About

The Global Platform for Sustainable Cities (GPSC) is a World Bank-led knowledge platform, with financial support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), that empowers cities to advance sustainable urban development. GPSC provides access to cutting-edge tools, data, and expertise, promoting an integrated approach to urban planning, design, and financing.

By bringing together the experiences of over 100 cities across 40 countries and a broad network of global partners, GPSC fosters collaboration and shared learning to accelerate transformative urban solutions.

Established in 2016, GPSC serves as the coordination and knowledge hub of the GEF Sustainable Cities Integrated Program (SCIP), a multi-phase initiative helping cities tackle climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, and urban vulnerabilities through scalable solutions. GPSC offers a convening space for local leaders, practitioners, and stakeholders to share knowledge, exchange experiences, and develop integrated urban strategies across key themes including Climate, Culture, Data, Decarbonization & Circular Economy, Design, Finance, Inclusivity, Mobility, Nature, and Planning.

Over its operation, the GEF Sustainable Cities programs—through GEF-6 and GEF-7 cycles—have supported dozens of cities worldwide with hundreds of millions of dollars in GEF grants, leveraging several billion dollars in co-financing. Building on this foundation, the latest GEF-8 Sustainable Cities Integrated Program (SCIP) expands GPSC’s network and substantive work, integrating previous initiatives including GPSC (GEF-6) and UrbanShift (GEF-7) to maximize impact. GEF-8 emphasizes private sector engagement, encouraging cities to collaborate with businesses, investors, and service providers in designing and implementing solutions that improve urban services, reduce waste, and strengthen local food systems.

Through these efforts, GPSC strengthens collaboration between public and private sectors, supporting cities to deliver measurable global environmental benefits while fostering inclusive, resilient, and sustainable urban futures.

GPSC’s Knowledge Pillars and Engagement

SUSTAINABILITY INDICATORS

GPSC developed the Urban Sustainability Framework (USF) and its 4-Stage Approach and Indicator Measuring Framework to help cities understand their urban sustainability status, define their vision, and formulate and implement an action plan. The USF encourages cities to assess their urban sustainability and compare themselves with their peers. GPSC has initiated a benchmarking process using the six dimensions of the USF with a goal of understanding where each of the cities currently stands in terms of sustainability. GPSC emphasizes the importance of informing strategic planning processes with robust data and provides guidance to cities on how to improve data collection and management.

INTEGRATED URBAN PLANNING

Integrated urban planning and management, GPSC's second pillar, is a strategic process that allows cities to shape a vision incorporating a multiplicity of mutually reinforcing actions and policies. Opportunities and interventions should promote a holistic, interconnected approach to city functions and consider the city as a system of systems. Transit-oriented development (TOD) is a good example of an integrated approach that brings together the consideration of land use, urban mobility, land value capture, and environmental benefits.

MUNICIPAL FINANCE

GPSC's third pillar emphasizes the importance of cities' fiscal sustainability and builds upon the platform's focus on linking technical assistance to financing. To promote a fiscally enabling environment through its municipal finance pillar, GPSC helps cities assess their fiscal sustainability and creditworthiness, develop revenue improvement strategies and climate-smart capital investment plans, identify market-based options to finance infrastructure investment plans, and harness private sector investment for project financing and scaling.

ENGAGEMENT

GPSC focuses on connecting stakeholders to promote an integrated approach to urban sustainability that fosters collaboration. GPSC is a knowledge repository for sustainable development that shares both best practices and lessons learned. It fosters learning through its website, through global, regional, and working group meetings, and by bringing together experts and shareholders to share ideas. Contact us at gpsc@worldbankgroup.org if you’d like to learn more.

STAY IN THE LOOP

The Global Platform for Sustainable Cities (GPSC)