Smart Sustainable City Profile for Goris, Armenia

Cities are engines of economic growth; hence, the development of countries depends on how their cities will develop in the future. At the same time, the expanding cities are vulnerable to economic, social and environmental risks and the high level of urbanization presents serious challenges for sustainable development and climate change adaptation. This situation has the potential to become critical and irreversible if not acted upon soon. To address the major urban challenges, UNECE and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) developed, jointly with 15 other UN bodies and other partners, the Key Performance Indicators for Smart Sustainable Cities. This is a set of 91 indicators, which are an important tool to assess the performance of cities in the areas of environment, economy, social and cultural development, and support the achievement of the SDGs at the local level. By using these indicators, UNECE develops Smart Sustainable City Profiles with concrete recommendations for actions, including priorities for investments into city development. The city profiles when prepared will support local authorities in establishing priority actions for their cities' development. These initiatives are included in the programme "United Smart Cities" (USC). Goris was selected as the first pilot city for this project upon request from the government of Armenia. The Smart Sustainable City Profile for Goris provides the first case study for this work and could be used as an example that not only other cities in Armenia, but cities with similar economic, environmental and socio-cultural development, can use as a model.