Urban regeneration and SDGs assessment based on multi-source data: Practical experience from Shenzhen, China

Abstract

Urban regeneration (UR) can improve the physical, social, economic, and ecological environment of urban areas, which is the key path to achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, quantitative assessments of the SDGs dynamics before and after UR process are rarely studied. Taking Shenzhen, China, as a practical example, this study combined multi-source geographic data to proposed a fine-scale SDGs assessment index framework applicable to UR (URSDGi). A comprehensive index of urban regeneration SDGs (URSDGs) was then constructed to evaluate the SDGs performance for four types of UR (industrial, residential, commercial and other types) at street block scale. Results showed that Shenzhen’s 392 blocks underwent UR practice between 2012–2020. The industrial UR exhibited the highest degree of SDGs realization with an increase of 962.29 points in the URSDGs score between 2012 and 2020, followed by residential UR with an increase of 126.41 points, whereas commercial and other types of UR exhibited lower degrees of SDGs realization with an increase of 42.23 and 58.39 points, respectively. In addition, studies have found that all types of UR can obviously promote mixed land use (URSDG5) and improve land use efficiency (URSDG3), with an increase of at least 111.10 points in the URSDGi score between 2012 and 2020. Nevertheless, UR can impose additional pressures on residential housing (URSDG1) and lead to a reduction in urban green space (URSDG4), with a decrease of at least −0.66 points in the URSDGi score. The findings can enrich the research methods of SDGs performance assessment at finer scale and help to guide future UR practices.

Keywords

• Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
• Multi-source data
• Urban regeneration
• SDGs performance assessment