Modelling a thermodynamic-based comparative framework for urban sustainability: Incorporating economic and ecological losses into emergy analysis

The re-interpretation of the urban development acts as both a sink of entropy transfer and as a source of releasing negative effects into the environment. It is a major step towards the design of urban sustainable development schemes. Presented in this paper is an integrated ecological economic assessment considering the economic and ecological losses and a sustainability policy-making framework for 31 typical Chinese cities in view of spatial variations based on thermodynamic analysis. The economic and ecological loss varies significantly across cities both in total sum due to diversities of geographic features, economic development levels and local energy use availability. The results revealed the metropolises (including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, etc) and cities along the Yangzi river (e.g., Changsha) have the lowest Emergy-based Sustainability Index (ESI) values, thus suggesting that emissions greatly reduced the sustainability of the urban socioeconomic system by pulling resources for damage repair and for replacement of lost natural and human-made capital. The investment of the waste treatment investment, which acts as a balanced system for entropy turbulence, should be encouraged. The spatial hierarchy theory in emergy synthesis can be derived from the developing pattern of cities. This paper provides a reference towards how the urban environmental impacts drive economic policy and sustainability.

► We model socioeconomic system considering the human and natural capital emergy losses.
► We assess 31 typical Chinese cities in view of spatial emergy indices variations.
► The metropolises and cities along the Yangzi River have the lowest sustainable levels.
► Spatial hierarchy in emergy synthesis can be derived from the developing pattern of cities.