Dynamic evaluation of the green development level of China's coal-resource-based cities using the TOPSIS method

Abstract: At present, the development of coal-resource-based cities is problematic due to ecological environment pollution and the unreasonable industrial structure. Therefore, it is of great practical importance to evaluate their green development level. By referring to various connotations associated with the green development of coal-resource-based cities, this study developed an evaluation index system that satisfies the requirements of green development in coal-resource-based cities by considering four dimensions, i.e., economic green development, social green development, resource green development, and environmental green development. To evaluate the green development level of 30 coal-resource-based cities in China, this study employed a dynamic evaluation method based on panel data, namely, the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). The findings showed that: (1) From 2012 to 2018, the green development level of China's coal-resource-based cities was generally low, and the upward trend was slow. (2) Certain differences were found in the green development level of coal-resource cities for each dimension, with the eastern part of the city being significantly higher than other regions in terms of the level of economic and social green development. (3) The green development level of coal-resource-based cities in different regions took the following in order: Eastern region > central region > western region > northeastern region. (4) The green development levels of coal-resource-based cities at different development stages can be described as follows: Regenerative > mature > declining > growing. Based on the evaluation results, corresponding policy recommendations are proposed for the green development of coal-resource-based cities.