31 May 2018: The Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development (Alleanza Italiana per lo Sviluppo Sostenibile – ASviS), in collaboration with other stakeholders, is organizing a two-week festival on sustainable development in Italy, aiming to “spread the culture of sustainable development, foster dialogue and celebrate innovative ideas and solutions.” The festival features hundreds of events throughout the country.

This second edition of the festival is taking place from 25 May to 7 June 2018, and is organized by ASviS, with the support of the Italian Ministry for Education, Universities and Research, the Italian Network of Universities for Sustainable Development, and the National Association of Italian Municipalities. The first edition was launched in 2017, held over 17 days, and featured over 200 events.

The Italian SDG City Index seeks to establish a database of urban-level indicators for SDG monitoring.

The festival comprises different events, including conferences, seminars, workshops, exhibitions, shows, and book presentations drawing attention to the 17 SDGs and promoting awareness about the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at all levels. At the occasion of the opening of the festival, on 25 May 2018, in Bologna, the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Italy presented the Italian SDG City Index and its results. The index seeks to measure the degree of SDG progress at the urban level, and to establish a database of indicators for SDG monitoring. The index should also help identify relevant information gaps and select priorities for action in each city and metropolitan area of Italy, and stimulate the debate on city action on the SDGs.

The Italian index follows on SDSN’s index for America cities, published in 2017, titled, ‘US Cities SDG Index 2017: Achieving a Sustainable Urban America.’ The Index illustrates how US cities and regions are performing on specific goals, with results presented in regional dashboards to facilitate comparisons among cities.

ASviS is a multistakeholder alliance that seeks to raise awareness in Italy of the importance of the 2030 Agenda. It is composed of associations of businesses and trade unions, local public administrations, public and private universities and research centres, foundations and networks of foundations, and Italian organizations that are members of international networks on SDGs, among other actors.

The festival is taking place in the context of the European Week of Sustainable Development (ESDW), a yearly European-wide initiative to stimulate and showcase activities, projects and events that promote sustainable development and the SDGs. The 2018 ESDW is taking place from 30 May to 5 June. [Sustainable Development Festival in Italy] [SDSN Italy SDG City Index] [EU press release] [European Sustainable Development Week] [SDG Knowledge Hub story on US Cities SDG Index 2017]