasing the negative effects of natural catastrophes, offering inclusive and green areas, disaster risk reduction, and developing resilient and sustainable infrastructure are among the goals.

Pakistan’s Progress on Implementing SDG 11

Pakistan is one of South Asia's most urbanized countries. This emphasizes the significance of SDG 11 in the country. However, Pakistan's progress towards reaching the SDG 11 targets has stalled. The aggregate rise in the multiple measures set out by SDGs criteria is less than 50%, even though air pollution in cities is increasing at an alarming rate every year (SDG report, 2020). The current government has demonstrated a commitment to improving Pakistan's environmental landscape by implementing projects such as the Billion Tree Tsunami Project. However, problems with urban housing and affordability persist. Furthermore, as cities struggle to accommodate their citizens due to overcrowding, public and green spaces have been either illegally occupied by housing societies or repurposed for industrial use. Green areas are also limited to posh areas where people are offered luxury living. Every citizen, however, has the right to clean air and healthy ecology. Pakistan has recently taken great efforts in this regard by planting trees and promoting the usage of renewable energy through electric vehicle promotion. Finally, strong legislative and administrative changes are required to make cities more inclusive. Inclusive cities are not smart cities. Rather, they are cities that foster equal growth for all segments of the population.

NUML`s progress on implementing SDG 11

NUML has done a tremendous job in implementing SDGs within university premises and still working on the agenda of promoting SDGs. In regard to SDG#11, NUML has taken a lot of initiatives that are in alignment with the targets of SDG#11.

For example, Numl has introduced Energy Efficient buildings, and to make its structure weather and fire-resistant, NUML has chosen sustainable materials such as fiber cement siding. Fiber cement is a blend of cement, wood fiber, and other recycled wood components. Fiber cement has a high fire resistance, which is beneficial to building safety.

Another step is of providing accommodation: Female, male and international students are housed in different hostels with amenities such as a reading room, a space for indoor activities, a lounge, and a dining hall with a mess. The university is guarded by about sixty security personnel and cameras that are monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Students' automobiles and bicycles have their own parking spaces at the university.

Transportation is another milestone achieved by Numl in process of achieving targets of SDG#11. Students, academics, and administrative personnel have access to transportation at the university. There are twenty-eight buses that serve Islamabad and its surrounding areas, covering significant routes. The Metro Bus Stop, located over half a kilometer from the Main Campus, is where the University's shuttle service picks up students during both morning and evening shifts.

Campus drive- NUML SDG`s Marathon

On the 23^rd, 24^th, and 25^th of February, we have visited 5 departments of NUML including Mass communication, English, Islamic Studies, Mathematics, and Computer science. We have interacted with 35 students from these departments. Our interaction was about assessing their knowledge about sustainable development goals and then explaining to them about our initiative. Following are the questions addressed by us:

What are SDGs?

What is SDG 11?

How knowledge of SDGs is important for us and what we can do in our capacity to achieve SDGs?

We have also designed a poster on the theme of our SDG: it includes university name, department, project, and supervisor name, the concept, and targets of SDG 11.

To create a long-lasting effect of our drive we have distributed these posters among students.

We were surprised to know that most of the people were unaware of the whole concept of sustainable development goals. So, we are glad that through this on-field activity we became able to educate as many people as we can about SDGs.

Webinar- NUML SDG’s Marathon:

On 27^th February 2022, we have conducted a webinar on google meet to create an online awareness campaign.

For that, we have created a poster containing all the important information about the webinar and shared it with different groups.

Through this webinar, we have connected to a quite decent number of people from different universities including NUST, COMSATS, IIUI, BAHRIA, and UCMD.

We have delivered our message through a proper presentation.

We have realized that people other than our department are unfamiliar with the concept of SDGs. This webinar made them aware of SDGs in general and particularly SDG 11.

It was an interesting experience interacting with different students from different fields of studies.

 Overall experience:

Ø For ourselves, it was a great learning experience

Ø We have learned about other SDGs as well by attending webinars of our class fellows

Ø Felt a sense of achievement by educating other people

Conclusion/Recommendation:

The pledge of Goal 11 to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable provides an unparalleled opportunity for the attainment of collective and inclusive progress, and for the achievement of sustainable development in the world.

The social action project is a great opportunity for us to work for the achievement of sustainable development goals in Pakistan. Our seniors have already done a lot of projects that were based on different SDGs and now it is our turn to play our part…