Among the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), SDG #11 aims to make future cities resilient and sustainable while, SDG #6 aims to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. In this study, the following five attributes for assessing wastewater infrastructure that can support sustainable cities are distilled from the targets set for SDG #11, #6 and other wastewater-related SDGs: reuse-quality water recovery; safe pathogen reduction; energy use and recovery in wastewater treatment; biofertilizer recovery from wastewater; and emission reduction in wastewater treatment. A total of 36 process parameters are derived to quantify these five attributes. Application of this sustainability-based approach in evaluating an emergent algal-based sewage treatment and resource recovery (STaRR) system against the traditional activated sludge-base sewage treatment practices is presented. This study emphasizes the contribution and the influence of wastewater infrastructures for the sustainability of cities and suggests that the emergent STaRR system is a sustainable pathway to provide wastewater utility service to future cities and to accomplish UN SDGs and targets.