Relating SDG11 indicators and urban scaling – An exploratory study. (January 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Akuraju, Vamsidhar; Pradhan, Prajal; Haase, Dagmar; Kropp, Jürgen P.; Rybski, Diego
• Is Part Of: Sustainable cities and society. Volume 52(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-01
• Subjects: Sustainable Development Goals -- Urban scaling -- SDG11 -- Public transport -- Urban sprawl -- Particulate matter -- Green space -- Inequality; Sustainable urban development -- Periodicals; Sustainable buildings -- Periodicals; Urban ecology (Sociology) -- Periodicals; 307.76
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scs.2019.101853
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2210-6707

Abstract

Highlights: Urban scaling provides complementary information for the SDG tagrets 11.3.1, 11.6.2, and 11.7.1. For SDG 11.2.1 negative correlations were found between the scaling exponent and urban population with convenient access to public transport. Exponents different from 1 can also interpreted as inequality, since large or small cities provide better or worse conditions. Abstract: Targets towards "Sustainable Cities and Communities" are formulated under the 11th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). In parallel, recent city science suggests that economies of scale could improve city efficiency and thereby support urban sustainability. In this paper we inspect the association between country-wide SDG11 indicators and urban scaling exponents, i.e. the scaling between an indicator value vs. city population, separated by countries. We investigate "convenient access to public transport", "ratio of urban area growth rate and population growth rate", "particulate matter levels", and "green space area". Overall, we obtain mixed results, where in some cases the urban scaling exponent correlates with the country-wide indicator value and in other cases they are uncorrelated. Urban green space mostly scales sub-linearly and the exponents by country are independent of the SDG indicator. Good public transport, in turn, is achieved by also providing good service to small cities. We conclude that urban scaling can provide additional information but not for all considered indicators.