Developing Novel Sustainable-Based Model to Assess Cities’ Performance Using Enviro-Socio-Economic Impact Indicators: A Case Study in Egypt

Essential research is required to assist several developing countries in transforming urban areas into sustainable cities by providing an assessment tool that covers the environmental, economic, and social pillars of sustainability. Hence, this study introduces a novel sustainable-based model by assigning scores to the sustainable development goals (SDGs) for maintaining inclusive, safe, and resilient cities in developing nations. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected to describe 50 sustainable indicators of 27 cities, representing Egypt’s diverse urban environments from 2012 to 2022. These indicators and SDG scores were used to classify the cities into “Low”, “Medium”, and “High” based on their progress toward achieving sustainability performance. Most coastal and inland cities depicted a “High” scoring performance regarding the advanced maritime infrastructure, farming market size, and cultural tourism context. Built-up area, population growth, green urban area, and economy were considered the main indicators influencing the SDG#11 “Sustainable cities” annual variation. The SDG-based model was employed to create different scenarios to improve SDG#11 fulfillment, showing the importance of investing in the agribusiness sector to raise the gross domestic product. The study outputs were beneficial in guiding most resource-constrained countries to establish the “Sustainable city” concept under the SDGs umbrella.