The Office of the President of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) has released a summary of the key messages and proposals from the high-level thematic debate on ‘Means of Implementation for a Transformative Post-2015 Development Agenda.'

It has been mandated that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) currently under negotiation at the United Nations should achieve an appropriate balance between the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development.

As a timely contribution to the post-2015 development agenda negotiations taking place at UN Headquarters in New York this week, Stakeholder Forum, in a study commissioned by the German Council for Sustainable Development, has examined integration in the proposed SDGs.

We are seeking input and comments on the framework for our Gold Standard Sustainable Cities Programme, through which cities can develop, audit and verify urban programmes in order to catalyse and scale up currently missing investment.

This special issue of Urban Solutions focuses on the World Cities Summit in June 2014 and its theme "liveable and Sustainable Cities: Common challenges, shared Solutions".

The Summit is where cities will look at the state of urban challenges today and identify principles of shared solutions applicable to cities spanning the range of development, socio-economic and political contexts.