Sustainable cities or cities that contribute to sustainable development?

This paper outlines a framework for assessing the environmental performance of cities in regard to the meeting of sustainable development goals. It also considers how the environmental goals fit with the social, economic and political goals of sustainable development and the kinds of national framework and international context needed to encourage city-based consumers, enterprises and governments to progress towards their achievement, In a final section, it considers the extent to which the recommendations of the Habitat II Conference helped to encourage national governments and city and municipal authorities in this direction.