​The United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) held in Quito in October 2016 offer the opportunity to make transformative commitments in pursuit of a sustainable and just urban future more real than the Habitat Agendas of 1976 and 1996. The New Urban Agenda (NUA) is a 24-page document – a global 20-year vision for cities that are equal, accessible, and people centred. The NUA is a complementary framework that drills into what it will take to achieve a number of the UN Sustainable Development Goals but particularly Goal #11 that ensures that ‘cities and human settlements are inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable’, as well as other targets across the SDGs, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030.  Reinforcing Habitat III’s position, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development also emphasizes that ‘there is a critical need for a transformational change in development, so that no one is left behind’.  
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Despite the obstacles of slum living in Sierra Leone’s capital of Freetown, there thrives dynamic and purposefully-built communities.  These communities already hold many of the solutions to the challenges of planning, designing and managing sustainable and productive urban development.

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