Evaluation Of Sustainable Development Research Articles

Assessment of ecosystem services for urban regions in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals exemplified by the Bonn/Rhein-Sieg region

Abstract The implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the conservation and protection of nature are among the greatest challenges facing urban regions. There are few approaches so far that link the SDGs to natural diversity and related ecosystem services at the local level and track them in terms of increasing sustainable development at the local level. We want to close this gap by developing a set of indicators that capture ecosystem services in the sense of the SDGs and which are based on data that are freely available throughout Germany and Europe. Based on 10 SDGs and 35 SDG indicators, we are developing an ecosystem service and biodiversity-related indicator set for the evaluation of sustainable development in urban areas. We further show that it is possible to close many of the data gaps between SDGs and locally collected data mentioned in the literature and to translate the universal SDGs to the local level. Our example develops this set of indicators for the Bonn/Rhein-Sieg metropolitan area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, which comprises both rural and densely populated settlements. This set of indicators can also help improve communication and plan sustainable development by increasing transparency in local sustainability, implementing a visible sustainability monitoring system, and strengthening the collaboration between local stakeholders.

Evaluation of sustainable development and travel agencies within the scope of Agenda 2030: A bibliometric analysis

Evaluation of sustainable development and travel agencies within the scope of Agenda 2030: A bibliometric analysis

Research on the Effectiveness of College Students' Emergency Voluntary Service

College Students' emergency voluntary service is an important way for students to participate in social practice, enhance their sense of social responsibility and the construction of socialist spiritual civilization. In recent years, college students' emergency volunteer service team has been growing and has become the backbone of voluntary service in China. Starting from the research on the development trend, types and characteristics of College Students' emergency voluntary service, this paper analyzes the current situation and existing problems of College Students' emergency voluntary service, and explores how to improve the effectiveness of College Students' emergency voluntary service from the aspects of professional skill training of College Students' emergency voluntary service, the effectiveness of organization and management system construction and management, and the evaluation and incentive mechanism of sustainable and long-term development.

Efficiency evaluation of sustainable development in BRICS and G7 countries: a Data Envelopment Analysis approach

Abstract In order to measure the impact of the economic growth over the years, the sustainable development concept works to balance three pillars of sustainability - economic, social and environmental. This paper has the objective to compare emerging countries (BRICS) with the most developed countries (G7) by analysing sustainable development. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was used, thorugh the variant SBM (Slacks Based Measured) model. The inputs were CO2 emission, percentage of unemployed and energy utilization. GDP and life expectancy at birth were used as outputs. The main result was a global average efficency ranking, having the emerging countries in top positions (India, China and Brazil, respectively). In addition, emerging countries have always stood out in the average of the slacks of each analyzed variable. These results are important in terms of being useful for public policies related to sustainable development, especially: (1) to contribute to the discussions related to evaluating the countries, helping to identify those with the best practices with regard to environmental, social and economic aspects in each group; and (2) to guide policy decisions regarding government incentives to promote the development of efficient countries in terms of economic growth and welfare social without harming the environment.

A Study on Near Real-Time Carbon Emission of Roads in Urban Agglomeration of China to Improve Sustainable Development under the Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic

In order to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality and explore the impact of COVID-19 on urban road carbon emission, this study applied and improved a near real-time road carbon emission estimation method for typical Chinese urban agglomeration to improve the rapid evaluation of sustainable development. As a result, we recorded the daily road carbon emission for 12 cities in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (JJJ) region under the impact of the epidemic, exploring the road carbon reduction effect caused by COVID-19. Singular value decomposition method was used to analyze the temporal and spatial characteristics of road carbon emission changes among cities and to explore the urban resilience oriented to public events. The results show: (1) In the JJJ region, the carbon reduction effect caused by COVID-19 is significant, but it lasted for a short time. In the three periods—before the epidemic, strict lockdown period, and post-lockdown period for prevention and control—the total daily road carbon emissions in the 12 cities were 170,000–190,000 tons, 90,000–110,000 tons, and 160,000–180,000 tons, respectively. (2) Cities in the JJJ region showed different road carbon reduction potential under short-term administrative control. During the “strict lockdown period” (23 January–25 February 2020), the average change rate of road carbon emissions in Beijing was −78.72%, which had great potential for reduction. However, the average change rates of Xingtai and Zhangjiakou were only −7.53% and −8.66%, respectively. (3) There are spatiotemporal differences in carbon emissions of urban roads in the JJJ region under the impact of the epidemic. During the gradual reduction of COVID-19 restrictions, great differences between cities on weekends and holidays arise, showing the road carbon emissions in Beijing on weekends and holidays are far lower than that in other cities. (4) In the face of public emergencies, the larger the city is and the more complex the function of the city is, the more difficult for the city is to maintain a steady state. This study not only provides an idea for the dynamic monitoring of urban carbon emissions to improve the rapid evaluation of urban sustainable development in post- and pre-lockdown but also fills the gap in the research on the differences in the response of cities to sudden security incidents from the perspective of road carbon emissions.

Eco-districts and data-driven smart eco-cities: Emerging approaches to strategic planning by design and spatial scaling and evaluation by technology

In recent years, the world has witnessed significant progress in implementing numerous eco-district and eco-city projects, which are under the banner of experimentation or seen as sites of innovation. Indeed, the rise of such initiatives serves as a sign of renewed attempts to experiment or innovate in designing urban futures in an increasingly urbanized and datafied society. In light of this, a number of alternative models of eco-urbanism have been proposed by scholars and promoted by policy makers. The prominent among these models are sustainable urban districts and data-driven smart eco-cities. At the core of these models is a range of compact and ecological design strategies and static and dynamic conceptions of spatial scaling. These are intended to produce and boost the benefits of sustainability on the basis of a set of integrated approaches—increasingly supported by big data technologies—as a way to overcome new challenges and introduce new solutions. Based on two case studies conducted on three of the ecologically and technologically leading cities in Europe—Stockholm, Malmö, and Barcelona, this paper analyses and discusses the role and relevance of integrating density, mixed land use, greening, and low-energy buildings to the sustainability of emerging eco-districts; the new conceptions of cities and their spatial scales in the context of data-driven smart eco-cities; and the opportunities and challenges of smart urban metabolism with respect to the evaluation of eco-districts. This study shows that combining compact and ecological design strategies improves the performance of eco-districts with respect to the three dimensions of sustainability, as well as paves the way for their balanced integration for producing synergistic effects. Also, this study highlights the innovative potential and enabling role of urban computing and intelligence in transforming the spatial scaling of data-driven smart eco-cities through generating the kind of designs that increase the effects of sustainability as outcomes of processes. Moreover, this study reveals the advantages of the data-driven approach to the analysis of the flows of resources in urban environments in relation to the evaluation of sustainable urban district development. This paper concludes that data-driven smart planning and evaluation holds great potential for facilitating progress towards achieving the goals of sustainability thanks to the proven role and untapped potential of big data technologies in monitoring, understanding, and analyzing urban processes and systems in real-time.

Research on the Mechanism of the Sustainable Development Model of Enterprises Based on Big Data Analysis Model

This paper adopts the analysis method of big data to conduct an in-depth analysis and research on the sustainable development mechanism of enterprises, firstly, combing the content and methods of enterprise business performance evaluation, defining enterprise sustainable development, and exploring the integration of enterprise sustainable development and enterprise business performance evaluation by specifically analyzing from different perspectives. Then, we analyze the industry in which the enterprise is located, its business situation, and strategy, and after analyzing the current business performance evaluation system of the enterprise, we point out its problems. The current performance evaluation system is incomplete, focuses only on economic benefits, is not long term, and does not consider the company’s strategy and stakeholders’ needs, which affects its importance and feasibility. Then, the above analysis is integrated to build a performance evaluation system consisting of four dimensions, namely, economic dimension, scientific research and innovation dimension, social dimension, and ecological dimension, from the perspective of sustainable development, and a total of 29 indicators are selected. Then, the two research tools of first value method and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method were combined, based on the panel data of enterprises from 2016 to 2020; the first value method was used to get the weights of each indicator in the business performance evaluation system. The fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method was used to get a comprehensive evaluation score of enterprise’s business performance in 2019, and then the evaluation results were analyzed in detail and suggestions were made, which confirms that enterprises are based on the sustainable development perspective. The evaluation of business performance is necessary and important. Finally, we propose supporting safeguards, such as establishing a performance evaluation team and a monitoring mechanism, dynamically improving the enterprise performance evaluation system, establishing a sustainable corporate culture, preparing and publishing a sustainable development report, and accelerating the information construction of performance evaluation.

Evaluation of Sustainable Development of Tourism Cities Based on SDGs and Tourism Competitiveness Index: Analysis of 221 Prefecture-Level Cities in China

Based on the Sustainable Development Goals and competitiveness index, an evaluation index system for sustainable development of tourism cities was established. The sustainable development level of 221 outstanding tourism cities in 2018 was evaluated, and their sustainable development paths were designed accordingly. The results show the following: (1) There is a large gap in sustainable development scores. In general, no city has achieved a strong sustainable development model. Natural and cultural resources and protection systems are the shortcomings of the systems. (2) The weights of natural and cultural resources and protection systems are the largest, and the weights of natural and cultural resources endowment, degree of tourism infrastructure construction, and economic support for natural and cultural resources are larger. Nature reserve coverage index, network popularity, and other indicators have greater weight. (3) There is a gap in the sustainable development level of tourism cities in the eight comprehensive economic zones. The economic zones in the eastern and southern coastal areas are better than those in the northwest and the middle reaches of the Yellow River. (4) The driving factors of the eight types of tourism cities distinguished by their characteristics are basically the same, but the obstacles are different.

Urban Vitality Evaluation and Spatial Correlation Research: A Case Study from Shanghai, China

Urban vitality is the primary driver of urban development. However, assessing urban vitality has always been a challenge. This paper builds on the research framework of sustainable development evaluation and selects evaluation indicators from the three systems of urban operation: economy, society, and environment. The deviation maximization (DM) method is used to evaluate urban vitality. Shanghai is then used as a case study for evaluation, and the comprehensive index of urban vitality is calculated for the city from 2010 to 2019. The evaluation results indicate that the urban vitality of Shanghai experienced a significant upward trend over ten years (2010–2019), which shows that the urban competitiveness of Shanghai is constantly strengthening. Next, the study focuses on the administrative region of Shanghai, to calculate the regional vitality level of Shanghai from 2010 to 2019 and to explore its spatial distribution characteristics. Then, a spatial autocorrelation analysis is used to explore the mechanism that affects the spatial distribution of urban vitality. The results demonstrate that the urban vitality in Shanghai shows a significant positive correlation in space. Moreover, there is a “High–High” gathering area, which includes Huangpu, Xuhui, Hongkou, and Changning in central area of Shanghai. This research provides a theoretical reference to support effective decision-making with respect to high-quality urban development.

Sustainable Development Evaluation and Its Obstacle Factors of the Weihe River Basin in Shaanxi Province, China

The contradiction between economic growth, social development, and water environment deterioration represent significant challenges for river basin sustainable development. By constructing an indicator system of river basin sustainable development, the entropy method is adopted to conduct a quantitative evaluation of the cities sustainable development level for the Weihe River Basin in Shaanxi Province from 2009 to 2018, and the standard deviational ellipse is used to analyze the evolution of spatial distribution pattern of sustainable development in the study area. Furthermore, the obstacle degree model is applied to analyze the main obstacle factors restricting the improvement of river basin sustainable development. The results show that the sustainable development level of the Weihe River basin in Shaanxi Province improved slowly during the study period and significant regional differences among cities. This study provides a novel approach for future evaluation on sustainable development of the Weihe River basin and even the arid region in Northwest China, to achieve a win-win situation between economic and social development and ecological environment protection.

Measurement of Coordinated and Coupled Development and Evaluation of Sustainable Development for Marine Economic-Ecological Complex System

The development of marine economy has stimulated the need for marine natural products and services, as well as the demand and utilization intensity of marine resources. As a result, the coastal regions start to discharge more and more pollutants, posing a serious threat to marine ecoenvironment. Because of the interactions between marine economy and marine ecology, it is of practical significance to study the marine economic-ecological complex system (MEECS). However, the relevant studies have several common defects: the incomplete data statistics system, the limited attention on development law or action mechanism, and the lack of long-term quantitative and empirical analysis. To overcome these defects, this paper tries to measure the coordinated and coupled development (CCD) and evaluate the sustainable development of MEECS. Specifically, an ecology-dominated coordinated development model was proposed for the complex system, and a differential equation model was established to describe the dynamic coordinated development of the complex system. Through data envelopment analysis (DEA), the sustainable development of the complex system was evaluated based on its input-output efficiency. Through experiments, the outputs of decision-making units (DMUs) of our model were obtained, and the development of the subsystems in MEECS was evaluated comprehensively to verify the effectiveness of our algorithm.

Economic-statistical Evaluation of Sustainable Development of Forest Trees

The paper deals with the application of individual simple and second generation indexes - Laspeyres price index (Ip), Laspeyres volume index (Iq). The individual statistical indexes compare parameters, namely the volume of harvested trees and the economic evaluation of forest management for the time periods 2015-2016, 2016-2017 and 2017-2018. Economic-statistical indexes are applied for economic evaluation of forest management. The subject of the paper is to demonstrate how the implementation of the Laspeyres price index (Ip), of the Laspeyres volume index (Iq) can help with forest management to obtain clear statistics on logging and the need to replace the original stand.

The Coupling Coordination Evaluation of Sustainable Development between Urbanization, Housing Prices, and Affordable Housing in China

For the past few years, China’s urbanization process has been in a state of rapid and variable development. With many migrants flowing from rural to urban area, the change in the urban structure and the trend of the economic development has led to a rapid development of the real estate market. However, the conflict between the migrants and the local low- and middle-income groups in respect of demand for basic housing has become a concern. Based on Chinese time-series data from 2008 to 2018, this study establishes an evaluation indicator system to consider the influence of urbanization, housing prices, and affordable housing and analyzes the comprehensive development level and coordination relationship using the methods of range standardization, entropy weight model, and coupling coordination. The results show that the comprehensive development levels of housing prices and affordable housing are both in a state of fluctuating growth. From 2008 to 2018, the coupling degree between urbanization, housing prices, and affordable housing was high, while the coupling coordination degree between the three subsystems increased from reluctant coordination to satisfactory coordination; this clearly shows that the relationships between urbanization, housing prices, and affordable housing are mutually coupled and promoted. Furthermore, based on the coupling coordination relationships between the three subsystems, this study discusses the sustainable development of urbanization and provides some suggestions for regional government. The conclusions have practical significance for China and other developing countries to coordinate housing prices and affordable housing in the process of rapid urbanization.

Research on Evaluation of Sustainable Development of New Urbanization from the Perspective of Urban Agglomeration under the Pythagorean Fuzzy Sets

In this study, considering the traditional geometric operation laws and Pythagorean fuzzy information, we propose a variety of new distance measures of Pythagorean fuzzy sets such as generalized Pythagorean fuzzy geometric distance (GPFGD) measures and generalized Pythagorean fuzzy weighted geometric distance (GPFWGD) measures. Besides, some special issues including Hamming distance, Euclidean distance, and Hausdorff distance of these raised geometric distance measures are investigated. To testify the valid of these new presented distance measures, we build a decision-making model illustrated by a mathematical calculation example to evaluate the sustainable development of new urbanization from the perspective of urban agglomeration using Pythagorean fuzzy information.

Further Discussion on the Influence Radius of a Pumping Well: A Parameter with Little Scientific and Practical Significance That Can Easily Be Misleading

To facilitate understanding and calculation, hydrogeologists have introduced the influence radius. This parameter is now widely used, not only in the theoretical calculation and reasoning of well flow mechanics, but also in guiding production practice, and it has become an essential parameter in hydrogeology. However, the reasonableness of this parameter has always been disputed. This paper discusses the nature of the influence radius and the problems of its practical application based on mathematical reasoning and analogy starting from the Dupuit formula and Thiem formula. It is found that the influence radius is essentially the distance in the time–distance problem in physics; therefore, it is a function of time and velocity and is influenced by hydrogeological conditions and pumping conditions. Additionally, the influence radius is a variable and is essentially different from the hydrogeological parameters reflecting the natural properties of aquifers such as the porosity, specific yield, and hydraulic conductivity. Furthermore, the parameterized influence radius violates the continuity principle of fluids. In reality, there are no infinite horizontal aquifers, and most aquifers are replenished from external sources, which is very different from theory. The stable or seemingly stable groundwater level observed in practice is simply a coincidence that occurs under the influence of various practical factors, which cannot be considered to explain the rationality of applying this parameter in production calculations. Therefore, the influence radius cannot be used to evaluate the sustainable water supply capacity of aquifers, nor can it be used to guide the design of groundwater pollution remediation projects, the division of water source protection areas, and the scheme of riverbank filtration wells. Various ecological and environmental problems caused by groundwater exploitation are related to misleading information from the influence radius theory. Generally, the influence radius does not have scientific or practical significance, but it can easily be misleading, particularly for non-professionals. The influence radius should not be used in the sustainable development and protection of groundwater resources, let alone in theoretical models. From the perspective of regional overall planning, the calculation and evaluation of sustainable development and the utilization of groundwater resources should be investigated in a systematic manner.

Evaluation of Sustainable Energy Development Progress in EU Member States in the Context of Building Renovation

The main goal of setting energy efficiency priorities is to find ways to reduce energy consumption without harming consumers and the environment. The renovation of buildings can be considered one of the main aspects of energy efficiency in the European Union (EU). In the EU, only 5% of the renovation projects have been able to yield energy-saving at the deep renovation level. No other study has thus far ranked the EU member states according to achieved results in terms of increased usage in renewable sources, a decrease in energy usage and import, and reduction in harmful gas emissions due to energy usage. The main purpose of this article is to perform a comparative analysis of EU economies according to selected indicators related to the usage of renewable resources, energy efficiency, and emissions of harmful gasses as a result of energy usage. The methodological contribution of our study is related to developing a complex and robust research method for investment efficiency assessment allowing the study of three groups of indicators related to the usage of renewable energy sources, energy efficiency, and ecological aspects of energy. It was based on the PROMETHEE II method and allows testing it in other time periods, as well as modifying it for research purposes. The EU member states were categorized by such criteria as energy from renewables and biofuels, final energy consumption from renewables and biofuels, gross electricity generation from renewables and biofuels and import dependency, and usage of renewables and biofuels for heating and cooling. The results of energy per unit of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Greenhouse gasses (GHG) emissions per million inhabitants (ECO2), energy per capita, the share of CO2 emissions from public electricity, and heat production from total CO2 emissions revealed that Latvia, Sweden, Portugal, Croatia, Austria, Lithuania, Romania, Denmark, and Finland are the nine most advanced countries in the area under consideration. In the group of the most advanced countries, energy consumption from renewables and biofuels is higher than the EU average.

Sustainability and Well-being in Geriatrics: proposing a performance-based approach for the implementation of geriatric care activities

The evaluation and measurement of Sustainable Development and Well-being represent a widespread emerging theme in healthcare, especially concerning, among others, the concepts of social equity and universality of health from an intergenerational perspective. To achieve such goals, Geriatrics would play a prominent role, especially considering the growing portion of the senior population in developed countries. This work intends to explore the possibility to connect Sustainable Development Goals and dimensions of Well-being to a set of performance indicators which are representative of geriatric activities in different settings of care. To this purpose, a pattern of indicators from Emilia- Romagna Region (RER) in Italy is considered. Furthermore, a range of Transitional Care interventions is discussed and proposed in order to ameliorate (or keep stable) the performance.

Sustainable Development Assessment in Underground Coal mining by Developing a Novel Index

A novel index is presented in this paper to evaluate sustainable development in underground coal mining. Eleven parameters were chosen as impacting factors that define three aspects of sustainable development, including environmental, economic, and social. Fuzzy Delphi Analytical Hierarchy Process (FDAHP) was used to develop a new rating system in the form of a classification system. Subsequently, a sustainable development index (SDi) was defined as a simple summation of ratings for all parameters to classify the sustainability level of underground coal mining qualitatively. Applicability of the new index was examined through applying it to a case study, and the results were compared with a benchmark model. The results indicate that SDi possesses a higher performance in sustainable development evaluation in the actual case when compared to common models. This performance is because it is developed for underground coal mining, especially in a scientific manner that considers three aspects of sustainable development together.

Sustainable Development Evaluation of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education of Clean Energy Major in Colleges and Universities Based on SPA-VFS and GRNN Optimized by Chaos Bat Algorithm

The research on the sustainability evaluation of innovation and entrepreneurship education for clean energy majors in colleges and universities can not only cultivate more and better innovative and entrepreneurial talents for the development of sustainable energy but also provide a reference for the sustainable development of innovation and entrepreneurship education for other majors. To achieve systematic and comprehensive scientific evaluation, this paper proposes an evaluation model based on SPA-VFS and Chaos bat algorithm to optimize GRNN. Firstly, the sustainability evaluation index system of innovation and entrepreneurship education for clean energy major in colleges and universities is constructed from the four aspects of the environment, investment, process, and results, and the meaning of each evaluation index is explained; Then, combined with variable fuzzy set evaluation theory (VFS) and set pair analysis theory (SPA), the classical evaluation model based on SPA-VFS is constructed, and the entropy weight method and rank method are coupled to obtain the index weight. The basic bat algorithm is improved by using Tent chaotic mapping, and the chaotic bat algorithm (CBA) is proposed. The generalized regression neural network (GRNN) model is optimized by CBA, and the intelligent evaluation model based on CBA-GRNN is obtained to realize fast real-time calculation; finally, a numerical example is used to verify the scientificity and accuracy of the model proposed in this paper. This study is conducive to a comprehensive evaluation of the sustainability of innovation and entrepreneurship education for clean energy major in colleges and universities, and is conducive to the healthy and sustainable development of innovation and entrepreneurship education for clean energy major in colleges and universities, so as to provide more innovative and entrepreneurial talents for the clean energy industry.

Research on Sustainable Development Evaluation of Reservoir Water Source Area in Island Area

This study takes Taiwan’s Sun Moon Lake Reservoir as the research object to discuss the sustainable development decision-making of the reservoir water source area in the island area. The grounded theory was adopted to construct the framework; 835 questionnaires were analyzed by statistical test; 10 interviewees’ feelings were collected through interviews and discussions, and multiple verification methods were used for exploration. Conclusion: The study found that the current development of the reservoir water source area of the outlying islands has brought much garbage; affecting the quality of the natural environment; lake; and water source; caused the disappearance of distinctive culture and architecture. The poor interaction between businesses and communities has led to an overlap in the types of industries, consumer goods, attractions and a lack of transportation and medical facilities, affecting people’s desire to travel. The government’s future decisions include: Increasing the variety of consumer goods; improving medical and transportation facilities; preserving unique culture and architecture; linking foreign-invested enterprises with community interactivity; enhancing local people’s interaction; and compensating for the deficiencies in human resources for industrial development are the key points for future improvement of the reservoir water source area of the outlying islands.