At the 10th Annual Smart City Conference held from October 26-28, Yokohama City released a Voluntary Local Review (VLR), a report voluntarily published by local governments to review the area’s progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) put forth by the United Nations. The Yokohama 2021 VLR marks the city’s newest effort to progress the SDGs locally and worldwide.

It is believed that at least 65% of the 169 targets defined by the SDGs will be unachievable without the involvement of individual cities and municipalities. The VLR initiative provides an avenue for these sub-national entities to track their development’s coherence to the SDGs, as well as a way to share their knowledge and experiences with other cities around the world.

The first VLRs were submitted in 2018, spearheaded by the city of New York, USA and the Japanese cities of Kitakyushu, Shimokawa, and Toyama. Since then, the United Nations and other international organizations and local government networks have supported the adoption of VLRs by cities and local governments around the world, leading to an increase of published VLRs around the world.

Yokohama was chosen in 2018 for the SDGs Future City program started by the Japanese national government which highlights certain Japanese cities working toward the SDGs and provides a framework for them to formulate a plan for aligning their development with the SDGs. Yokohama has continuously worked toward achieving the SDGs locally, and is providing knowledge, cooperation, and support to promote and advance the SDGs in other cities throughout Asia (with efforts focused especially in Southeast Asia).

Yokohama is also the host city of the annual international “Asia Smart City Conference” that brings together leaders, governments, private companies from across Asia to discuss and devise actionable plans toward solving urban issues and sustainable development. Announced during this years’ conference, the 10th annual ASCC, the Yokohama 2021 VLR is the city’s next step toward its goal of progressing the SDGs within the city while contributing to the success of the SDGs worldwide.

City of Yokohama SDGs Voluntary Local Review 2021