Long-term urban sustainability involves planning cities and regions to exist in harmony with the natural environment, while sustaining their human populations and economic base for current and future generations. Long-term integrated planning looks out 50-100 years and treats the city as a complex system, addressing environmental, economic, social and cultural well-being, as well as governance and infrastructure.

The Sustainable Cities: PLUS Network helps cities think ahead and consider how today’s decisions will affect current and future generations.

Currently, the core membership of the Sustainable Cities: PLUS Network includes approximately 30 cities, communities or regions from developing and developed countries. The Network is small enough to allow for in-depth dialogues, diverse enough to be relevant at a global level, and flexible enough to encourage innovation. Lessons from this core group are shared with other cities through affiliations with ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability and other networks. An International Panel of Advisors provides advice and a Steering Committee of members guides the Network. The founder and Secretariat to the PLUS Network is the International Centre for Sustainable Cities located in Vancouver, Canada.