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

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 in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sustainability 2024-09, Vol.16 (18), p.8076
Main Authors: Mackay, Brian R, Shaker, Richard R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air pollution
Cities
Climate change
Comparative analysis
Economic aspects
Economic growth
Energy consumption
Environmental aspects
GDP
Greenhouse gases
Gross Domestic Product
Identification and classification
Land settlement
Megacities
Metropolitan areas
Outdoor air quality
Personal health
Population growth
Sustainable development
Citations: Items that this one cites
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Summary: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.
ISSN:2071-1050
2071-1050
DOI:10.3390/su16188076