Recent sustainability performance in China: Strength-weakness analysis and ranking of provincial cities

Abstract

Since the 1992 United Nations Conference on environment and development held in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and the adoption by China State Council in March 1994 of the "China Agenda 21", sustainability has become a major issue in China urbanization policies. After more than two decades of development practice with a breakneck speed of urbanization, how sustainable is the recent development process in China? This paper combines the frameworks of Cities Prosperity Index (CPI) and Sustainable Cities Index (SCI) and propose a China Urban Sustainability Index by Fuzzy Evaluation (CUSI-FE) as a monitoring tool in the light of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With 5 years data covering 51 indicators, the model is tested to assess the performance of provincial cities in China during 5-years period from 2012 to 2016 (the year of the adoption of the SDGs). The results reveal that the overall sustainability level in China is barely average with lower performances in environmental sustainability. Indeed, a strength/weakness analysis, coupled with sensitivity analysis shows that the economic productivity and the large infrastructure development have had a strong energy cost and a sensible impact on environmental quality. Sustainable energy measures and industrial waste recycling are more likely to improve the sustainability of the cities, while the GDP growth will continue to contribute significantly also.