Localizing indicators of sdg11 for an integrated assessment of urban sustainability—a case study of hainan province

Abstract

Rapid urbanization has brought many problems, including housing shortages, traffic congestion, air pollution, and lack of public space. To solve these problems, the United Nations proposed “The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, which contains 17 Sustainable Development Goals covering three dimensions: economy, society, and environment. Among them, Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG11), “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”, can be measured at the city level. So far SDG11 still lacks three-quarters of the data required to accurately assess progress towards the goal. In this paper, we localized the indicators of SDG11 and collected Earth observation data, statistical data, and monitoring data at the city and county levels to build a better urban sustainable development assessment framework. Overall, we found that Haikou and Sanya were close to achieving sustainable development goals, while other cities were still some distance away. In Hainan Province, there was a spatial distribution pattern of high development levels in the north and south, but low levels in the middle and west. Through the Moran’s I Index of Hainan Province, we found that the sustainable development of Hainan Province did not yet form part of integrated development planning. The sustainable development assessment framework and localization methods proposed in this paper at the city and county levels provide references for the sustainable development of Hainan. At the same time, it also provides a reference for the evaluation of county-level sustainable development goals in cities in China and even the world.