Browse Research

The Weight of Cities: Resource Requirements of Future Urbanization report calls for a new strategy for 21st Century urbanization, and presents the parallel actions on urban planning, sustainable design, resource-efficient components, and infrastructure for cross-sector efficiency that are required for a transition towards low-carbon, resource-efficient and socially just cities.

The Sustainable Urban Infrastructure Transitions in the ASEAN Region: A Resource Perspective report highlights five strategic infrastructure pathways for resource-efficient and inclusive urban development.

This report sets out the latest thinking on how we can more sustainably manage and curb single-use plastic pollution. It looks at what governments, businesses and individuals have achieved at national and sub-national levels to curb the consumption of single-use plastics. It offers lessons that may be useful for policymakers who are considering regulating the production and use of single-use plastics.

This policy report shed light on how the average government official perceives SDG-11 with the other goals, as well as misconceptions in interpretation by officials who are not highly familiar with the SDGs.

Better Cities, Better Growth: India's urban opportunity provides new analysis across 479 Indian cities – using an innovative combination of satellite data of night-time lights, census, environmental, and economic data – which demonstrates a clear link between more compact, connected urban growth and stronger economic performance in India, corroborating global findings.

India can foster a better urbanisation – one that promotes more rapid economic transformation, improves the quality of life of city dwellers, and curbs the potential harmful spillovers of urbanisation, such as congestion, wasteful energy use, and unwanted pollution. Better, smarter urban growth could be an economic opportunity for India worth up to 6% of GDP by mid-century, with significant savings at the household level.