Chapter 28 of Agenda 21, adopted at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, called on local authorities worldwide to draw up their own 'Local Agenda 21' strategies for sustainable development through dialogue with their citizens. In 1994 European cities meeting at Aalborg signed the Charter of European Cities and Towns Towards Sustainability, committing to local action on sustainability and launching a wider campaign. Thousands of municipalities adopted Local Agenda 21 processes, linking environmental management, social equity and participation at the city scale. The movement helped translate global sustainability goals into municipal practice.
It localised the global sustainability agenda, making the municipality and citizen participation central to environmental planning and seeding decades of local climate and sustainability action.