NotOnlyDesk and Agenda 2030: Sustainable cities and communities

Index

Agenda 2030 and Goal 11
NotOnlyDesk: Sustainable cities and communities

In one of the latest blog articles we talked about the need for NotOnlyDesk to deal with the 2030 Agenda and some of the objectives contained in it. After deepening point number 8 "Decent work and economic growth", we are today concerned with focussing on goal number 11, namely "Sustainable cities and communities".

Agenda 2030 and Goal 11

Let us remember first of all that the Agenda 2030 is a global action plan for sustainable progress adopted by the United Nations in September 2015. It is also known as the "2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development" and consists of a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), often also referred to as Global Goals. These goals are designed to address a number of global challenges by 2030 in order to improve people's quality of life and protect the planet.

The Sustainable Development Goals cover a wide range of issues, including poverty reduction, hunger, health, education, gender equality, clean water, clean energy, sustainable economic growth, reducing inequalities and protecting the environment. The overall objective of the 2030 Agenda is to ensure a better future for all, so that no one is left behind, and to preserve the planet for future generations.

The goal 11, which we are interested in deepening in this article, aims to reduce per capita pollution produced by cities, in particular with regard to air quality and waste management. Urban development will have to be more inclusive and sustainable, including through participatory, integrated and sustainable settlement planning. Everyone's access to safe and inclusive green spaces and public spaces must also be guaranteed, especially for women and children, the elderly and people with disabilities. Finally, access to safe and economical living spaces and transport systems will also have to be ensured.

NotOnlyDesk: Sustainable cities and communities

But how does NotOnlyDesk actually deal with target number 11 of the Agenda?

Currently, one of the most significant problems at a global level concerns pollution, especially in large cities and surrounding areas. Environmental pollution caused by workers moving to the workplaces is in fact becoming an increasingly topical issue. And it is on this element of the Objective that NotOnlyDesk is trying to act since the day of its birth.

According to estimates, the average distance between the workplace and the workers' residence is about 20 kilometres. Distance covered, as the case may be, through the use of public or private transport.

Promoting smart or hybrid working methods therefore significantly reduces the environmental impact generated by commuting home-to-work alone. But the environmental advantages of NotOnlyDesk are not limited to this: as we have always tried to clearly explain agile work, if carried out from home, involves an increase in domestic energy consumption for each worker, generating an increase of 3.01 tons of CO2 in the annual environmental impact of each.

However, the idea behind NotOnlyDesk is to share workspaces with other people, thus dividing consumption and per capita emissions among different users. Assuming, for example, an average square footage of 50 square metres per dwelling for an agile worker and applying precise regulatory coefficients, it is possible to transform this surface into coworking spaces, obtaining at least 4 workstations. This numerical experiment shows that the correct sharing of production spaces can reduce CO2 emissions per capita by 75%.

If you consider NotOnlyDesk's long-term purposes and therefore if the possibility of using a shared office at a maximum distance of 5 kilometres from home were realised, the reduction in CO2 emissions could vary between 71.73% and 65.39%, depending on the type of worker considered.

As already reported in the last article today, the number of structures scattered throughout the national territory that make up the NotOnlyDesk network has exceeded 65 units. Already a year and a half after its conception, the service is therefore bringing considerable benefits in terms of the possibility of managing spaces and structures and therefore the consequent reduction of per capita pollution produced by cities. Of course we are only at the beginning of the path, but as in the case of Objective 8, also for point number 11 NotOnlyDesk intends to have its say and contribute to the realisation of the Agenda plan.