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Assessment of urban sustainability efficiency based on general data envelopment analysis: a case study of two cities in western and eastern China

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Abstract

Sustainable urban development focuses on enhancing urban well-being, while also balancing the demands of urban social and economic development, natural resource consumption, and environmental pollution. This work used general data envelopment analysis to assess the urban sustainability efficiency (USE) and sustainability potential (SP) in Lanzhou and Xiamen, two cities that are characteristic of urban areas in western and eastern China. The assessment indicator system included important natural and urban welfare factors as input and output indices, respectively. The results showed that overall urban sustainability efficiency increased in Lanzhou and Xiamen from 1985 to 2010, but that the sustainability of natural resources clearly decreased. The urban sustainability efficiency of Xiamen was higher than that of Lanzhou, and the sustainability potential of Xiamen was lower than that of Lanzhou; this indicates that Xiamen performed better in terms of urban sustainable development. The urban sustainability efficiency in Xiamen has increased with increasing urban population, and the rate and scale of economic development have been higher than in Lanzhou. The assessment and analysis performed in this study show that cities with different natural resources and development characteristics have different forms, patterns, and trajectories of sustainable development.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Key Technologies R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2016YFC0502102) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71673268). The authors are grateful to all the people who helped complete this research and the anonymous reviewers for their suggestions on the manuscript.

Author contributions

Yan Yan, Chenxing Wang, and Peng Shan conceived and designed the study; Yan Yan conceptualized the paper and completed the English writing; and Chenxing Wang contributed to data collection, calculation, and results analysis. Yuan Quan and Di Wu contributed to the conceptual model. Chunli Zhao, Gang Wu, and Hongbing Deng contributed to manuscript revision. All authors read and approved the submitted manuscript, agreed to be listed, and accepted the version for publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 18 Shuangqing Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100085, People’s Republic of China

    Yan Yan, Peng Shan, Chenxing Wang, Yuan Quan, Chunli Zhao, Gang Wu & Hongbing Deng

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, People’s Republic of China

    Peng Shan, Chenxing Wang, Yuan Quan, Di Wu & Chunli Zhao

  3. Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, 361021, People’s Republic of China

    Di Wu

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  1. Yan Yan
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  2. Peng Shan
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  3. Chenxing Wang
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  4. Yuan Quan
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  5. Di Wu
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  6. Chunli Zhao
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  7. Gang Wu
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  8. Hongbing Deng
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Correspondence to Gang Wu.

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Yan, Y., Shan, P., Wang, C. et al. Assessment of urban sustainability efficiency based on general data envelopment analysis: a case study of two cities in western and eastern China. Environ Monit Assess 189, 191 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-017-5814-9

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