What is 17 Rooms-X?

17 Rooms-X is an accessible methodology designed to help communities around the world take practical steps toward advancing their local economic, social, and environmental priorities for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This can be particularly useful in contexts where local priorities align with the SDGs, even if not explicitly framed in SDG jargon.

17 Rooms-X provides a practical and inclusive approach for communities of any scale to identify specific forms of cooperation to drive their own progress.

The 17 Rooms-X community

The first 17 Rooms-X exercises took place in 2019 on university campuses in Mexico and Spain. Since then, more than 70 communities across more than two dozen countries have experimented with the 17 Rooms approach

In 2021, the Center for Sustainable Development at Brookings and The Rockefeller Foundation launched a community of practice to support experimentation and refinements for the 17 Rooms approach to driving local SDG action. The engaged network of cities, governments, and organizations illustrates the adaptability and versatility of 17 Rooms methods in addressing a wide range of sustainable development challenges and circumstances.

Examples of communities that have convened 17 Rooms-X exercises

  • East Central Florida (USA): Accelerated a multiyear resilience planning process by connecting regional multistakeholder efforts.
  • Cepei (Colombia): Led a regional policy engagement across 10 countries in Latin America.
  • University of Nigeria: Spurred research and addressed critical and interwoven economic, social, and environmental crises facing Nigeria. 

How to get involved

Are you part of a community or organization eager to make a greater impact on sustainable development? 

Please complete the form below if your community or organization is interested in organizing your own 17 Rooms-X. The form takes 15-20 minutes to complete. Communities and organizations may then receive targeted resources, including advice, on how to adopt and adapt 17 Rooms-X, and have the opportunity to participate in a global community of SDG leaders and practitioners.