Urban scaling patterns for sustainable development goals related to water, energy, infrastructure, and society in China

Urban society, infrastructures, and their energy and water systems are interconnected, whose performance can be measured by United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 6–13. However, few studies have systematically investigated sustainable development at the city level, especially in China. To fill this gap, we adopted the SDG framework to establish holistic urban metrics tailored to China's context. We empirically examined the city-level scaling effects and found that the urban metrics of China's prefectural cities basically fit into the scaling theory, that socioeconomic attributes are in super-linear relations with population while urban infrastructures show sub-linearity. Moreover, when the effects of per capita built-up area and GDP are controlled, the population still correlates to many metrics. This study provides a more nuanced understanding of urban scaling patterns, considering China's unique city governance regime and land-centered urbanization pathway when evaluating their sustainable development progress, which helps inform custom-fit planning strategies for a better future.