The coherence between city and country must be ensured and urban sustainability must be achieved through inclusive urban planning. Cities' environmental impact must be reduced, and housing must be safe, healthy and affordable, as must transport systems. The world's cultural and natural heritage must be protected and residences must be resistant to disasters.

In Greenland, there is no private ownership of land. This means that one cannot buy oneself a piece of land or area, and that everyone thus, as a basic principle, in principle has equal rights to the land. The Greenlandic planning system is built around the protection of nature, integrity between national sector plans and municipal planning, good framework for business development, coherence between the physical and economic planning and involvement of the local population.

Over the past 100 years, projections in urban development on a global scale have gone in one direction. Demographically, urbanization is prevalent, and the population is increasingly moving towards the larger cities. This is happening at tremendous speed and to an extent that many cities can hardly keep up with. In Greenland, the same trend is being experienced, although the population is considerably lower. And at the same time, we see a net emigration from Greenland, where the population moves to larger cities in Denmark and other countries.

If we want to create a balanced development of our homes and reverse the demographic development, efforts in sustainable, physical urban planning are important. Urban planning is therefore an important tool for creating an attractive physical environment for the citizens of the country and is directly linked to all 17 global goals.

The world’s population is constantly increasing. To accommodate everyone, we need to build modern, sustainable cities. For all of us to survive and prosper, we need new, intelligent urban planning that creates safe, affordable and resilient cities with green and culturally inspiring living conditions.