In this article, the main attention was paid to the concept of sustainable development, its goals, considering the harmonious development of the economy, ecology and social situation. A review of 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which have become a benchmark for the development of countries around the world, was conducted, including special attention paid to the development of SDG 11 – «Sustainable cities and human settlements». Specific criteria were demonstrated by which cities and settlements should be provided with sustainable development. The emphasis was placed on the principles of the long-term development plan of the UN SDGs, effective solutions in practice of the country of China, which was one of the first to introduce into its economy. The distinctive feature of China from other countries in supporting sustainable development, its main trends in the economy, work

and cities in the field of transport, innovative development solutions are the basis of advanced foreign experience. A review of the manifestation of the global trend of urbanization in Kazakhstan was conducted, an analysis of the quality of life by the factors «economy and business», «human resource», «infrastructure» of 25 cities of Kazakhstan was carried out according to the information provided by the Institute of Economic Research JSC, a comparative analysis of cities that showed leading and very low levels in each group was carried out. To observe how the goal of «Sustainable Cities and settlements» is being implemented in our country, comparisons were made on indicators such as the Mercer index showing the social, economic, environmental, financial condition of the cities of Almaty and Istanbul, weaknesses and similarities were identified. February 6 , 2020 at Nazarbayev University Astana in the report of the United Nations Development Program on the topic «Urbanization as an accelerator of inclusive and sustainable development in Kazakhstan», examples of urbanization processes in our country, characteristics given in the country's human development index were given. In conclusion, several proposals were developed from the best practices of China and the city of Istanbul in the field of energy and transport in sustainable development.