SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities

by Tale Weavers &
The Red Elephant Foundation

On 1 January 2016, the 17 Sustainable TALE
Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development, weavers
adopted by world leaders in September
2015 at an historic UN Summit, weaving tales, breaking stereotypes
officially came into force.

Over the next fifteen years, with these
new Goals that universally apply to all,
countries will mobilize efforts to end all
forms of poverty, fight inequalities and
tackle climate change, while ensuring
that no one is left behind.

Stories for Awareness is a collaboration
between The Red Elephant Foundation
and Tale Weavers to engage with
children and build awareness around the
17 Sustainable Development Goals.

This story throws light on SDG 11:
Sustainable Cities and Communities.

Story: Sharda
Vishwanathan

Illustrations: Viswanathan
Sridhar

With just a week left for the

summer holidays, Spatika and
her friends were thrilled and
all set to experience the perfect
adventure at the Hands On
Museum.
Every year the children
participated in the summer
camp that was organized by the
museum.
Be it designing buildings or
working on a farm, building
robots or painting a wall,
there were numerous activities
everyone could choose to be
part of.



This year Spatika and her friends were part of the

Design and Build group.
“Good morning friends and welcome to the Design and
Build group,” greeted Raghu, the group facilitator.
“Good morning,” shouted the group with excitement.

“As part of this group we will embark on a new

adventure,” said Raghu, “one where we not only learn
about cities and how they are planned but will design
and build our own city models using these building
blocks.”
“And to make this session more fun, we have with us
the award-winning architect Viswanathan who is known
for designing cities and towns that are sustainable.”
“Sustaiiin..ahnnn what’s the word?” whispered Ritu.
“Sustainity, I think,” said Ida.
“No, sustainable. But what does that mean? wondered
Nile.
“Wow! Building our own city! I can’t wait,” said
Spatika beaming.

“Goooood morning everyone! Ahn ahn looks

like you already have some questions and are super
enthusiastic to design and build your own city,” said
Viswanathan as he heard the whispers and looked at the
many curious and thrilled faces in the room.

“So before we start working on the design, let’s play a
game,” said Viswanathan as he placed on the wall few
colourful illustrations of different cities.

“Yes, as you see these are pictures of different cities.
What you need to do is look at them and discuss what
you see in these pictures and how different are they
from the cities you have been to,” explained Raghu.

As the group looked at the first picture Nile said,

“Look, there are three different lanes. One for the bus,
one for the cars and one for cycles.”

“And there is also a walkway for pedestrians,” observed
Ida.

“Excellent! Anyone wants to add anything,” asked
Viswanathan.

“Hmmm it looks like there are not too many cars on the
road. A lot of people are cycling,” expressed Ritu.
“You are right. The different lanes often help regularize
traffic,” said Raghu.

“And when cities provide a separate lane for cyclists,
it encourages more people to cycle. Thus, helps reduce
traffic and pollution,” explained Viswanathan as they
moved on to the next image.

“The streets look so clean in this picture,” Spatika

answered.

“There are four different dustbins placed across the
city,” Ida chimed in.

“They are all of different colours,” said Nile.

“But why do we need different dustbins,” quizzed Ritu.

“Let me show you all a close-up image of the bins,”
said Raghu as he placed a zoomed-in version of just the
bins.

“Glass, Paper, Plastic and Food Waste?” Ritu’s eyes
widened as she read the labels on the four bins.

“Does that mean one only puts paper waste in the bin

marked as Paper, food waste in the one marked as food
and plastic waste in the red one and glass in the orange
one!” said Nile pointing at the picture.

“Bingo,” said Viswanathan. The different bins help

us separate the different kinds of waste.

“But why is it important to separate the waste. After all
waste is waste,” exclaimed Spatika.

“Did you know that we can reuse and recycle waste,”
explained Viswanathan.

“Oh yes! The three ‘R’s, I remember my cousin talking
to me about this,” interrupted Ida, “Reuse, Recycle and
Reduce.”

“The three magic ‘R’s of managing waste help in
creating a healthy and clean environment,” said Raghu.

“Now let’s look at the last picture,” said Viswanathan.

“Very well-lit and well-maintained bus stops,” said

Ritu.

“There is a shelter that is not broken,” observed Nile.

“I love the double decker bus. But we do not have a bus
stop close to where we live. Hence, I have to take the
car everytime I go around the city,” said Ida with much
disappointment.

“When architects and planners, design a city or a
neighbourhood, they must ensure that there is a bus stop
that connects every neighbourhood with the city.

This encourages people to take the public transport
and help reduce the traffic on the road,” replied
Viswanathan.

“So all of these features

we discussed make a city
sustainable. Sustainable cities
improve the quality of life
for the people of the present
generation as well as for our
future generations,” added
Raghu.
“So let’s recap on what makes
a city sustainable?”
“When every person has
access to safe housing,
a clean, safe and healthy
environment, an organized
public transport system it
makes a city sustainable,”
explained Viswanathan.





“And when you design and plan your cities, make

sure, it is important that you consider these factors in
your planning.”
With this the children started to think of sustainability
as they designed and built their city models.

The End

Tale Weavers is an initiative that

aims to engage with children and the
youth through stories that challenge
stereotypes and break the barriers in
creating a just society.
​
We welcome you to our world of stories
where simple conversations, colorful
illustrations, and powerful characters
help break the stereotypes and create
an inclusive learning space which is
free of bias - be it gender, religion, race,
nationality or ethnicity.

The Red Elephant Foundation is an

initiative that is built on the foundations
of story-telling, civilian peacebuilding
and activism for sensitisation on
all drivers of peace - gender, race,
nationality, colour and orientation.

The initiative is titled “Red Elephant”
to stand out as a vehicle that projects
stories that must never be forgotten:
stories that show you such courage that
you should never forget, and stories that
show the world such profound lessons
that the world should never forget. In
doing so, the initiative aims at creating
awareness and opening up channels
of communication towards creating
societies of tolerance, peacebuilding
and equality.