Research On The Performance Of Sustainable Urbanization:A Status-Efficiency Bi-dimensional Perspective

Urbanization epitomizes the development of human society and it is an important social process in large developing countries in the 21 st century.Since the implementation of reform and open policy in early 1980 s,the urbanization process in China has experienced a rapid and unprecedented development era.Nevertheless,some severe problems have occurred during the rapid urbanization process in China,for example,the environmental pollution,resources waste,disorderly urban sprawl.The appearance of these problems implies that it is essential to analyze scientifically the current construction mode and construction level of urbanization in China,which can further help to provide effective and valuable references to policy making towards promoting the sustainability of urbanization development in China.As the largest developing country in the world,China is the primary area for the world urbanization development,the improvement of sustainability of urbanization development in China will make great contribution to the sustainable development worldwide.This study therefore analyzes the sustainable performance of urbanization development from both perspectives of urbanization status and urbanization efficiency.The main research contents of this study include: 1)Analyze the connotation of urbanization from both perspective of construction status and construction efficiency;2)establish the evaluation model of urbanization status,and collect research data from 30 Chinese provinces,and conduct empirical study by applying the research data to evaluate the urbanization status of 30 Chinese provinces;3)establish the evaluation model of urbanization efficiency,and collect research data from 30 Chinese provinces and conduct empirical study by applying the research data to evaluate the urbanization efficiency of 30 Chinese provinces;4)establish “status-efficiency” bi-dimensional framework to analyze the urbanization sustainability,and further distinguish 30 Chinese provinces into four categories according to their performance of urbanization status and urbanization efficiency.The major conclusions of this research are as follows:1)The status performance of urbanization construction is determined jointly by the economic development status,social development status,resource and environment status.The economic development status is determined by economic scale,industry structure,urban employment,local finance,local residents' income and consume level,and informization level.The social development status is determined by the urban population,science and education level,medical services,cultural services,social security,urban transportation.The resources and environment status is determined by water environment,waste treatment,forest environment,and green space environment.2)The efficiency performance of urbanization construction is determined by the input and output elements of urbanization construction.The input elements of urbanization construction include capital,labor,land,water resources and energy;the output elements of urbanization construction includes both desirable outputs and undesirable outputs,and the desirable outputs include population agglomeration,economic growth,urban dwelling,urban living standards,urban greening,urban-rural integration,and the undesirable outputs include greenhouse gas emissions and water pollution.3)According to the performance of urbanization status and urbanization efficiency,30 Chinese provinces can be distinguished into four categories:(a)"Good status-High efficiency(G-H)" category,a total of 11 provinces located in this category,including Beijing,Shanghai,etc,these provinces present highest sustainability during the urbanization process;(b)“Poor status-High efficiency(P-H)” category,a total of six provinces located in this category,including Inner Mongolia,Jilin,Qinghai,etc,although the urbanization construction in these provinces present relatively good efficiency performance,the overall status of urbanization construction in these provinces is lagged,for which efforts should be paid to improve the status performance;(c)“Good status-Low efficiency(G-L)”category,three provinces are located in this category,namely Shaanxi,Jiangxi and Chongqing.The efficiency performance of urbanization construction is relatively poor although certain construction status has been achieved during the urbanization process in these provinces;(d)“Poor status– Low efficiency(P-L)” category,10 provinces located in this category,including Hubei,Xinjiang,Hunan,etc,the urbanization development in these provinces present lowest sustainability,for which both construction status and input-output efficiency should be improved..4)The provinces located in different categories are facing with different challenges,and should adopt appropriate strategies and measures to improve the sustainability of urbanization development in line with their unique development backgrounds.By incorporating the experience generated from the urbanization practices globally;this study further establishes pertinent countermeasures and advices for promoting the sustainability of urbanization development in China.The research findings of this study are valuable for helping understand the sustainable level of current urbanization construction in China,and can provide effective reference for decision-making and policy formulation to improve the sustainability performance of urbanization practice.And the status-efficiency bidimensional framework established in this study provides an innovative approach to enriche the profile in the research area of urban sustainable development.