Comprehensive evaluation of capacity for sustainable development of middle-aged resource-based cities in China

This paper raised a new concept for determining the capacity for sustainable development of middle-aged resource-based cities and constructed a synthetic evaluation system to assess the sustainable development of middle-aged resource-based cities. Principle components analysis is adopted to analyze the capacity for sustainable development of Panjin City and to compare it with seven similar resource-based cities. The results show that the factors of economical and social development, resource abundance, foreign trade and living environment quality have a strong positive correlativity. The investments to education and construction of an infrastructure of Panjin City were shown to need gradual improvement. Moreover, the promotion of optimization and upgrading of industrial structure in resource-based cities should base on the characteristics of resources and regional economy, meanwhile, resource-based cities should develop clean energy and improve investment environment.