# Indicators and methodologies for assessing urban agglomeration sustainability

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a new framework to assess the sustainability of urban agglomerations, helping achieve global sustainability goals.

## Contribution

A novel assessment framework integrating indicators, methods, and validation processes for urban agglomeration sustainability.

## Key findings

- Urban agglomerations are more complex than single cities in sustainability assessments.
- A multi-level coupling coordination degree was introduced to integrate influencing mechanisms.
- The framework was applied to the middle Yangtze River urban agglomeration.

## Abstract

Urban agglomerations are crucial for achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, uncertainties remain in the indicators and methodologies used to measure their sustainability. This paper establishes and analyzes the SDGs network at national and urban agglomeration levels, highlighting that urban agglomerations are key scale to achieving sustainable development but are far more complex than a single city scale. Then, this paper proposes an assessment framework for urban agglomeration, which includes indicators, methodological approaches, and validation processes. By introducing the multi-level coupling coordination degree, various influencing mechanisms are integrated into the evaluation stage. In addition, this paper constructs redundancy and sensitivity analyses and establishes a correlation network between indicators and SDGs to collectively validate the robustness and international compatibility of the indicator system. This study provides strong support for understanding and promoting the sustainable development of urban agglomerations, contributing to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda.

•Uncovers complex relationships in urban agglomeration sustainable development•Develops a framework integrating indicator methods and validation for assessment•Applies indicators and methods to middle Yangtze River urban agglomeration•Proposed indicators capture core challenges faced by urban agglomerations

Uncovers complex relationships in urban agglomeration sustainable development

Develops a framework integrating indicator methods and validation for assessment

Applies indicators and methods to middle Yangtze River urban agglomeration

Proposed indicators capture core challenges faced by urban agglomerations

Earth sciences; Environmental science