Evaluation and Analysis of the County-Level Sustainable Development Process in Guangxi, China in 2014–2020

Sustainable development has become a scientific and decision-making consensus in countries and regions around the world. The current research on sustainable development mainly focuses on urban areas with a high level of economic development and intensive land use. Small-scale research, especially for underdeveloped areas, is required to reveal the spatial patterns and differences within administrative units. This study focuses on 1241 towns in Guangxi to assess the sustainable development process and variations at the township scale from 2014 to 2020 by using the entropy method, the coupled coordination degree method, and cluster analysis. The results show that the average sustainable development goal composite index (SDGCI) of towns in Guangxi is around 0.12, and their overall sustainable development level is low. The SDGCI of towns in the central region shows an increasing trend, while that in the northern and southern regions shows a decreasing trend. Then, the SDGs are divided into three systems, namely people, planet, and prosperity. The prosperity system contributes the most to the overall SDGCI, and the low values of the people and planet systems are the reason for the low level of sustainable development in Guangxi. The coupling degree of the SDGCI among the three systems is at a high level, and the level of coupling coordination degree is good, which indicates high consistency and close linkage of the towns in Guangxi when pursuing the SDGs. The results of hierarchical cluster analysis show that towns in Guangxi can be divided into three categories to adapt to different features based on SDGCI values. The assessment of SDG process in towns in Guangxi could guide local governments to refine their development policy, formulate and adjust development strategies in a targeted manner, and promote balanced and sustainable development under townships.