Abstract The United Nations’ Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) highlight the importance of cities for sustainable development globally. With SDG 11 a specific urban goal exists and also many of the other SDGs have strong ties to urban areas. However, implementing the SDGs on an urban level is not a straightforward process. This article wants to shed light in the relationship between cities and SDGs and builds up on existing literature, the practical experiences of the authors in SDG implementation as well as the work carried out by the DKN Future Earth working group on Urban Sustainability transformations. The article consists of two main parts: Firstly, we explain some challenges concerning SDG implementation in German Cities such as indicators and data availability, tradeoffs, the role and limits of urban planning and the difficulties of city-wide integration of sustainability policies. Secondly, we present potential solutions to overcoming these challenges. Prioritizing so-called impact chains, developing SDG implementation governance mechanisms and transparent negotiation processes as well as a new definition of system borders can facilitate SDG implementation. The aim of this article is also to discuss similarities and differences between the SDGs and alternative approaches such as the Local Agenda 21 and to evaluate if and how global sustainability agendas such as the SDGs can actually lead to a more sustainable development locally. In the conclusion, we acknowledge the potential of the SDGs for sustainable urban development but emphasize, that many obstacles need to be overcome on this way.

中文翻译：

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Wie lassen sich die 可持续发展目标 umsetzen？

摘要 联合国 2030 年议程和可持续发展目标 (SDG) 强调了城市对全球可持续发展的重要性。可持续发展目标 11 存在一个特定的城市目标，而且许多其他可持续发展目标与城市地区有着密切的联系。然而，在城市层面实施可持续发展目标并不是一个简单的过程。本文希望阐明城市与可持续发展目标之间的关系，并以现有文献、作者在可持续发展目标实施方面的实践经验以及 DKN 未来地球城市可持续转型工作组开展的工作为基础。本文由两个主要部分组成：首先，我们解释了在德国城市实施可持续发展目标的一些挑战，例如指标和数据可用性、权衡、城市规划的作用和局限性以及在全市范围内整合可持续性政策的困难。其次，我们提出了克服这些挑战的潜在解决方案。优先考虑所谓的影响链，制定 SDG 实施治理机制和透明的谈判流程以及系统边界的新定义，可以促进 SDG 的实施。本文的目的还在于讨论可持续发展目标与替代方法（例如《地方议程 21》）之间的异同，并评估可持续发展目标等全球可持续发展议程是否以及如何真正促进当地的可持续发展。最后，我们承认可持续发展目标对可持续城市发展的潜力，但强调在此过程中需要克服许多障碍。