IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i18p8076-d1478916.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Megacities Review: Comparing Indicator-Based Evaluations of Sustainable Development and Urban Resilience

Author

Listed:
  • Brian R. Mackay

    (Graduate Programs in Environmental Applied Science & Management, Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, ON M5B 2K3, Canada)

  • Richard R. Shaker

    (Department of Sustainable Resources Management, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA)

Abstract

Urbanization is defining global change, and megacities are fast becoming a hallmark of the Anthropocene. Humanity’s pursuit toward sustainability is reliant on the successful management of these massive urban centers and their progression into sustainable and resilient settlements. Indicators and indices are applied assessment and surveillance tools used to measure, monitor, and gauge the sustainable development and urban resilience of megacities. Unknown is how indicator-based evaluations of sustainable development and urban resilience of the world’s largest 43 cities compare. In response, this review paper used the PRISMA reporting protocol, governed by 33 established and 10 emerging megacities, to compare and contrast evaluations of sustainable development and urban resilience. Results reveal that applied assessments of sustainable development of megacities appeared earlier in time and were more abundant than those of urban resilience. Geographically, China dominated other nations in affiliations to scientific research for both sustainable development and urban resilience of megacities. Among the 100 most recurrent terms, three distinct key term clusters formed for sustainable development; seven budding key term clusters formed for urban resilience suggesting breadth in contrast to sustainable development depth. The most cited assessments of sustainable development emphasize topics of energy, methodological approaches, and statistical modeling. The most cited assessments of urban resilience emphasize topics of flooding, transit networks, and disaster risk resilience. Megacities research is dominated by few countries, suggesting a need for inclusion and international partnerships. Lastly, as the world’s people become increasingly urbanized, sustainable development and urban resilience of megacities will serve as a key barometer for humanity’s progress toward sustainability.

Suggested Citation

  • Brian R. Mackay & Richard R. Shaker, 2024. "A Megacities Review: Comparing Indicator-Based Evaluations of Sustainable Development and Urban Resilience," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-27, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:18:p:8076-:d:1478916
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/18/8076/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/18/8076/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bohringer, Christoph & Jochem, Patrick E.P., 2007. "Measuring the immeasurable -- A survey of sustainability indices," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 1-8, June.
    2. D’Lima, Minette & Medda, Francesca, 2015. "A new measure of resilience: An application to the London Underground," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 35-46.
    3. Guo, Sen & Zhao, Huiru, 2015. "Optimal site selection of electric vehicle charging station by using fuzzy TOPSIS based on sustainability perspective," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 390-402.
    4. Adjetey-Bahun, Kpotissan & Birregah, Babiga & Châtelet, Eric & Planchet, Jean-Luc, 2016. "A model to quantify the resilience of mass railway transportation systems," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 1-14.
    5. Tan, Sieting & Yang, Jin & Yan, Jinyue & Lee, Chewtin & Hashim, Haslenda & Chen, Bin, 2017. "A holistic low carbon city indicator framework for sustainable development," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(P2), pages 1919-1930.
    6. Sueyoshi, Toshiyuki & Yuan, Yan, 2015. "China's regional sustainability and diversified resource allocation: DEA environmental assessment on economic development and air pollution," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 239-256.
    7. Richard R. Shaker & Joseph Aversa & Victoria Papp & Bryant M. Serre & Brian R. Mackay, 2020. "Showcasing Relationships between Neighborhood Design and Wellbeing Toronto Indicators," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-24, January.
    8. Meixler, Marcia S., 2017. "Assessment of Hurricane Sandy damage and resulting loss in ecosystem services in a coastal-urban setting," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 28-46.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tomo Cerovšek, 2025. "Advancing Sustainable Construction Through 5D Digital EIA and Ecosystem Restoration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-35, October.
    2. Sofía Aguado & Helena Cotler & Marta Astier & Alejandro Padilla-Rivera, 2025. "Evaluation Methodologies for Circular Economy in Municipal Composting and Urban Agriculture: a Literature Review with Focus on Latin America," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 5(4), pages 3255-3280, August.
    3. Haohui Liu & Wei Liu & Junyue Wang & Liangqi Wang & Kaiming Li & Fen Zhao, 2025. "Multi-Scenario Prediction and Driving Factor Analysis of Fractional Vegetation Cover in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Urban Cluster," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-16, August.
    4. Shubo Cheng & Haoying Li, 2024. "Resilience Assessment of Flood Disasters in Zhengzhou Metropolitan Area Based on the PSR Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-25, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ali Shahabi & Sadigh Raissi & Kaveh Khalili-Damghani & Meysam Rafei, 2021. "Designing a resilient skip-stop schedule in rapid rail transit using a simulation-based optimization methodology," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 1691-1721, September.
    2. Pan, Shouzheng & Yan, Hai & He, Jia & He, Zhengbing, 2021. "Vulnerability and resilience of transportation systems: A recent literature review," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 581(C).
    3. Adel Mottahedi & Farhang Sereshki & Mohammad Ataei & Ali Nouri Qarahasanlou & Abbas Barabadi, 2021. "The Resilience of Critical Infrastructure Systems: A Systematic Literature Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-32, March.
    4. Xu, Peng-Cheng & Lu, Qing-Chang & Xie, Chi & Cheong, Taesu, 2024. "Modeling the resilience of interdependent networks: The role of function dependency in metro and bus systems," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    5. Gonçalves, L.A.P.J. & Ribeiro, P.J.G., 2020. "Resilience of urban transportation systems. Concept, characteristics, and methods," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    6. Knoester, Max J. & Bešinović, Nikola & Afghari, Amir Pooyan & Goverde, Rob M.P. & van Egmond, Jochen, 2024. "A data-driven approach for quantifying the resilience of railway networks," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    7. Malandri, Caterina & Mantecchini, Luca & Postorino, Maria Nadia, 2023. "A comprehensive approach to assess transportation system resilience towards disruptive events. Case study on airside airport systems," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 109-122.
    8. Kılkış, Şiir, 2019. "Benchmarking the sustainability of urban energy, water and environment systems and envisioning a cross-sectoral scenario for the future," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 529-545.
    9. Zhang, L.P. & Zhou, P., 2018. "A non-compensatory composite indicator approach to assessing low-carbon performance," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 270(1), pages 352-361.
    10. Zapola, Guilherme S. & Silva, Evandro J. & Alves, Cláudio J.P. & Müller, Carlos, 2024. "Towards a resilience assessment framework for the airport passenger terminal operations," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    11. Xu, Peng-Cheng & Lu, Qing-Chang & Feng, Tao & Li, Jing & Li, Gen & Xu, Xin, 2024. "Resilience analysis of metro stations integrating infrastructures and passengers," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 252(C).
    12. Qiong Xia & Min Li & Huaqing Wu & Zhenggang Lu, 2016. "Does the Central Government’s Environmental Policy Work? Evidence from the Provincial-Level Environment Efficiency in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-17, December.
    13. Nock, Destenie & Baker, Erin, 2019. "Holistic multi-criteria decision analysis evaluation of sustainable electric generation portfolios: New England case study," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 242(C), pages 655-673.
    14. Danijela Tuljak-Suban & Patricija Bajec, 2022. "A Hybrid DEA Approach for the Upgrade of an Existing Bike-Sharing System with Electric Bikes," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(21), pages 1-23, October.
    15. Guorong Chen & Changyan Liu, 2023. "Can Low–Carbon City Development Stimulate Population Growth? Insights from China’s Low–Carbon Pilot Program," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-22, October.
    16. Yang, Jun & Guo, Fang & Zhang, Min, 2017. "Optimal planning of swapping/charging station network with customer satisfaction," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 174-197.
    17. Rongwu Zhang & Wenqiang Fu & Yingxu Kuang, 2022. "Can Digital Economy Promote Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction in Heavily Polluting Enterprises? Empirical Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-21, August.
    18. Chen Zhang & Yichen Liang & Tian Tian & Peng Peng, 2024. "Sustainable Transportation: Exploring the Node Importance Evolution of Rail Transit Networks during Peak Hours," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-22, August.
    19. Daniela Cristina Momete & Manuel Mihail Momete, 2021. "Map and Track the Performance in Education for Sustainable Development across the European Union," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-14, November.
    20. Zou, Qiling & Chen, Suren, 2019. "Enhancing resilience of interdependent traffic-electric power system," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:18:p:8076-:d:1478916. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.