Dynamic analysis of the sustainable development capability of coal cities

摘要

Due to the decline of resources and a lack of motivation for development, coal cities encounter problems related to sustainable development. This paper focuses on the analysis of the capability of different types of coal cities for sustainable development. We synthetically evaluated this capability for four typical coal cities (in terms of growth, maturity, recession, and regeneration) in China from 2012 to 2016 by using the Super-SBM model. The Malmquist index is used to dynamically decompose changes in the capability for sustainable development. We also analyze the ineffectiveness distribution of the input and output indicators, and suggest directions for optimization. The results show the following: (1) the capability for sustainable development of coal cities in China was low (0.6704) and unstable overall. Major inefficiencies persist in resource allocation and utilization. (2) The four coal cities were ranked in the order of growth > regeneration > maturity > recession. (3) Technological progress was the main factor affecting changes in the capability for sustainable development of China's coal cities. (4) Inefficiency was mainly distributed over the economic output, and inadequate economic output capability was the main factor hindering the sustainable development of most coal cities in China.