Monday, September 26, 2016

Which Countries Have the the Most and Least Sustainable Cities?

A Global Perspective on the Sustainable Performance of Urbanization (16 page pdf, Liyin Shen, Chenyang Shuai, Liudan Jiao, Yongtao Tan and Xiangnan Song, Sustainability, Aug. 11, 2016)

Today we review a comparison of 111 countries, according to how well they perform in urban sustainability, made up of indices of environmental, economic and social sustainability. The best overall performers are developed countries in Western Europe, the worst in Africa and Asia. It is notable that although Sweden is not the top performer in any one of the three indices, it is the best overall, signaling how well that country balances the three aspects.

  urban-sust  

Key Quotes:  

" Urbanization has been identified as one of the most important strategies for development in the 21st century… According to the World Bank, ..the ratio of urban populations at a global level has already exceeded 50% in 2007 and this will continue to rise in the coming decades”

 “Sustainable urbanization can be defined as “urbanization practice that complies with sustainable development principles that combines environmental, social, and economic sustainability”

“the selected countries are ranked according to their overall performance in implementing sustainable urbanization, with the top five performers being Sweden, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, and Demark, and the five worst countries being Mozambique, Nigeria, Togo, Yemen, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”

“in the environmental dimension, the top five performers are Norway, Sweden, Romania, Denmark, and Germany, and the worst five are Nigeria, Tajikistan, Saudi Arabia, India, and Syria.” “when the economic dimension is considered, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, and Norway are the best five, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, Yemen Namibia, and Tajikistan are the five poorest.”

“from the perspective of social sustainability, Singapore, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, and Japan are the best five, while the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Angola, Togo, and Mozambique are the worst five”

“the best performers in terms of overall sustainable urbanization during the surveyed period are Sweden, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, and Denmark. The best performers are mainly developed countries in Europe. Other good performers include Brazil, Romania, and Thailand. Poor performers are mainly distributed in Africa and Asia.”

 “there is a negative correlation between urbanization rate and sustainable performance when urbanization is at the initial stage, and a positive correlation when urbanization is at the acceleration stage.”

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