Integrating the SDGs into Urban Regeneration: A Madrid Nuevo Norte Case Study Using an Adapted Voluntary Local Review Framework

While the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have emerged as the preeminent sustainability framework across various spatial scopes, the reporting and assessment of new urban developments and regeneration projects often remain tethered to sustainability frameworks that lack direct alignment with SDG targets. This paper proposes a framework to integrate SDG reporting within urban regeneration initiatives. This approach leverages existing resources, such as the Joint Research Center’s (JRC) European Handbook for SDG Voluntary Local Report (VLR) and UN-Habitat’s Global Urban Monitoring Framework (UMF), to report potential contributions towards SDG progress. The framework is validated through the case study of Madrid Nuevo Norte (MNN), one of the largest urban regeneration projects currently developed in Europe, located in the northern district of the Spanish capital and encompasses the regeneration of a 3.2 million square meter area. The methodology evaluates MNN potential contributions through a set of indicators based on input–output/outcome–impact framework to track the causal pathways arising from MNN activities. This paper presents an analysis of the methodological framework developed for the MNN SDG report during the project-planning phase, with a focus on evaluating the framework’s capacity to accurately estimate the project’s contributions to the SDGs.