Resilient Cities, Sustainable Future: 
Advancing SDGs through Urban Transformation

 

By Nadeem Khurshid | Urban Resilience Specialist, Punjab SDGs Unit, UNDP Pakistan

Pakistan is urbanizing at a rate of 2.9 percent per annum, with over 40 percent of Pakistan’s 250 million population living in 225 cities and towns, contributing to nearly 55 percent of the GDP.

As the world advances towards achieving the 2030 Agenda, urban Pakistan stands at a precarious juncture. Rampant urbanization across major cities echoes opportunities and challenges. Pakistan is urbanizing at a rate of 2.9 percent per annum, with over 40 percent of Pakistan’s 250 million population living in 225 cities and towns, contributing to nearly 55 percent of the GDP.1 Globally, cities generate over 80 percent of the GDP, which helps reduce poverty through better access to jobs and services.2 Yet, unmanaged urban growth, climate stresses, and service delivery woes can deepen inequality and impede growth. Transforming urban areas of Pakistan as resilient, inclusive and growth-oriented, is both a global commitment and a national imperative. 

Understanding the SDGs in the urban context is vital for resilient, livable, and inclusive cities. While SDG 11 focuses on sustainable cities and communities, urban development also influences goals such as SDG 1 (poverty), SDG 3 (health), SDG 6 (clean water), SDG 7 (energy), SDG 8 (jobs), and SDG 13 (climate action). Aligning development with SDGs is critical but this is still challenging due to data gaps. The key indicators of SDG 11, such as housing, public transport, air quality, and disaster risk, are untracked, especially at the city level. To achieve inclusive, sustainable, and resilient urban development, provinces must localize SDG 11 through a pragmatic and context-specific approach.

Pakistan’s Urban Vulnerabilities and Challenges

Pakistan’s urban vulnerabilities and challenges comprise outdated infrastructure, poor sanitation, degraded air quality, and weak municipal services. In Lahore, vehicle numbers have doubled in a decade, mostly private cars and motorcycles, with the transport sector producing 83 percent of air pollution,3 and Air Quality Index levels above 300 are common.4 Karachi’s 2022 floods displaced thousands, exposing chronic urban mismanagement.5 A large number of cities face climate change-induced intense heatwaves and flash floods, causing significant loss of life and damage to property each year. Nationwide, 47 percent of urban residents live in informal settlements,6 only half of the solid waste is collected and just 10 percent is recycled. Environmental degradation costs 6 percent of GDP annually,7 while 70 percent of households still receive contaminated water despite significant WASH investments.8 Urban green spaces remain below WHO standards, and public transport serves just 8 percent of Karachi’s9 population and 20 percent of Lahore’s.10

Without integrated mobility systems designed for last-mile connectivity, adversities will continue to exacerbate. Layers of institutions operate in isolation, with minimal coordination and little to no data sharing, leading to duplication of efforts. Moreover, urban governance reform efforts remain stalled in overlapping mandates, civic disengagement, and a lack of political will. 

Old brick building with ornate, multi-arched façade on a busy street; green auto-rickshaw in front.
© UNDP Pakistan

Pakistan’s Urban Infrastructure Investment Portfolio

Pakistan’s urban infrastructure investment portfolio has largely prioritized infrastructure projects. Over 60 percent of urban infrastructure financing prioritizes car-centric projects, with less than 15 percent allocated to the social sector, affordable housing, or climate resilience.11 In Punjab’s FY 2025/2026 budget, US$ 2.4 billion is allocated to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) and $2.5 billion to roads, yet climate risk assessment and alignment to the SDGs remain absent from its financial planning. Instruments such as green bonds and public-private partnerships are vital for closing financing gaps, but they remain underutilized. The international Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) $1.4 billion recent Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) tranche supports this shift by tying funds to structural reforms in planning, water, disaster response, climate policy, and risk mitigation. However, a significant rebalancing of public spending at the provincial level is essential to align with the SDGs and build a climate-resilient and sustainable fiscal future.

Urban Sector Policy Landscape

Urban sector policy landscape in Pakistan remains inadequately aligned with the SDG and resilience agendas. The National Urban Policy Framework (2017) 12 and National Climate Change Policy (2021)13 emphasize sustainability while most urban sector spending remained focused on short-term infrastructure projects without incorporating resilience. The World Bank supported programs such as the Punjab Green Development Program and Sindh Resilience Program, and recently, the Punjab Clean Air Program has directed over $500 million for improving urban environmental quality.14 However, these efforts often operate outside core policy frameworks, highlighting the need to integrate better resilience, SDGs, and climate-proofing into planning, financing, and budgeting.

Transformation for Resilience Building and Achieving the SDGs

Transformation for resilience building and achieving the SDGs hinges upon insight-driven policy formulation and a robust systemic governance reform. Empowering city and local governments with real authority, financial autonomy for decision-making, and robust capacity to deliver quality utilities is vital for effective urban management, service delivery, and resilience building. Metropolises like Karachi, Lahore, and Faisalabad require integrated regional planning to address cross-boundary challenges such as transit, climate, ecology, employment, and resource management. 

Data governance and technology adoption are yet to gain substantial traction in urban governance. Federal and provincial statistical bureaus have aligned key surveys, such as the Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (PSLM), Labor Force Survey (LFS), Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES), and Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), with SDG indicators in health, education, poverty, and WASH. However, SDG 11 remains largely unreported. In Punjab, data exists for only 54 percent of indicators, with gaps in disaggregation.15 Sindh, KP, and Balochistan lag further behind. Weak data governance and poor technological adoption hinder urban management and SDG tracking, resulting in inadequate information on air quality, informal settlements, housing and climate risks. No city has real-time data on hazard and climate vulnerability. Sub-national governments must invest in modern urban data systems such as geospatial and remote sensing tools, citizen reporting platforms, digital dashboards, climate and growth modeling, by establishing urban observatories and strengthening resource induction. 

Pakistan’s resilient and sustainable urban future hinges upon transitioning from fragmented, ad-hoc, and project-centric approaches to holistic, vision-driven policy and inclusive governance. This requires empowering local governments with real authority, fiscal autonomy, and capacity, while embedding resilience and SDG targets in urban and financial planning. Globally, cities drive learning, innovation, and growth by attracting talent; in Pakistan however, unmanaged urbanization instead funnels poverty into cities. Financing should prioritize mid-tier cities to ease pressure on metropolises. Strong data governance, technology adoption, and SDG tracking demand interoperable government systems and real-time monitoring. Finally, robust governance also needs innovative financing, private sector engagement, and legislative reforms to turn urbanization from risk into opportunity.

  1. World Bank, 'Urban Population (% of total population) – Pakistan', World Bank Data, 2023. Available at: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS?locations=PK 
  2. United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), Pakistan: Urban Slums Report, UN-Habitat, Nairobi, 2020; and UN-Habitat, 'Pakistan: Urban Informal Settlements', 2023. Available at: https://unhabitat.org/pakistan 
  3. The Urban Unit, Sectoral Emission Inventory of Lahore, 2023.
  4. IQAir, World Air Quality Report: Pakistan, 2024. Available at: https://www.iqair.com/world-most-polluted-countries; and IQAir, World Air Quality Report, 2023. Available at: https://www.iqair.com/world-air-quality-report
  5. National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Monsoon Situation Report, NDMA, Islamabad, 2022.
  6. United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), Pakistan: Urban Slums Report, UN-Habitat, Nairobi, 2020; and UN-Habitat, 'Pakistan: Urban Informal Settlements', 2023. Available at: https://unhabitat.org/pakistan
  7. World Bank, Pakistan: Air Pollution and Health, 2022. Available at: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2022/06/02/pakistan-air-pollution-and-health
  8. Nabeela et al., 'Microbial Contamination of Drinking Water in Pakistan—a Review', Environmental Science and Pollution Research, vol. 21, no. 24, 2014, pp. 13929–42. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3348-z
  9. Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Karachi Urban Transport Master Plan, JICA, Tokyo, 2018; and JICA, 'The Project for Karachi Master Plan and Urban Transport System', 2018. Available at: https://www.jica.go.jp/english/news/field/2018/180928_01.html
  10. Lahore Development Authority (LDA), Green Spaces and Urban Planning in Lahore, 2023. Available at: https://lda.gop.pk/; and LDA, Urban Green Spaces Survey, 2023.
  11. Ministry of Planning, Development & Special Initiatives, Budget Analysis, Government of Pakistan, Islamabad, 2023.
  12. Government of Pakistan, National Urban Policy Framework, Government of Pakistan, Islamabad, 2017.
  13. Government of Pakistan, National Climate Change Policy, Government of Pakistan, Islamabad, 2021.
  14. World Bank, Punjab Green Development Program, World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022; and World Bank, 'Urban Population Growth and Transport in Pakistan', 2023. Available at: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS?locations=PK
  15. Punjab Bureau of Statistics, Punjab Development Statistics, 2022.