Unprecedented urban growth makes sustainability in cities a crucial issue for policy makers, scholars and business leaders. This emerging urban crisis challenges environment-based and economic-based approaches to sustainability, and brings to the forefront the multi-faceted and critical role that culture plays in ensuring that cities are viable for future generations. Culture provides fertile ground for new approaches to sustainable development at the local level. This study makes important contributions towards a theory on culture in sustainable cities, assesses the use of cultural indicators as a tool for policymakers, and includes useful case studies of four Asian cities.