Active learning methodologies contribute to enhance learning and to develop soft skills. Service-learning is an active methodology consisting of learning while providing a service to the community.

The main aim of this paper is to analyse an experience of teaching innovation at the university level, based on a service-learning, addressed to achieve local sustainable development. It has been developed during the last eight academic courses in close collaboration with the Santiago de Compostela Council City to identify an interesting local need in which the students may contribute, while strengthening their learning.

The 2030 Agenda of the United Nations aims to achieve sustainable development. It means global challenges, being crucial the local dimension and precisely the urban one. Thus, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) should be located, being crucial the role of all local actors. Within this framework, the service-learning project is focused on analysing the situation of SDG in the city of Santiago de Compostela (Spain) from a socioeconomic perspective as well as proposing actions for their achievement. This task is embedded in the elaboration of the local Urban Agenda 2030 within the local planning tackled in the subject.

Two main novelties of this experience should be underlined. Firstly, the innovation of the project arises from the first application of the active service-learning methodology in economics at this university for both students and teachers. Secondly, it is a curricular sustainability initiative from a bottom-up approach, given the inclusion of new contents concerning sustainability, such as the SDGs, which are not covered in the subject descriptors. The application of curricular sustainability involves changing the focus towards a holistic and dynamic vision, which concerns all the elements of programming. Thus, education is a key driver to train citizens engaged with sustainable development and local communities.

This paper presents the main results of this experience, focusing on its main advantages and difficulties, based on the opinion of the different kind of involved stakeholders. This feedback is collected in surveys, interviews and focus group. Among the advantages, the improvement in learning processes and soft skills, such as teamwork, communicative competences and higher social engagement, highlight. It contributes to enhancing the personal, social and professional development of degree students.

The lessons learnt from this long path as well as the opportunities for improvement may be useful for other similar experiences in any educational level. Moreover, the results are relevant for the implementation of the local policies and for sustainable development.

This experience has been awarded the First Prize for Teaching Innovation 2023 by the Faculty of Economics and Business Sciences (University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain) in its first edition.

Keywords: Service-Learning, Sustainable Development Goals, Urban Agenda, curricular sustainability, teaching innovation.