Journal of Cleaner Production 141 (2017) 868e880

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Journal of Cleaner Production

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

Review

Analysis on sustainable urban development levels and trends

in China's cities
Bin Yang a, b, Tong Xu a, b, Longyu Shi a, *
a
Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, 361021, China
b
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Sustainable development in cities, as a new concept proposed after the construction of global industrial
Received 19 May 2016 cities, makes up for the shortages and defects of industrial city development theory and provides new
Received in revised form theories and methods for the sound development of cities. The work reported here, based on research
6 September 2016
into sustainable development in cities in China and abroad, puts forward a linear dimensionless coor-
Accepted 16 September 2016
Available online 19 September 2016
dinate system of urban sustainable development to evaluate 287 cities in the eastern, central, and
western regions in China to research. We used the linear dimensionless analysis method to conduct a
quantitative analysis of the main influencing factors of sustainable development in cities. According to
Keywords:
Sustainable development
the areas of the coordinate system of sustainable development in cities in which social, economic, and
Sustainable development evaluation environmental benefits were located and urban ecological costs were measured, we found that sus-
Social, economic, and environmental tainable development in cities was divided into cities of sustainable development, cities of moderately
benefits sustainable development, and cities of unsustainable development. According to the study, most cities in
Ecological cost mainland China are developing sustainably and the level of sustainable development in cities is
Linear dimensionless analysis increasing. Almost all cities in the central region are developing sustainably, and most of the western and
eastern cities are developing sustainably. A small number of cities are lagging in terms of sustainable
development and a few eastern cities are developing unsustainably. Sustainable development in cities in
the eastern region started early and the level of sustainable development there has been good. Sus-
tainable development in cities in the western region started late and the state of sustainable develop-
ment there has been poor. Based on the results of research, we suggest some regulations and control
policies for sustainable urban development.
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 869
2. Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 869
2.1. The concept of sustainable development in cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 869
2.2. Assessment methods for sustainable development in cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 870
3. Research methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 871
3.1. Linear dimensionless method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 871
3.2. Sustainable development in cities assessment index system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 872
3.2.1. EC assessment index and assessment system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 872
3.2.2. Urban SEEB and assessment system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 872
3.3. Non-linear dimension of coordinate system for sustainable development in cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 873
4. Case study description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 873
5. Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 873
5.1. Analysis of sustainable development evolution in cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 873
5.2. Analysis of sustainable development level and trend in cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 875

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: [email protected] (L. Shi).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.09.121
0959-6526/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 B. Yang et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 141 (2017) 868e880 869

5.3. Analysis of sustainable development in cities based on the geographical perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 876
5.3.1. Regional difference analysis of sustainable development evolution in cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 876
5.3.2. Analysis of regional differences in the average level of sustainable development in cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 876
5.3.3. Analysis of regional differences in sustainable development trends in cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 876
6. Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 878
7. Conclusions and suggestions for sustainable development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 879
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 879
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 879

1. Introduction and Development in the 21st Century, which for the first time
incorporated sustainable development into the long-term planning
In 2016, almost 50% the 7.3 billion people in the world resided in of China's economic and social development. In China, sustainable
cities. In China, 54% of the population of 1.3 billion lives in cities. It is development is defined as development that considers current and
estimated that about 67% of world's population will live in cities by future development needs and meets the interests of the current
2050. Regional urbanization processes will increase the social and generation without causing future generations to pay the price of
ecological costs in cities and bring certain social, economic, and meeting current interests.
environmental benefits to urban residents. A country's urbaniza- Scholars in China and abroad have various opinions on sus-
tion level is its performance at improving the national standard of tainable development in cities. There is general agreement, how-
living, and is a sign of the country's development in terms of ever, that sustainable development in cities is achieved by
economy and comprehensive national strength. In the course of coordinated development of economy, society, environment, pop-
urbanization, cities utilize limited natural resources to develop a ulation, and resources in an urban system. The key findings of
social economy and continuously improve living standards. As ur- Chinese and international research are as follows.
banization processes develop, however, environmental problems 1) Sustainable development in cities is the coordinated devel-
associated with urban economic construction occur; these prob- opment of three key systems: environment, economy, and society
lems include urban heat islands, air pollution, and progressive (Dias et al., 2014; Shaker and Sirodoev, 2016). These systems pro-
exhaustion of resources. Sound urban development is therefore an vide the foundations, conditions, and purpose of sustainable
object of study, and sustainability has increasingly become the development in cities (Guo and Guo, 2012). Sustainable develop-
theme of urban development. During 1990e2010, sustainable ment in cities maintains harmony among social progress, envi-
development in cities has gradually become a basic value of urban ronmental support, and economic development (Xu and Zhang,
planning. Sustainable urban development, which is in the devel- 2001). It is achieved by improving environmental quality, social
opment phase, is a complicated long-term process, and its study equity, and economic benefits (Shaker and Sirodoev, 2016). Sus-
involves in many disciplines. Since the 1992 UN Conference on tainable development in cities involves sustainable changes in
Environment and Development, international society has succes- population, sustainable development of resources and environ-
sively promoted various sustainable development plans and mental markets, and sustainable change of urban governance (Yang
agendas (Harret et al., 1997). The Chinese government passed and Shi, 2011). These changes and the complex ecological system of
China's Agenda 21 in 1994; it proposed the strategic targets of the urban environment, society, and economy become balanced
promoting mutually coordinated sustainable development in and coordinated with a reasonable structure, optimized organiza-
economy, society, resources, and environment. Sustainable devel- tion, and highly effective operation (Li et al., 2007; Tran, 2016). The
opment in cities is the strategic part of sustainable development (Li sustainability of development in cities is reflected in the sustain-
et al., 2007). Scholars in China and abroad have conducted research ability of resource and urban systems (Dai, 2006; Zhou et al., 2016;
on sustainable development in cities, and this research provides Barhram and Soheila, 2010; Pardo, 2015).
theoretical reference and guiding ideas for sustainable develop- 2) Sustainable development in cities must be based on sus-
ment. This has had a crucial impact on the sound development of tainable urban organization and administration. Sustainable
cities. development can be achieved only by sustainable social organiza-
tion and municipal administration (Pelizer et al., 2004). In the
2. Background context of sustainable development in cities, urban communities
must be provided with municipal rubbish administrations (Agata,
2.1. The concept of sustainable development in cities 2014). Other elements include daptive management, transition
management and payments for environmental services (Mattia
The concept of sustainable development was introduced in the et al., 2015). Urban monitoring systems that can adapt to environ-
World Conservation Strategy, jointly issued in 1980 by the Inter- mental and climatic changes should be established. This would
national Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the United allow city managers to incorporate Earth observation-based geo-
Nations Environment Program (UNEP), and the World Wildlife spatial products and geo-information services in their climate and
Fund (WWF). It was officially introduced in Our Common Future, environmental change strategies at the district level to support the
issued by the United Nations World Commission on Environment sustainable cities (Roos and Perter, 2015). Advanced and ubiquitous
and Development in 1987, which defines it as development that IT infrastructure and services for city management, convenience,
meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of and safety of citizens can be applied to facilitate sustainable urban
future generations to meet their own needs. In 1997, the 15th Na- development (Jeong and Lee, 2008). An autonomous sustainable
tional Congress of the Communist Party of China defined sustain- neighborhood, which represents self-sufficiency, self-management,
able development strategy as a strategy that “must be implemented and independence and indicates an autonomous zone in the city
in the modernization construction” of China. In 2000, the govern- and a parallel urban space, could be formed and structured by “the
ment prepared the Whitepaper on China's Population, Environment, four pillars of urban sustainability” (energy pillar and natural
870 B. Yang et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 141 (2017) 868e880

resources, sustainable transport, socio-economic balance, and urban systems. Researchers use a certain subsystems to conduct the
sustainable urban design elements) (Medved, 2016). evaluation of sustainable development in cities on the same level of
3) Sustainable cities must have adequate space to freely develop the urban system and other subsystems. According to the sub-
and change their structure toward increasingly sustainable devel- systems that are selected, the evaluation methods of sustainable
opment. Sustainable development in cities is a changing process in development in cities can be divided into single-system methods,
which the number of cities grows from small to large, the scale of two-systems methods, three-systems methods, four-systems
cities develops from low to high level, and structure of cities de- methods, and five-systems methods. These methods are summa-
velops from dissonance to harmony, and from non-sustainability to rized as follows.
sustainability (Harret et al., 1997). Sustainable development in 1) Select a single subsystem such as society, economy, envi-
cities is the combined development of cities at the micro, inter- ronment, resources, spatial scale, management, or another urban
mediate, and macro levels (Yigitcanlar et al., 2015). Sustainable subsystem to evaluate in terms of sustainable development in cit-
development in cities is harmonious and unified with the external ies. Select the urban environment to evaluate. For example, the
environment in the time and space dimensions of a territory (Wang urban microclimate is dynamic and complex, and arises from the
et al., 2001). The design of sustainable cities can be applied to larger urban climate or form. Use the urban microclimate evalua-
improve the comfort level of the micro-environment (Nyuk et al., tion method to establish urban thermal comfort and urban po-
2011). The term, “sponge city” refers to a city that, like a sponge, tential energy consumption maps, and use an urban livability index
can absorb, purify, and retain rainwater. During periods of drought, to evaluate sustainable development in cities (Nyuk et al., 2011).
a sponge city can release and use water reasonably to meet its Sustainable development in cities can also be assessed through the
water requirements. In regions with water ecology crises, sponge difference autoregressive moving average-neural network (ARIMA-
cities could be established to achieve sustainable urban develop- BP) model, which evaluates the influence of urban environmental
ment (Li et al., 2016). Sustainable development in cities can also be pressure, environmental status, and environmental responses in
established by building ecological infrastructure, which effectively terms of the various environmental indexes (Song et al., 2016). The
provides “free” energy storage, facilitates reduced water and energy evaluation methods concerning the role of resources in sustainable
consumption, lowers dependence on centralized systems, enables a development in cities involve factor analysis to measure resource
larger share of renewables in the electrical power mix, reduces efficiency and calculate ecological efficiency. Analyzing the influ-
vehicle-miles traveled, and increases tax revenue (Pandit et al., ence of economic development, investment in environmental
2015; Karatas and Rayes, 2015). Sustainable development in cities improvement, city type, and other factors on resource-based city
can further be established by ecological urban planning and con- ecological efficiency enables researchers to reflect the condition of
struction. Based on the idea of sustainable development, sustain- sustainable development in particularly resource-dependent cities
able urban construction can be achieved through planning that is (Guo et al., 2014). Researchers also inspect the influence of those
more environmentally friendly and through conversion of the factors on resource and environmental efficiency to assess overall
economy, society, culture, organizational structures, government, ecological efficiency. Assessing sustainable management in the
and substance (Ernst et al., 2016; Deakin and Reid, 2014; Stanislav evaluation of sustainable urban development involves five stan-
et al., 2016). dards (equity, democracy, legitimacy, the handling of scale issues,
According to our study, sustainable development in cities means and the handling of uncertainty issues), which reflect the govern-
dividing urban subsystems along the perspectives of ecological ment's challenges in the management of sustainable development.
input and urban, social, and economic benefit, improving economic Evaluating of sustainable development strategy, standard of sus-
income and living quality for urban residents. It also involves tainable development management, and improvements to that
seeking the maximum social, economic, and environmental bene- management of sustainable urban development (Roos and Perter,
fits and pursuing the sustainable development of cities in time and 2015). Set up the quantitative indexes of sustainable development
space by adjusting the dynamic balance of ecological inputs and of population density and development, public transportation,
urban social and economic environmental benefits. It requires that solid waste management, liquid waste management, air moni-
urban economic development, social resource consumption, and toring, clean water supply, public health, and medical services to
urban ecological costs do not exceed the carrying capacity of the evaluate municipal management. Set up management models that
urban ecological systems. It is based on respect for natural laws, may be implemented with reasonable administrative effort and
urban development laws, and social development in the course of cost. Build management models that may be implemented with
urban development; it is also guided by knowledge of ecology, reasonable administrative effort and cost (Pelizer et al., 2004).
sociology, and economics. Select the urban spatial scale to evaluate sustainable development
in cities. Sustainable development in cities involves geographic
2.2. Assessment methods for sustainable development in cities scales from the microcosmic to the medium to the macroscopic.
Use the multi-scalar urban sustainability assessment approach to
Assessment of sustainable development in cities is a long, evaluate the urban sustainability performance at the micro and
complicated, and systematic process that involves a range of spatial medium level, and provide the multi-scalar result for the evalua-
dimensions. Scholars have developed many assessment methods tion at the macro level (Yigitcanlar et al., 2015). One can analyze
for sustainable development in cities. Typically, these concern ur- economic growth as the independent variable and measure the
ban society, economics, the environment, natural resources, pop- level of urban sustainability by the energy synthesis as the
ulation, and space. The evaluation of sustainable development in dependent variable. Analyze the mutual relations among the level
cities is a complex course that is characterized by being strictly of sustainable urban development, economic growth, and the for-
systematic, and having a long evaluation cycle with a wide range in mation mechanism (Huang and Huang, 2015).
spatial scale. Scholars at home and abroad have developed many 2) Select two subsystems among the economy, environment,
evaluation methods of sustainable development in cities. For the resources, and other urban subsystems, or take the urban system
evaluation of sustainable development in cities, scholars conduct a and subsystem at the same level to evaluate two systems for sus-
systematic evaluation mainly through several subsystems in soci- tainable development in cities. The evaluation methods are as fol-
ety, economy, environment, and resources. These subsystems lows. The city is regarded as the organic combination of natural and
involve special scale and management and other subsystems in artificial systems. Analyze the urban bearing capacity of the natural
 B. Yang et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 141 (2017) 868e880 871

and artificial systems in the area to evaluate the urban bearing stakeholders' feedback on urban sustainable performance, evaluate
capacity. The urban bearing capacity is an important index and sustainable urban development (Karatas and Rayes, 2015).
standard of sustainable cities. Analysis of the urban bearing ca- 4) Select the four subsystems of population, economy, society,
pacity can provide suggestions to city planners and managers for and environment to evaluate sustainable development in cities. The
improving the city; this could play an important role in sustainable indexes of the sustainable development in cities reflect key trends
development in cities (Wei et al., 2015). Select the relation between in the environment, social system, economy, and quality of life.
environment and urban development to evaluate sustainable They are regarded as important and efficient means to evaluate the
development in cities. Set up the development index for aspects of goals of sustainable development in cities. Use data clustering
development in cities and use the ecological footprint index to analysis to differentiate the three types of non-category urban data:
evaluate sustainable development in cities. Use the urban devel- stakeholder opinion, expert opinion, and integrated quantitative
opment index and ecological footprint index comprehensively to information. According to their common features, divide them into
analyze sustainable development in cities and measure the trans- clusters to study and analyze sustainable development in cities
formation degree from the resource consumption type to the (Tran, 2016).
environment friendly type (Guo and Yan, 2016). For the sustainable 5) Select the five subsystems of population, economy, society,
development evaluation of tourist-type cities, divide sustainable environment, and resources to evaluate sustainable urban devel-
development in cities into the sustainable development of tourism opment and regard sustainable development in cities as a com-
resources and the sustainable development of the urban system. pound system that consists of those subsystems. This evaluation
They interact and neither can be omitted. Use the fuzzy evaluation assesses each subsystem and the harmony among them. Use factor
method to calculate the impact of the two main factors and build an analysis, degree of coordination development, and other methods
index system of sustainable development in cities to evaluate the to construct an evaluation model of coordinated development.
tourist city (Dai, 2006). Then conduct a quantitative description for a) the interaction of the
3) Select the three subsystems of society, economy, and the elements of the five subsystems in compound system, and b) the
environment to evaluate sustainable development in cities. Use the degree of positive interaction coupling among the systems (Yang
full array and polygons of an integrated graphic method to set up and Shi, 2011).
the sustainable development index for cities of different sizes. This paper, based on Chinese and international scholarly
There are 24 indexes of economic development, social progress, research on concept and assessment methods sustainable devel-
and ecological environment to use when conducting a compre- opment in cities, considers the limits of the cited assessment
hensive evaluation of sustainable development in cities (Sun et al., methods. These evaluation methods cannot compare different
2016a,b; Li et al., 2007). Convert the environmental evaluation types of city development at several different time points; neither
method to an environment, economy, and society evaluation in can it compare development conditions of a given city at different
order to evaluate sustainable development in cities. These assess- time points. Apply the linear dimensionless method to deal with
ment methods are capable of evaluating the environmental ca- indexes of sustainable development in cities at different times, and
pacity necessary to qualify the ecological integrity of urban either build a two-dimensional sustainable development assess-
development. They also provide the techniques of analysis required ment coordinate system or conduct quantitative research on sus-
to evaluate whether the economics of resource distribution is tainable development in cities by assessing different cities at
equitable. That is, the methods assess whether the economics of different times in the same coordinate system. This study proposes
resource distribution are equitable in terms of public participation. a systematic assessment system model for sustainable develop-
They do so because they are based on socially inclusive decisions ment in cities.
about the future of cities (Martinat et al., 2016). Sustainable
development in cities should be a harmonious process of urban 3. Research methods
economic development, social progress, and environmental sup-
port. Adopt the entropy evaluation method to solve the index Considering the incommensurability within the original index
weight calculation. Set up a comprehensive four-level evaluation data of sustainable development in cities, the researchers chose the
index system of sustainable development in cities. Construct three linear dimensionless method to eliminate the rigidity of different
composite indexes: the social progress index, the resources and urban attributes and to gain integrated indexes of sustainable
environmental support index, and the economic development in- development in cities. These include the urban ecological cost in-
dex (Zhang, 2004). Use the linear combination model of the dex and the index of urban economic environment. According to
weighting method that evaluates the economic, social, and envi- the indexes of sustainable development in cities, we established a
ronmental subsystems to evaluate the level of ability level and the linear dimensionless coordinate model of sustainable development
degree of ability coordination (Zhang and An, 2011). The index in cities assessment to assess sustainable development in 287
system of sustainable development in cities is the basic element Chinese cities. The work consisted of three steps: 1) Index selection
that reflects a city's economic, social, and environmental health and index dimensionless processing, 2) establishing a coordinate
over a long time. It also identifies drivers of sustainable develop- system for sustainable development in cities, and 3) evaluation
ment. Use the comprehensive evaluation method to evaluate the analysis. The data from China's city statistical yearbook of every five
level status, development status, and coordination status (Xu and years from 1985 to 2010.
Zhang, 2001). Society must be committed to improving environ-
mental quality, social equity, and economic welfare to achieve 3.1. Linear dimensionless method
sustainable development. The sustainable development of urban
communities focuses on four goals: improving the quality of the Linear dimensionless analysis can be used to assess the
social life of urban residents, expanding economic development, comprehensive benefits when project indicators are incommen-
promoting economic growth, and enhancing environmental pro- surable. The dimensions of indicators with different properties can
tection in developing areas. Different stakeholders priorities those be eliminated by mathematical manipulation. Indicator values can
goals differently, leading to different choices by urban planners. be converted to index values, which can be added to form
Based on the performance evaluation method of sustainable comprehensive indexes of evaluated benefits. The methods that are
development for urban stakeholders, and according to multiple often used include the range method, the extremum method, the Z-
872 B. Yang et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 141 (2017) 868e880

score method, the method of specific gravity, the percentage

method, the rank method, etc. (Ding et al., 2001). 1
ECI ¼ ðULRI þ UWCI þ ERCI þ UPDIÞ (4)
Range method: Assume there are m assessment targets. n ob- 4
servations are conducted for each assessment target, with xij as the
ECI has a value between 0 and 1 and shows the urban EC status
jth observation value for ith assessment target. The standardization
at different times during the research period. Values closer to
treatment is conducted for xij, and the dimensionless after-
0 indicate less water, land, and energy resources consumed and
treatment is yij . The treatment methods are as follows.
wastewater discharged in the course of urban development. Higher
Positive index:
values of urban EC is indicate more water, land, and energy re-
xij  xmin sources consumed and waste water discharged in the course of
yij ¼ (1) urban development. Based on the values of the urban EC index, our
xmax  xmin
study categorized cities on an annual basis as grade A (cities with
Negative index: lower EC) and grade B (cities with higher EC). Please see Table 1.
Index instruction and treatment:ULRI is composed of three sub-
xmax  xij
yij ¼ (2) indexes: urban construction land index (UCLI), the urban residen-
xmax  xmin tial land index (URLI), and the urban green land index (UGLI). UCLI,
Among which, m  i  1，n  j  1, xmax , and xmin are the URLI, UGLI, the urban water resources consumption index, urban
maximum and minimum of them  n matrix composed by m  n ERCI, and urban pollution index are measured by construction land
observation values obtained by n observations of m assessment area per capita, urban residential land area, urban green land area
targets, respectively (i.e. mxmax  xij  xmin ). Further, 1  yij  0, per capita, urban water consumption per capita, fossil energy
which means that greater values of yij indicate greater benefit consumption per capita, and urban absolute wastewater discharge
status. The ith assessment target is assessed during the jth obser- per capita, respectively. Please find the sorted materials in the
vation, and vice versa. attachment.

3.2. Sustainable development in cities assessment index system

Our research chose 10 dimensions indexes: urban construction 3.2.2. Urban SEEB and assessment system
land, land for urban green space, the fossil energy consumption, the Urban SEEB refers to the public benefits, social scientific
urban water consumption per capita, absolute emissions per capita, development, and economic conditions of some population and
urban sewage, life expectancy per capita, social education financial some social EC during a period. It includes indexes such as life
input, GDP per capita, and Engel's coefficient. According to the expectancy, education and finance expenditure, GDP per capita,
social attributes reflected by various indexes, we used the linear and Engel's coefficient. The social economic environment benefits
dimensionless method of positive indexes to handle the first nine index (SEEBI) is the arithmetic mean of life expectancy index (LEI),
indexes, and the linear dimensionless method of negative indexes education rights index (ERI), and urban material life index (UMLI).
to handle Engel's coefficient and form the new index value. Ac-
cording to the social attributes they reflect, 6 indexesdurban 1
construction land, land for urban green space, fossil energy con- UMLI ¼ ðII þ LCIÞ (5)
2
sumption, urban water consumption per capita, absolute emissions
per capita, and urban sewagedreflect the relationship between
1
urban residents and urban ecology. The index of life expectancy per SEEBI ¼ ðLEI þ ERI þ UMLIÞ (6)
capita, the index of social education financial input, the index of 3
GDP per capita, and the index of Engel's coefficient reflect the social EBI has values between 0 and 1, and reflects the urban SEEB
life condition of urban residents. Our research adopted urban development conditions at different times during the research
ecological cost (EC) and social economic environment benefits period. Higher urban SEEBI values indicate longer the life expec-
(SEEB)to show the relationships among urban residents, urban tancy per capita and higher levels of social education and finance
ecology, and the social life of urban residents. We put EC and SEEB input. Lower urban SEEBI values indicate shorter life expectancy
in a comprehensive framework and set up the assessment method per capita and lower social education and finance inputs. The lower
of the evaluation coordinate system for sustainable urban the GDP per capita, the higher the Engel's coefficient.
development. Based on the SEEBI, this paper conducted assessment research
on cities, dividing the cities into two grades: grade I (sustainable
3.2.1. EC assessment index and assessment system cities with higher SEEB) and grade II (sustainable cities with lower
EC represents the land, energy, and water consumed, and the SEEB), as shown in Table 2.
pollution discharged, by urban development under the conditions SEEBI is composed of three sub-indexes: the life expectancy
of population size, sophistication of scientific technology, and social index (LEI), education rights index (ERI), and urban material life
economy during a period. It includes indexes such as water re- index (UMLI). UMLI is composed of the income index (II) and the
sources, construction land, residential land, greening land, fossil living cost index (LCI). LEI, ERI, II, and LCI are measured by life ex-
fuel consumption, and absolute pollution discharge. The urban EC pectancy per capita, education and finance expenditure per capita,
Index (ECI) is the arithmetic mean of the urban land resource index GDP per capita, and the urban Engel's coefficient, respectively.
(ULRI), urban water consumption index (UWCI), energy resources
consumption index (ERCI), and urban pollution discharge index
Table 1
(UPDI). Urban EC classification and the sustainable development standard.

1 Urban EC grade ECI Assessment

ULRI ¼ ðUWUI þ ULRI þ UECIÞ (3)
3 A Low Lower EC
B High Higher EC
 B. Yang et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 141 (2017) 868e880 873

Table 2 Table 3
Urban SEEB classification and sustainable development standard. Annual sustainable urban development classification for cities.

Urban annual SEEB grade SEEBI Assessment Sustainable development grade in cities SEEBI ECI

Ⅰ High Higher SEEB Sustainable development Ⅰ A

Ⅱ Low Lower SEEB Moderately sustainable development Ⅰ B
Ⅱ A
Unsustainable development Ⅱ B

3.3. Non-linear dimension of coordinate system for sustainable

development in cities
economic belts into account, our study selected 287 large, medium,
We used the non-linear dimension analysis to handle the and small cities for quantitative analysis. These cities represented
different rigidities of urban indexes to gain the assessment index of the western, central, and eastern regions of mainland China. The
urban EC and the index of urban SEEB. We also used statistical western area included 73 cities in 10 provinces, municipalities
analysis to conduct the quantitative research on the levels of sus- directly under the central government, and autonomous regions
tainable development in cities. In the assessment index of sus- such as Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, Xinjiang, Sichuan,
tainable development in cities, the ecological cost index ECI) and Chongqing, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Tibet. The central region
the index of urban social economic environment benefits (SEEBI) included 102 cities in 9 provinces and autonomous regions such as
can directly reflect a city's development state. With the urban ECI as Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Henan,
the X-axis and with urban SEEBI as the Y-axis, we set up the co- Hubei, and Hunan. The eastern region included 112 cities in 12
ordinate system of sustainable development in cities. In the social provinces, municipalities directly under the central government,
coordinate system of sustainable development in cities, with the and autonomous regions such as Liaoning, Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei,
median of urban social welfare index (0.284) for all ages and in all Shandong, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong,
cities, and the median of the ecological cost index (0.057) as the Guangxi, and Hainan.
dividing datum line, we set up the coordinate system of sustainable Our research used linear dimensionless analysis to conduct the
development assessments in cities. non-rigidity processing of the annual non-commensurable indexes
The coordinate system was divided into four areas (Fig. 1). Every and to form the corresponding indexes. According to the social
point in the coordinate system and the location it identifies shows attributes that were reflected by various indexes, we formed the ECI
the relevant positions and status of urban EC and SEEB of a city at a and the SEEBI, which reflect the sustainable development level in
sustainable development level. The cities in Area AⅠ are cities of cities comprehensively and set up the coordinate system of sus-
sustainable development. These cities achieved relatively high tainable development in cities assessment based on the non-linear
SEEB with relatively low EC consumption. The cities in Area AⅡ dimensional analysis. According to the unified assessment crite-
were cities of moderately sustainable development. These cities rion, we put the sustainable development in cities indexes from
achieved relatively low SEEB with relatively low EC consumption. different periods in a unified coordinate system, and assessed the
The cities in Area BⅠ were cities of moderately sustainable devel- sustainable development level of the 287 Chinese cities every five
opment. These cities achieved relatively high SEEB with relatively years from 1985 to 2010. Using the coordinate system of sustainable
high EC consumption. And the cities in Area BⅡ were cities of un- development in cities, we analyzed the sustainable development
sustainable development. These cities achieved relatively low SEEB level and the sustainable development evolution of sustainable
with relatively high EC consumption. Cities could therefore be development cities in China on an annual basis. Finally, we
classified as cities of sustainable development, cities of moderately analyzed the sustainable urban development condition and the
sustainable development, and cities of unsustainable development, regional differences among the eastern, central, and western eco-
as shown in Table 3. nomic belts.

5. Results
4. Case study description
According to the index algorithm and the sustainable develop-
Based on the data from China's city statistical yearbook of every ment in cities assessment coordinate system of the sustainable
five years from 1985 to 2010, and taking China's three major urban development indexes ECI and SEEBI, we plotted the position
of every city in each year in the sustainable development assess-
ment coordinate system (as shown in Fig. 2).
Fig. 2 shows the sustainable development in cities evolution of
every city in terms of its sustainable development level and
regional differences in sustainable development.

5.1. Analysis of sustainable development evolution in cities

The coordinate changes in the non-linear dimension of the

sustainable development coordinate system show the evolution of
sustainable development in cities. According to changing city
conditions in the coordinate system, evolution can be divided into
positive sustainable development, lagging sustainable develop-
ment, and reverse sustainable development. As shown in Fig. 3,
from left to right the arrows show the changing coordinate trends
of the cities. Among these trends, the urban sustainability of the
positive sustainable development is increasing, the sustainability of
Fig. 1. Sustainable development assessment coordinate system. the reverse sustainable development is decreasing or staying at the
874 B. Yang et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 141 (2017) 868e880

Fig. 2. Sustainable development in cities coordination in mainland China from 1985 to 2010.

level of unsustainable development, and the sustainability of the Table 4 show that most of the cities exhibited positive sustainable
lagging sustainable development is staying at the level of moder- development, several cities exhibited lagging sustainable devel-
ately sustainable development. opment, and a very few cities exhibited reverse sustainable
Based on the urban evolution displayed in Fig. 3, we compared development. Most Category AⅠ cities retained their original con-
and analyzed the coordinate graph of each city to reveal the evo- dition of sustainable development, and most Category AII cities
lution process of each city. We selected the coordinate graphs of became AⅠcities of sustainable development. Most Category BⅠ cities
1985 and in 2010, and compared and analyzed the linear dimen- kept their original level of moderately sustainable development.
sionless value of the sustainable development coordinate at the Fewer than half of these cities moved into Category AⅠ. About half of
two time points to reveal the sustainable development evolution in the Category BII cities evolved to become cities of moderately
cities from 1985 to 2010, as shown in Table 4. sustainable development in Category BⅠ, and the rest of the cities
The proportions of the various evolution processes displayed in became Category AⅠ cities of sustainable development.
 B. Yang et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 141 (2017) 868e880 875

Fig. 3. Sustainable urban development evolution.

Table 4
Sustainable urban development evolution.

Evolutionary process Coordinate area Sustainable urban development level Quantity Ratio

1985 2010 1985 2010

Reverse sustainable development AⅠ BⅠ Sustainable development Moderately sustainable development 7 0.03

AⅠ BⅡ Sustainable development Unsustainable development 1
Positive sustainable development AⅠ AⅠ Sustainable development Sustainable development 12 0.76
BⅠ AⅠ Moderately sustainable development Sustainable development 8
AⅡ AⅠ Moderately sustainable development Sustainable development 71
BⅡ AⅠ Unsustainable development Sustainable development 62
BⅡ BⅠ Unsustainable development Moderately sustainable development 63
BⅡ AⅡ Unsustainable development Medium sustainable development 1
Lag sustainable development BⅠ BⅠ Moderately sustainable development Moderately sustainable development 12 0.21
AⅡ BⅠ Moderately sustainable development Moderately sustainable development 45
AⅡ AⅡ Moderately sustainable development Moderately sustainable development 4

5.2. Analysis of sustainable development level and trend in cities development level of residents' life expectancy, education
spending, and urban material life declined. In the course of urban
From Fig. 2, we can see the level and trend of sustainable development, the comprehensive consumption of four urban
development in cities in our sample of cities of mainland China by ecological costs of water resources, land resources, energy re-
area for each year. sources and wastewater discharging decreased.
For example, we can see the sustainable development level in The category BⅡ cities of unsustainable development with high
cities in 1985 for the China mainland, and the category AⅠcities of EC and low SEEB included 126 cities such as Chengdu, Changsha,
sustainable development include 20, such as Dongwan, Haikou, and Beihai. The urban SEEB of these cities was lower than the da-
and Shanya. The urban environment economic benefit level of tum line of SEEB. The urban ECs of these cities were higher than the
these cities is higher than the standard line of SEEB, and the urban datum line of urban EC. Although the comprehensive consumption
EC is lower than the datum line of urban EC. The comprehensive of four urban ecological costs of water resources, land resources,
development level of residents' life expectancy, education energy resources, and wastewater discharging increased in the
spending, and urban material life of these cities has improved. In course of urban development, the comprehensive development
the course of urban development, the comprehensive consumption level of residents' life expectancy, education spending, and urban
of four urban ecological costs of water resources, land resources, material life declined.
energy resources, and pollution emissions is smaller. The regional changes of cities in the non-linear dimensional
The category BⅠcities of moderately sustainable development coordinate system of sustainable development (as shown in
with high ecological costs and high social and economic benefits Table 5) show the trend of sustainable urban development.
included 21 cities such as Shanghai, Zhuhai, and Shenzheng. The Table 5 displays the calculation of the proportional changes
urban SEEB level and the urban EC of these cities were higher than among sustainable development cities at 5-year intervals between
the datum lines of each index. In addition, the comprehensive 1985 and 2010. Changes reflect the percentage accumulation area
development level of residents' life expectancy, education
spending, and urban material life has improved. In the course of
urban development, the comprehensive consumption of four urban Table 5
The number of various developmental cities.
ecological costs of water resources, land resources, energy re-
sources, and wastewater discharging increased. The category AⅡ Time 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
cities of moderately sustainable development with low EC and low Category AⅠ 20 11 23 88 143 153
SEEB included 120 cities such as Haerbin, Hangzhou, and Tangshan. Category AⅡ 120 89 139 61 7 7
The urban SEEB level and urban EC of these cities decreased relative Category BⅠ 21 26 36 87 128 125
Category BⅡ 126 161 89 51 9 2
to the datum line of each index, and the comprehensive
876 B. Yang et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 141 (2017) 868e880

chart of the sustainable urban development cities and accounts for of sustainable development or moderately sustainable develop-
all cities (as shown in Fig. 4). ment as normal developments. Only a minority of the eastern cities
According to Fig. 4, the proportions of Category AⅠ and BⅠ cities exhibited the positive sustainable development phenomenon.
increased, while those of Category AⅡ and BⅡ cities decreased. The
proportion line of low-EC cities fluctuated around 50%, but
5.3.2. Analysis of regional differences in the average level of
exhibited a rising trend overall. It can be seen that an increasing
sustainable development in cities
number of cities in China have moved into the categories repre-
According to sustainable development in cities research of each
senting cities of sustainable development and cities of moderately
city in every year examined, and based on the division of mainland
sustainable development with high SEEB, high EC, and high SEEB.
China into economic zones and the index algorithm of sustainable
At the same time, most of the examined Chinese cities were higher
urban development, we obtained the average index of sustainable
ecological cities, but overall, development was toward low EC cities.
urban development for each city in each region. Averages reflect
As the times changed, most city residents' life expectancy, educa-
the regional average of sustainable urban development level, as
tion spending, and the urban comprehensive level of material life
shown in Table 7.
increased. In the process of urban development on the national
Changes of average value of urban sustainability index in
scale, the comprehensive consumption conditions of four urban
eastern, central and western regions of the country in each year
ecological costs of water, land resources, energy resources, and
specified can be derived from Table 7 (as shown in Fig. 5).
pollution emissions had no obvious change.
Fig. 5 shows that the average of urban SEEBI in mainland China
increased during 1985e2010. The mean urban SEEBI values in the
eastern and western regions were the largest and the smallest,
5.3. Analysis of sustainable development in cities based on the
respectively. In terms of the average growth rate of the mean urban
geographical perspective
SEEBI, the increase of eastern region was the fastest, the increase of
central region was second fastest, and the increase of western re-
5.3.1. Regional difference analysis of sustainable development
gion was the slowest. The development of urban SEEB in China
evolution in cities
exceeds the base value of 1998. The difference in urban SEEB be-
According to the city coordinate changes displayed in Fig. 2, the
tween the eastern and western regions increased over the study
sustainable development evolution in cities displayed in Fig. 3, and
period, although the average index of urban EC changed only a little
the division of economic zones in mainland China, we compared
in China as a whole. The EC of the central region was lower than the
and analyzed the level of sustainable urban development in 1985
benchmark of urban EC, and lower than that of either the eastern or
and in 2010. This revealed the regional differences of sustainable
western regions. The EC of eastern region reached a maximum after
urban development evolution from 1985 to 2010, as shown in
1990, and was higher than the standard of urban EC.
Table 6.
Table 6 shows the evolution of sustainable development in cities
according to Chinese economic zones and regional differences. 5.3.3. Analysis of regional differences in sustainable development
Concerning the regional distribution of positive sustainable urban trends in cities
development cities, the proportion of central cities was the largest, According to the results of our statistical classification method
the proportion of western cities was second largest, and the pro- as seen in Table 3, the mainland China cities were categorized as
portion of eastern cities was the smallest. We took the positive eastern, central, or western, and the number of sustainable devel-
evolution of the central cities in which cities of unsustainable opment cities for each study year and region can be seen in Table 8.
development developed into the cities of sustainable development From Table 8, we calculated the proportion of cities in each
or cities of moderately sustainable development as a normal category for the eastern, central, and western regions, as shown in
development. the percentage accumulation area chart of Fig. 6.
We took the positive evolution of the western cities in which Fig. 6 shows the ratio of cities in each developmental category
cities of moderately sustainable development developed into cities by region for each study year. We compared the proportion of cities
of sustainable development as a normal development. We took the of each category in each region at each time point to reflect the
positive evolution of the eastern cities in which cities of moderately sustainable development condition in cities of each region. By
sustainable development developed into sustainable development comparing and analyzing the inter-regional proportions, we ob-
cities, and unsustainable development cities developed into cities tained the inter-regional differences in sustainable development.

Fig. 4. Proportional change trends of different categories of cities.

 B. Yang et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 141 (2017) 868e880 877

Table 6
Evolution process of sustainable development in cities.

Region Evolutionary process Coordinate Sustainable urban development level Quantity Ratio
area

1985 2010 1985 2010

Eastern region Positive sustainable development AⅠ AⅠ Sustainable development Sustainable development 12 0.11 0.70
BⅠ AⅠ Moderately sustainable development 6 0.22
AⅡ AⅠ 19
BⅡ AⅠ Unsustainable development Sustainable development 20 0.18
BⅡ BⅠ Moderately sustainable development 21 0.19
Reverse sustainable development AⅠ BⅠ Sustainable development Moderately sustainable development 5 0.06 0.08
AⅠ AⅡ 2
AⅠ BⅡ Unsustainable development 1 0.01
BⅠ BⅡ Moderately sustainable development Unsustainable development 1 0.01
Lag sustainable development BⅠ BⅠ Moderately sustainable development Moderately sustainable development 11 0.22 0.22
AⅡ BⅠ 12
AⅡ AⅡ 2
Central region Lag sustainable development BⅠ BⅠ Moderately sustainable development Moderately sustainable development 1 0.01 0.01
Positive sustainable development BⅠ AⅠ Moderately sustainable development Sustainable development 2 0.02 0.99
BⅡ AⅠ Unsustainable development 26 0.49
BⅡ AⅠ 24
BⅡ BⅠ Unsustainable development Moderately sustainable development 17 0.48
BⅡ AⅡ 2
BⅡ BⅠ 29
BⅡ AⅡ 1
Western region Positive sustainable development AⅡ AⅠ Moderately sustainable development Sustainable development 26 0.60 0.78
BⅡ AⅠ 18
BⅡ BⅠ Unsustainable development Moderately sustainable development 13 0.18
Lag sustainable development AⅡ BⅠ Moderately sustainable development Moderately sustainable development 16 0.22 0.22

Table 7 over time. That is, urban SEEB increased. The proportion of Cate-
China's regional index average. gory AⅠ cities in each region grew rapidly; this indicates that more
Region Eastern region Central region Western region
cities developed into sustainable development cities with the low
EC and high SEEB. The proportion of Category BⅠcities also grew,
Year ECI SEEBI ECI SEEBI ECI SEEBI
indicating that there were more Category BⅠcities of moderately
1985 0.040 0.223 0.040 0.223 0.062 0.219 sustainable development with high EC and high SEEB. Comparison
1990 0.068 0.233 0.045 0.230 0.067 0.227
and analysis of the proportional changes across the regions
1995 0.064 0.247 0.037 0.244 0.049 0.239
2000 0.056 0.305 0.041 0.304 0.054 0.288 revealed the following: Only the eastern region had Category
2005 0.056 0.367 0.051 0.339 0.058 0.315 AⅠcities of sustainable development in 1985, and the central and
2010 0.062 0.379 0.050 0.343 0.055 0.325 western regions had AⅠcities of sustainable development in 1990

Fig. 5. Mean changes in sustainable development index in cities for the eastern, central, and western regions.

According to the proportion changes in the various regions, we and in 2000. The western region had only Category BⅡ and Category
can see that the proportion of Category AⅠ and BⅠ cities increased AⅡ cities between 1985 and 1995. Since 2000, however, those two
878 B. Yang et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 141 (2017) 868e880

Table 8
The number of cities in each developmental category by region.

Year Regional classification Category AⅠ Category AⅡ Category BⅠ Category BⅡ

1985 Eastern region 20 33 18 41

Central region 0 45 3 54
Western region 0 42 0 31
1990 Eastern region 6 29 14 63
Central region 5 31 12 54
Western region 0 29 0 44
1995 Eastern region 13 50 29 20
Central region 10 43 7 42
Western region 0 46 0 27
2000 Eastern region 52 3 57 0
Central region 18 32 19 33
Western region 18 26 11 18
2005 Eastern region 54 1 52 5
Central region 44 3 52 3
Western region 45 9 48 4
2010 Eastern region 57 4 49 2
Central region 52 3 47 0
Western region 44 0 29 0

Fig. 6. Proportion graph of sustainable urban development categories for each region.

types of cities gradually decreased to zero. The percentage growth This research revealed that a city's efficiency of resource utili-
rate of Category AⅠand BⅠcities in the eastern region was faster than zation efficiency and its degree of dependence on nature, or its
that of the western and eastern regions. It can be seen that the cities ecological/environmental vulnerability, could affect its evolution
in eastern region were the first to achieve the sustainable devel- toward sustainable urban development. Sustainable urban devel-
opment, the development of the western region was relatively opment is also affected by resource endowment, climatic features,
slow, and the development efficiency of eastern region was faster population density, etc (Guo et al., 2014). During 1985e2010, most
than that of central or western regions. cities in mainland China developed toward a more sustainable di-
rection. The sustainable development of urban agglomeration has
6. Discussion regional differences, but overall, urban sustainability is increasing.
Through the assessment of urban EC and the SEEB of urban resi-
The innovation of our research was to put forward a new dents, we were able to assess levels of sustainable development in
method of evaluating the level of sustainable development in cities, cities. The level of urban resource consumption and environmental
and to use big data to analyze regional differences in sustainable problems affect urban EC, and population, education, and eco-
development in cities in the country. We used that method to nomics affect urban SEEB. Resources are the material basis of hu-
handle the incommensurability the original data, solve the man survival and sustainable social development. Environmental
incommensurability issue of an evaluation index for sustainable problems restrict sustainable urban development (Guo and Guo,
urban development, and overcome the disadvantages in the in- 2012). The sustainable development of people is the purpose and
dexes and standards used in other methods for evaluating sus- end result of sustainable development (Yang and Shi, 2011), which
tainable development in cities. We constructed a scientific, also affects the residents' life expectancy. Education facilitates a
practical, and objective model of sustainable urban development. In city's innovation capacity and the skills of workers, and is affected
addition, we visualized sustainable development evolution, quan- by educational investment. Sustainable economic development can
tified comprehensive urban development level and regional dif- reflect the ability to solve the problem of sustainable development
ference of urban sustainable development on the national scale, in cities and affect the living standards of people. The sustainable
and comprehensive resource consumption and pollution emis- development of the eastern cities in mainland China is the best, the
sions, to provide pertinence, references, and suggestions for plan- sustainable development of the central region is second best, and
ners of sustainable urban development. the sustainable development of the western region is the worst.
 B. Yang et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 141 (2017) 868e880 879

Regional differences in geographic conditions, climatic conditions, rationally use their resources, and reduce pollutant emissions.
natural conditions and resource endowment cause the differences They must also scientifically and reasonably invest in education,
in regional development. The urban development planning and medical treatment and public health, culture, sports, employ-
policy of our country support the eastern and coastal developed ment, and other social infrastructure to improve their SEEB.
areas, and make these cities the source of the industrial value chain 3) Cities in the western region should make full use of the
(Guo and Guo, 2012). advanced industrial technology of the eastern region, as well as
education resources, medical equipment, and employment op-
7. Conclusions and suggestions for sustainable development portunities to improve their SEEB and reduce the regional dif-
ferences. Cities in the eastern region that are experiencing a
Through the analysis in this paper, we were able to assess urban reversal of sustainable urban development should rationally use
SEEB, urban EC, and ultimately levels of sustainable development in their resources, reduce polluting emissions, and avoid SEEB
cities. Comparisons of positions of the linear dimensionless co- decreases.
ordinates of sustainable development, in which sustainable
development level in cities is located at various time points, Acknowledgements
allowed us to indicate some evolutionary processes of sustainable
development in cities. A geographically based analysis of sustain- This research was supported by the National Nature Science
able development in cities in China enabled the assessment of Foundation of China (71403258 & 41571148) and the National
differences in the evolution of sustainable urban development in Science and Technology Support Program of China (2013BAJ04B01).
different regions, regional sustainable development levels, and
differences in development trends.
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