There is an urgent need to address the shortcomings in contemporary urban development. Failure to do so risks reducing economic growth, slowing human development gains, and increasing environmental stresses and climate-related risks. By comparison, pursuing compact, connected, and coordinated (3C) forms of urban development can support sustained economic development, enhancing the productivity of cities while reducing their ecological footprints.

National governments can be instrumental in delivering 3C urban development. For example, large-scale transport infrastructure and spatial planning are heavily influenced by tiers of government above the city level. Given the importance of central governments in enabling or constraining sustainable cities, there is a clear need to create an enabling national policy framework to support 3C development.