Sustainable urban development requires locally relevant strategies that respond to complex challenges of climate change, inequality, and rapid population growth. This paper demonstrates how the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can serve as a guiding framework for city-level planning, applied through participatory approaches. We leveraged expert stakeholder engagement and broad public participation in San Antonio, TX, to operationalize the SDGs for local action. We collaborated with city leaders, organizations, and communities to identify priority goals, adapt national targets to the city’s context, and co-develop localized indicators and interventions. Through a combination of technical research, multi-stakeholder workshops, and city-wide symposiums, we developed a sustainability dashboard and generated equitable solutions that reflect the city’s unique needs. Our results demonstrate the value of a participatory approach in building trust, promoting cross sectoral collaboration, and recognizing synergies and trade-offs among sustainability priorities. By sharing lessons learned and practical challenges, this paper illustrates how inclusive SDG localization can advance equitable urban sustainability planning and provide a model for other cities seeking to embed the 2030 Agenda in local governance.
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