Have cities effectively improved ecological well-being performance? Empirical analysis of 278 Chinese cities

Abstract

Abstract With the advent of the era of global ecological limits, natural capital has become absolutely scarce. How to improve the level of human well-being within the ecological limits is the ultimate goal of sustainable development. China is challenged to improve ecological well-being performance (EWP), predominantly in urban areas. This paper presents an overall analysis of the EWP of 278 Chinese cities during the period of 2005–2016 using the Super-slack-based measure (Super-SBM) model. The index system of ecological well-being performance evaluation is constructed from the perspective of input (e.g., labour force, fixed assets investment) and output (e.g. per capita GDP and dust). The results demonstrate that (1) the average EWP value of Chinese cities is relatively low with the value of 0.5919; (2) the top three performers in EWP are Sanya, Haikou and Shenzhen, and the bottom three performers are JinChang, Guigang and Baiyin; (3) the average EWP value of 278 Chinese cities achieved significant improvement over the period 2005–2016; and (4) the EWP value is relatively high in the eastern region, medium in the western region and low in the middle region. Policy suggestions are thus proposed for improving the EWP in Chinese prefecture-level cities. The research findings provide significant references for urban ecological protection and human well-being improvement in China.