Today, sustainability challenges require society to work together, share views and collectively decide how to resolve them. In this regard, sustainability communication has great potential in promoting active participation and collective decision-making in achieving change through inclusive approaches in addition to sharing information and raising awareness about the ecological, social and economic dimensions of sustainability. Digital media could be key in transitioning to inclusive forms of sustainability communication, due to their increased interactivity, accessibility and participation. However, sustainability communication on digital channels is less researched from a communication perspective, especially in the context of cities, which are the most visible spaces for citizens to implement sustainable development changes. Therefore, this work explores the sustainable communication of cities via digital communication channels. Through a qualitative case study of two cities, the aim was to discover what types of sustainability communication are used and which aspects of sustainability are highlighted, as well as to what extent such communication is inclusive towards citizens. The findings show that sustainable communication of cities on digital channels is mostly unidirectional, with few examples of a transformative approach. Despite the presence of all three dimensions of sustainability, the ecological dimension is still dominant, and the SDGs are poorly communicated. On the other hand, while digital channels enable new forms of engagement and interaction, cities rarely involve citizens in sustainability communication. Citizen engagement is therefore very limited.
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