This Viewpoint outlines the context within which papers published in this and recent issues of Local Economy were initially presented, developed and then submitted. We suggest in the commentary below that from the outset (at an initial workshop), we were seeking to model an iterative and collaborative process. The policy context is described in more detail but the impetus came from looking at ways in which a policy and practice alliance focussed on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals could be mobilized to promote original thinking in the way in which municipal authorities could work with and learn from NGOs in the development of an alternative approach to sustainable development from that which currently shaped local social and economic policy in Copenhagen. This Viewpoint provides a summary of the papers published in Local Economy over two issues. It concludes by proposing that the approach adopted is in line with current initiatives in the USA and the UK.