Evaluation on urban environmental sustainability and coupling coordination among its dimensions: A case study of Shandong Province, China

Abstract

• An indicator system of urban environmental sustainability was built. • Indicator weight was calculated based on the interaction among indicators. • Urban environmental sustainability in Shandong Province performed poorly. • Coupling coordination of urban environmental sustainability has a varied growth. • Coordinated development of subsystems is vital for environmental sustainability. With the rapid urbanization process, the investigation of environmental sustainability is a critical issue in fostering sustainable social development. This study interprets the interrelationship between environmental pollution (EP), ecological restoration (ER), resource saving (RS), and socioeconomic development (SD) and further constructs an indicator system based on the theoretical implication for illustrating urban environmental sustainability. Taking Shandong Province in China as an example, this study evaluates urban environmental sustainability and the coupling coordination degree among its dimensions. Results show that the urban environmental sustainability in 17 cities of Shandong Province performed poorly due to the lagging of socioeconomic development, but, under the strict implementation of environmental regulations, most cities showed developmental momentum from 2013 to 2017. Besides, the coupling coordination degree of urban environmental sustainability has experienced a slight increase, but the coordinated development of subsystems needs improvement. Moreover, by comparing different subsystems, this study confirms that the precondition of sustainable environmental development is to achieve the coordinated development of different dimensions.