The SOFM-based city-type identification and scan of 231 cities in the APEC region

Abstract

Cities play an important role in global and regional sustainable development, which has led to the focus of research and assessment work. In this paper, our work extends the focus on city centers and the areas that support their operation. The method applies the Self-organizing feature map (SOFM), and city natural environment and development indicators are used to identify 231 APEC (Asia–Pacific Economic Cooperation) cities due to the critical influence of APEC cities on the global economy and sustainable development. Nine city types were obtained. This work, which looks at the achievements of the region's rapid development, shows that the performance of cities in emerging economies reflecting city per capita and efficiency indicators still needs to be further improved, even for international metropolises. In the global efforts to achieve the development goals of the SDGs, the methods and results of APEC city-type identification can provide the basis and inspiration for more work and help to build a widely connected knowledge network.