ABSTRACT
This book chapter delves into the challenges faced by resource-based cities in China in achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the potential of geospatial techniques, specifically remote sensing data, in evaluating environment-related SDG indicators for these cities. Despite their significant contributions to China's economic growth, resource-based cities grapple with complex environmental challenges that threaten their sustainability. The chapter focuses on the use of remote sensing data and conducted the best-worst multi-criteria decision-making method to determine the weight of each SDG indicator to assess the sustainability of these cities, addressing gaps in traditional data sources and providing comprehensive spatial coverage. Results reveal that the average overall score for environment-related SDG indicators in resource-based cities is 93.61, which is lower than the average score of 94.19 for non-resource-based cities. This indicates that resource-based cities, on average, have lower performance in addressing environmental challenges and achieving sustainable development compared to non-resource-based cities. A comparison of environment-related SDG indicator scores between resource-based and non-resource-based cities reveals a mixed performance, emphasizing the need for targeted strategies and interventions to tackle the unique challenges faced by resource-based cities.
