Assessment on Sustainable Development of Resource-Based Cities in Northeastern China

Sustainable development of resource-based cities has emerged as a core agenda in contemporary urban construction. Existing studies usually investigated sustainable development based on objective statistical data. Since many supporting policies are introduced in the transformation process of resource-based cities, it is also necessary to consider textual data. To address this gap, this study aims to develop a comprehensive assessment framework to analyze the sustainable development pathways of 16 resource-based cities in northeastern China by integrating both textual and statistical data. A combined subjective–objective weighting method is proposed, with subjective weights reflecting governmental priorities, while objective weights measuring the development difference. The results show that most cities had positive development trends. However, over half of the cities experienced negative growth in environmental sustainability, highlighting persistent challenges in ecological transformation. Additionally, all the cities showed marked variations in economic and environmental sustainability, whereas they had relative homogeneity in social sustainability. Based on the findings, specific recommendations are provided to help local governments optimize their sustainable development strategies. The research provides valuable references for the sustainable development of resource-based cities in northeastern China, and future studies will focus on the improvement of the indicator system and the capturing of uncertainty and diversity inherent in the policies.