ABSTRACT
The inclusion of a self-standing goal on cities in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is often portrayed as progress over their predecessors, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). However, the absence of reference to cities in the MDGs does not mean that local governments were irrelevant for their implementation. To the contrary, this chapter demonstrates that municipalities and cities played a key role in implementing the MDGs within UN member states. It will demonstrate this point through a case study of the efforts to implement the MDGs in Brazil, at the local level generally and in the city of Rio de Janeiro more specifically. The argument is that by studying the local implementation of the MDGs, we can draw some conclusions for the role of cities under the SDGs. To make this point, the chapter proceeds in three parts: Social Policy in Brazil and the Role of Local Governments sets out the national context within which the MDGs were implemented at the local level in Brazil. The Role of Cities in Implementing the MDGS in Brazil addresses the role of cities under the Brazilian MDG policies. Sustainable Urban Development turns to the city of Rio and its efforts to localise the MDGs through a combination of social and security policies especially targeted at low-income neighbourhoods, the favelas.
