Abstract
Urban sustainability challenges require digital approaches for environmental decision-making in rapidly growing cities exposed to climate and infrastructural risks. This paper proposes an extended environmental impact assessment framework that combines the classical Leopold matrix, Harrington desirability analytics, SDG-oriented urban indicators, and an Urban Sustainability Index (USI) for sustainable urban project evaluation. The proposed model extends traditional environmental assessment by incorporating indicators such as air quality, transport emissions, green space availability, stormwater quality, energy efficiency, urban heat island effects, and climate resilience. This transformation converts the classical methodology into a digital intelligence-oriented decision-support tool for smart city governance and evidence-based project management. A case-oriented application perspective for Almaty demonstrates the practical relevance of the framework in addressing PM2.5 pollution, transport congestion, limited green infrastructure, water stress, and climate-related urban risks. The introduction of the USI enables comparative evaluation of alternative project scenarios and supports data-driven municipal decision-making. The proposed framework bridges classical environmental impact assessment with SDG-aligned urban sustainability analytics for digital intelligence in sustainable development.