Achieving the SDGs in Sri Lanka’s cities is constrained by a lack of data and analysis. For example, estimates of the urban population range between 18% and 50% of total, while there is little policy analysis of integrated urban systems in rapidly expanding cities. The 21 month State of Sri Lankan Cities 2018 project, implemented by UN-Habitat and the Government of Sri Lanka, provides data, analysis and replicable methodological tools for evidence-based, integrated urban policy making in Sri Lanka and beyond. In doing so, it supports SDG 11, and Agenda 2030 more broadly, promoting competitive, inclusive, resilient, safe and sustainable cities.

The objective of the project is to apply innovative methodological tools to support integrated and evidence-based urban policy at the national and subnational level in Sri Lanka, and in doing so, achieve SDG 11, and other goals related to cities.

In Sri Lanka, there are challenges to achieve both ‘evidence-based’ and ‘integrated’ urban policy.

Integrated’ policy and planning recognizes the interrelated nature of urban systems, such as sanitation coverage and flood protection. Therefore, to achieve sustainable cities, policies must address multiple sectors to work towards the city outcomes detailed in SDG 11. While this sounds logical in theory, turning integrated policy making into practice is difficult. This is the challenge that the State of Sri Lankan Cities 2018 addresses. To this end, the project partnered with UN-Habitat and the Ministry of Local Government, Provincial Councils and Sports to develop a best-practice tool for integrated policy making, and applied this tool to an analysis of urban development in Sri Lanka.

‘Evidence-based’ policy is supported by robust empirical evidence of urban challenges and opportunities. Again, this was lacking in the Sri Lankan context, where there was ambiguity about the most basic attributes of cities: which is their size. To provide robust data, the analysis drew on a range of data sources, most predominantly spatial analysis, to provide data and analysis of 8 urban sectors, ranging from urban morphology and growth, to climate risk and resilience, to urban governance. The project has provided methodological tools, such as spatial analysis of urban expansion, has transformed the way national and subnational authorities understand cities.

The sectoral data and analysis was fed into the policy making tool to provide 5 integrated policy suggestions, which contribute to 5 city outcomes associated with SDG 11 and the New Urban Agenda: Competitive, Inclusive, Resilient, Safe, and Sustainable cities.

The project also enhanced the capacity of local authorities to analyze the data and understand the opportunities and potential of the cities to contribute to development challenges, and increase their capacity of integrated urban policy making at the municipal level. It is hoped that the databases developed by the project will be extended over time to cover the rest of the 23 Municipalities and 41 Urban Councils in Sri Lanka.

Donor: The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Government of Australia.
Implemented by: United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat)
Partners: Ministry of Local Government, Provincial Councils and Sport, Sri Lanka Institute of Local Governance (SLIIG), Urban Development Authority (UDA), Local Authorities of the 9 Provincial Capitals, Asia Foundation.
Beneficiaries: Local authorities of the 9 provincial capitals and their urban and fringe urban populations

Project implementation progressed as follows:

• Assessing data: At the outset, the project team assessed the spatial data that was currently available in the 9 selected cities, and addressed gaps by obtaining new spatial data.
• Development of conceptual approach around 5 key tenets of SDG 11 and New Urban Agenda: data and analysis to contribute to competitive, inclusive, resilient, safe and sustainable cities.
• Data collection: Up-to-date satellite images of all selected cities were analyzed to obtain information on key indicators. Data gathered was disaggregated by gender and age. Random field sampling was conducted to verify data assumptions and secondary data was obtained from Ministries and key partners. Primary data collection was carried out in the capital cities in each province, except in the Western Province, where much of the data was already available.
• Analysis and writing: The sectoral for the report were decided following stakeholder consultations with the project partners and chapter writers. Chapters were developed by the team with the guidance of a Chapter Lead and technical advice from UN-Habitat. The final draft report was peer-reviewed by national and international experts.
• Development of integrated policy matrix to link sectoral analyses around 5 city outcomes. Policy matrix implemented at participatory workshop with key urban stakeholders and 5 integrated policies identified.
• Printing and launch of report: The completed report was edited, executive summary translated into local languages (Sinhala and Tamil), and printed. The launch of the Report was held in collaboration with the relevant Ministries, donor and key project stakeholders.
• Capacity building: A needs assessment was conducted at the start of the project to assess capacity gaps which helped identify the most effective approach to collect data, update and maintain databases, and carry out analysis. A knowledge portal of analysed data was then developed. Capacity building on data analysis and updating was provided to local Authorities by UN-Habitat.

The project outputs and impacts were clustered around three results:
Constraints analysis of key urban sectors
The project used a variety of methods, ranging from spatial to statistical, to produce robust urban data and analysis. It included 8 sectoral analysis identifying constraints to competitive, inclusive, resilient, safe and sustainable cities. This included:
Spatial attributes of urbanization highlights modes of urban growth, including sprawl, in municipal and surrounding areas. It found that cities were far larger than previously thought because of large fringe populations.
People and functions assesses the demographic characteristics of the urban population in relation to education, age, gender and other disaggregating features. It also includes a land use (2017) assessment, highlighting distribution of land use types and their related urban functions within and across cities.
Urban economies assesses the productivity, inclusiveness and competiveness of cities in relation to their economic sector, and the inclusiveness of urban economies.
Housing explores the dynamics of urban housing markets and assesses key policy initiatives. It presents a qualitative analysis of the housing experiences of urban residents.
Municipal services provides an overview of the state of urban infrastructure, focusing on Water and Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) coverage, and an assessment of urban public space.
Intercity connectivity and municipal transport analyses the hard and soft infrastructure linking cities, focusing on interurban, municipal and rural-urban connectivity. It highlights the emerging issue of digital connectivity.
Climate risk and resilience addresses the climate and disaster resilience of cities, and the state of urban ecosystems.
Urban governance explores the institutions, policies, finances of municipal authorities. It also provides an assessment of the performance of local government across cities.
2. Integrated policy tool and roadmap for action towards SDG 11]
To achieve SDG 11 an integrated policy matrix was developed. The matrix links 32 Key Messages identified through the sectoral assessments to 5 key tenets of a better urban future for all Sri Lankans (City Outcomes). These policies were identified through participatory exercises with national and subnational government officials. The project provides a Roadmap for Sri Lankan cities details possible future policy and programme directions. This has proved a valuable policy making aid for government.
3. Development of a web platform for subnational government and other stakeholders
The project included an online database component housing all data and analysis for the report. Content is accessible for officials, researchers and general public, and it can be updated as required. In this way, it enables the continuous generation of evidence-based urban policy and practice. Government officials have been trained in using the platform, and are currently using it to develop integrated, evidence -based urban policy.

Enabling factors were the strong political will in Sri Lanka to improve urban policy and planning that has emerged in recent years. In 2015, for example, Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Megapolis and Western Development was established in 2015 to promote the Western Region Megapolis as a sustainable urban conurbation and regional hub of trade and investment, and also develop the country’s regional cities. In addition, key strategic documents, including Vision 2025 and Public Investment Programme (PIP) 2017-2020, have positioned cities at the heart of the country’s development, and urbanization as a powerful tool to rebalance economic opportunities to the conflict-afflicted Northern and Eastern Provinces, and remote central. The vision of a sustainable urban future is included in flagship GoSL national strategic documents: as a driver of economic growth, to widen access to economic and social opportunities and services, and to promote national reconciliation through extending opportunities and services to less developed provinces.
Constraints related to availability of urban data. It took longer and required more resources than envisaged to collect, organize and analyze spatial, statistical and other data for many reasons: Difficult to source data because a lack of availability; issues with definitions of urban and intersecting administrative boundaries; The range of institutions involved in collecting data and lack of cooperation between them; the different capacities of municipal councils regards data management at the national and municipal level; The different formats used to collect data and different indicators used means that collating the data into a useable form is time consuming.
To address these issues, the team focused more on spatial analysis. This includes time-series analysis showing urban growth over three decades in Sri Lanka, which reveal Sri Lanka to be one of most rapidly urbanizing country’s in the region. It also included multi-method case study of land use change in urban wetlands. While the process of data collection was time consuming and often frustrating, it has provided new directions of analysis, such as an assessment of data gaps and reporting constraints.

The integrated policy matrix tool (detailed above) has been designed for urban development purposes. However, the framework can adapted to other systems, and will ensure that authorities in Sri Lanka can apply integrated policy solutions to a number of challenges, and across a range of cities beyond the project area.

The sustainability of the intervention has been ensured through the creation of used-friendly web platform supported with training of local officials. This platform has resulted in great buy-in from local authorities and has been requested to be made available in app format so officials and other stakeholders can access it on their smart phones. This buy-in, therefore, has tangible impact on urban policy making. In the future, the user-friendly platform will encourage a wider user base, contributing to more participation in urban development processes, with regular updates, that will contribute to evidence-based urban planning.

TThe State of Sri Lankan Cities Report was the first UN-Habitat State of Cities report to structure its data collection and analysis around achieving SDG 11. The project linked the Sustainable Development Goals to GoSL to provide a working definition of an urban future for all Sri Lankans, embodying 5 core principles: competitive, inclusive, resilient, safe and sustainable cities.
In the context of severe urban data deficits, It used a variety of innovative methodological tools to provide robust urban data to inform its analysis, and aid urban policy makers achieve SDG 11.
A key innovation was producing an integrated policy making tool, which as applied through a participatory process with key urban stakeholders, at the national and subnational level. At the subnational level, workshops were held in each of the 9 municipalities, where local officials and other stakeholders from civil society and the private sector came together to identify integrated policy priorities from the project’s research activities.
At the national level, a workshop of heads of government agencies was convened to identify national policy recommendations. Outcomes were detailed in a Roadmap for Sri Lankan cities, which offers an integrated policy assessment, to identify interventions that work across sectors and addressed key messages of the 8 sectoral assessments.
A key lesson learned is the importance of applying innovative data collection and analysis strategies. In relation to data collection, often developing country contexts lack systematic statistical data on which to based urban policy and planning. In such cases, utilizing alternative data sources, such as spatial analysis or big data, is key to identifying trends. In relation to integrated policy making, we have learnt that developing simple and practical tools are crucial to ensuring complex ideas can be translated simply in the local context.
The sustainability of the project is achieved by institutionalising of data collection and analysis. The project activities, such as spatial analysis of urban expansion and the development of integrated policy making tools, provided new ways for policy makers to understand cities and approach policy making. The spatial measure of urban extent is now being used by authorities working for inclusive urban governance mechanisms, which include peripheral urban areas classed as ‘rural’. In addition, authorities are revising census procedures to take into account the spatial aspects of cities. It is envisioned that in the long term, spatial analysis of all Sri Lanka’s cities will be undertaken, and integrated policy making tools incorporated, into municipal governance structures. The project has provided data and analysis on an online platform that is easily accessible and will be updated regularly. The platform enables comparisons overtime, and across cities. Users compare urban expansion from 1995 to 2017 using satellite imagery and remote sensing analysis. The platform, which is administered by a government agency, will continue to be updated and provide valuable data and analysis to support evidence-based urban policy in the long term.

State of Sri Lankan Cities project web page: http://unhabitat.lk/projects/active-projects/state-of-sri-lankan-cities-report/
State of Sri Lankan Cities – 2018 Report: https://unhabitat.org/books/the-state-of-sri-lankan-cities-2018-report/
Video “state of Sri Lankan Cities Report” : https://youtu.be/byExPn2FSr8
Feature article/ Op-ed: Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in Sri Lanka’s urban areas: lessons from the State of Sri Lankan Cities Project: http://unhabitat.lk/news/state-of-sri-lankan-cities-report-news/achieving-the-sustainable-development-goals-in-sri-lankas-urban-areas-lessons-from-the-state-of-sri-lankan-cities-project/
Video: Achieving the SDGs in Sri Lanka’s urban areas: https://youtu.be/7gJhI7TH844
UN-Habitat Best Practices Monthly Feature – January 2019 Edition “How Cities are using data to inform evidenced-based policies”: https://spark.adobe.com/page/wzmIiYFmt4rRV/
Underestimating Urbanisation: Tackling Sri Lanka's Growing Pains, Article by Roar Media, Sri Lanka, February 2019: https://roar.media/english/life/in-the-know/urbanisation-sri-lanka-growing-pains/