IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i9p3063-d166293.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Recent Sustainability Performance in China: Strength-Weakness Analysis and Ranking of Provincial Cities

Author

Listed:
  • Bohong Zheng

    (School of Architecture and Art, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China)

  • Komi Bernard Bedra

    (School of Architecture and Art, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Bohong Zheng & Komi Bernard Bedra, 2018. "Recent Sustainability Performance in China: Strength-Weakness Analysis and Ranking of Provincial Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-26, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:9:p:3063-:d:166293
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/9/3063/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/9/3063/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lesley Hemphill & Jim Berry & Stanley McGreal, 2004. "An Indicator-based Approach to Measuring Sustainable Urban Regeneration Performance: Part 1, Conceptual Foundations and Methodological Framework," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 41(4), pages 725-755, April.
    2. Andriantiatsaholiniaina, Luc A. & Kouikoglou, Vassilis S. & Phillis, Yannis A., 2004. "Evaluating strategies for sustainable development: fuzzy logic reasoning and sensitivity analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 149-172, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Roberto Gerundo & Alessandra Marra & Viviana De Salvatore, 2020. "Construction of a Composite Vulnerability Index to Map Peripheralization Risk in Urban and Metropolitan Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-26, June.
    2. Yingshi Shang & Shuguang Liu, 2021. "Spatial-Temporal Coupling Coordination Relationship between Urbanization and Green Development in the Coastal Cities of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-20, May.
    3. Fiaz Ahmad Sulehri & Saba Sharif, 2022. "The Impact of Firm Sustainability on Firm Growth: Evidence from USA," Journal of Policy Research (JPR), Research Foundation for Humanity (RFH), vol. 8(2), pages 1-15, August.
    4. Qunxi Gong & Min Chen & Xianli Zhao & Zhigeng Ji, 2019. "Sustainable Urban Development System Measurement Based on Dissipative Structure Theory, the Grey Entropy Method and Coupling Theory: A Case Study in Chengdu, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-19, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tonnang, Henri E.Z. & Hervé, Bisseleua D.B. & Biber-Freudenberger, Lisa & Salifu, Daisy & Subramanian, Sevgan & Ngowi, Valentine B. & Guimapi, Ritter Y.A. & Anani, Bruce & Kakmeni, Francois M.M. & Aff, 2017. "Advances in crop insect modelling methods—Towards a whole system approach," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 354(C), pages 88-103.
    2. Shiyao Zhu & Dezhi Li & Haibo Feng & Tiantian Gu & Jiawei Zhu, 2019. "AHP-TOPSIS-Based Evaluation of the Relative Performance of Multiple Neighborhood Renewal Projects: A Case Study in Nanjing, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-17, August.
    3. Todorov, Vladislav & Marinova, Dora, 2011. "Modelling sustainability," Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (MATCOM), Elsevier, vol. 81(7), pages 1397-1408.
    4. Tsoutsos, Theocharis & Drandaki, Maria & Frantzeskaki, Niki & Iosifidis, Eleftherios & Kiosses, Ioannis, 2009. "Sustainable energy planning by using multi-criteria analysis application in the island of Crete," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 1587-1600, May.
    5. Низамутдинов М.М. & Орешников В.В., 2016. "Определение Параметров Управления Региональным Развитием На Основе Алгоритмов Нечеткой Логики," Журнал Экономика и математические методы (ЭММ), Центральный Экономико-Математический Институт (ЦЭМИ), vol. 52(2), pages 30-39, апрель.
    6. Carlo Alberto Magni & Stefano Malagoli & Andrea Marchioni & Giovanni Mastroleo, 2020. "Rating firms and sensitivity analysis," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 71(12), pages 1940-1958, December.
    7. M. A. Quaddus & M. A.B. Siddique (ed.), 2013. "Handbook of Sustainable Development Planning," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14372.
    8. Yang Chen & Tingbin Zhang & Xiaobing Zhou & Jingji Li & Guihua Yi & Xiaojuan Bie & Jiao Hu & Bo Wen, 2024. "Ecological sensitivity and its driving factors in the area along the Sichuan–Tibet Railway," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(8), pages 20189-20208, August.
    9. Mattia Amadio & Jaroslav Mysiak & Sepehr Marzi, 2019. "Mapping Socioeconomic Exposure for Flood Risk Assessment in Italy," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 39(4), pages 829-845, April.
    10. Vassilis S. Kouikoglou & Yannis A. Phillis, 2011. "Application of a fuzzy hierarchical model to the assessment of corporate social and environmental sustainability," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(4), pages 209-219, July.
    11. Ghada A. Altarawneh & Ahmad B. Hassanat & Ahmad S. Tarawneh & David Carfì & Abdullah Almuhaimeed, 2022. "Fuzzy Win-Win: A Novel Approach to Quantify Win-Win Using Fuzzy Logic," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-17, March.
    12. Büyüközkan, Gülçin & Karabulut, Yağmur, 2017. "Energy project performance evaluation with sustainability perspective," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 549-560.
    13. Jin Hui Lee & Sangyon Lim, 2018. "An Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) Approach for Sustainable Assessment of Economy-Based and Community-Based Urban Regeneration: The Case of South Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-14, November.
    14. Fang He & Wendong Wu & Taozhi Zhuang & Yuan Yi, 2019. "Exploring the Diverse Expectations of Stakeholders in Industrial Land Redevelopment Projects in China: The Case of Shanghai," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-27, August.
    15. Grazia Napoli & Salvatore Giuffrida & Maria Rosa Trovato, 2019. "Efficiency versus Fairness in the Management of Public Housing Assets in Palermo (Italy)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-21, February.
    16. Luke Boyle & Kathy Michell & François Viruly, 2018. "A Critique of the Application of Neighborhood Sustainability Assessment Tools in Urban Regeneration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-18, March.
    17. Lucian-Ionel Cioca & Larisa Ivascu & Attila Turi & Alin Artene & George Artur Găman, 2019. "Sustainable Development Model for the Automotive Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-22, November.
    18. Phillis, Yannis A. & Kouikoglou, Vassilis S., 2012. "System-of-Systems hierarchy of biodiversity conservation problems," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 235, pages 36-48.
    19. Kevin Dean & Claudia Trillo & Erik Bichard, 2017. "Assessing the Value of Housing Schemes through Sustainable Return on Investment: A Path towards Sustainability-Led Evaluations?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-19, December.
    20. Tafuro, Alessandra & Dammacco, Giuseppe & Esposito, Paolo & Mastroleo, Giovanni, 2022. "Rethinking performance measurement models using a fuzzy logic system approach: a performative exploration on ownership in waste management," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:9:p:3063-:d:166293. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.