ABSTRACT
The Sustainable Cities Program (SCP) is a practical response to the universal search for sustainable development. It is a United Nations joint facility to package and apply specialized know- how in urban environmental management. The full realization of the cities' potential contribution to development is often obstructed by severe environmental degradation in, and around, the rapidly growing urban centers. The SCP provides a framework in which lessons learned in individual city demonstrations can help shape activities at the national, regional, and global levels. SCP demonstration projects provide agencies and organizations wishing to work in the field of urban environmental management with a framework for their efforts and significant economies of scale. City-level successes achieved to date have shown that the SCP is an excellent facility for inter-agency collaboration, through which diverse technical and financial resources from external support agencies can be mobilized and integrated.
