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Sustainability
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Sustainable and Resilient Regional Development: A Spatial Perspective
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Sustainable and Resilient Regional Development: A Spatial Perspective

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainability in Geographic Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2025 | Viewed by 4016

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Yingxia Pu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Geographical Information Science, School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
Interests: GIS; spatial data analysis; space–time modeling; regional migration modeling; spatial econometrics
Prof. Dr. Pingguo Yang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Life Science, Shanxi Normal University, Taiyuan 030031, China
Interests: soil ecology; utilization of water and land resources; soil properties and spatial variation
Dr. Qiuhao Huang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Geographical Information Science, School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
Interests: land resources; GIS; artificial intelligence; big data; evaluation of ecological effects
Prof. Dr. Xiujun Tai

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Economics and Management, Shanxi Normal University, Taiyuan 030031, China
Interests: livelihood of farmers; rural development; ecological migration

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainable and resilient regional development has received great attention in the academic literature and public policy areas under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Regional development has been simultaneously expanding over space and time, taking on path-dependent characteristics. This Special Issue of Sustainability will particularly focus on the spatial dimension of resilient and sustainable regional development. Its scope is mainly centered around the definition, measurement, assessment, and policy actions related to the resilience and sustainability of regional development from the perspective of space.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to foster spatially integrated social, economic, environmental, regional, and urban development. With the development of GIS, spatial statistics, and spatial econometrics, we have the methodologies and techniques to collect, analyze, and visualize the evolution of spatial patterns, which provide powerful toolkits in tackling the resilient and sustainable challenges in regional development.

This Special Issue will supplement the literature in spatial data analysis, spatial and policy-making perspectives in resilience, and sustainability in regional development, mitigating the vagueness and confusion in theory and practice in SDGs.

Dr. Yingxia Pu
Prof. Dr. Pingguo Yang
Dr. Qiuhao Huang
Prof. Dr. Xiujun Tai
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • resilience
  • vulnerability
  • sustainability
  • shocks and stresses
  • society inequality
  • global South/North
  • spatial thinking
  • adaptation
  • complex systems
  • policy actions

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 1011 KiB  
Article
Unveiling Regional Disparities in Unemployment: A Spatial Econometric Study of Spain
by Ruxandra Maria Cojocaru, Maria Bianca Bolboașă, Marina-Diana Agafiței, Narcis Copcă and Florin Stelian Grosu
Sustainability 2025, 17(3), 1270; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17031270 - 5 Feb 2025
Viewed by 749
Abstract
This present work investigates the spatial distribution of the unemployment rate in Spain, one of the European countries with the highest recorded level of unemployment. The unemployment rate reached 16% during the pandemic. For this purpose, data from 2020 were used, such as [...] Read more.
This present work investigates the spatial distribution of the unemployment rate in Spain, one of the European countries with the highest recorded level of unemployment. The unemployment rate reached 16% during the pandemic. For this purpose, data from 2020 were used, such as the growth rate of the number of companies and entrepreneurs, the percentage of the workforce employed in the industrial sector, and the percentage of young people aged 16–25 years. All of these data were collected at the provincial level. The importance of spatiality in unemployment estimation is proven using regressions estimated in Geoda and GeodaSpace. The results support the introduction of the lag factor in regressions, improving the performance of the OLS model. However, the use of error models was found to be inefficient. Moreover, creating local estimates of coefficients can effectively adapt to the unique spatial characteristics of Spanish provinces. The research focuses on the sustainability challenges linked to regional inequalities in unemployment. It argues that these inequalities disrupt the balanced distribution of economic activities and hinder the achievement of long-term sustainable development across Spain’s regions. Resolving these inequalities is crucial for promoting regional competitiveness and overall economic growth. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable and Resilient Regional Development: A Spatial Perspective)
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20 pages, 1565 KiB  
Article
Dynamic Evaluation on High-Quality Development Level in the Manufacturing Industry
by Feng Lyu, Huili Chu, Cheng Yang and Zhiwen Zhang
Sustainability 2025, 17(3), 834; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17030834 - 21 Jan 2025
Viewed by 748
Abstract
Promoting high-quality development of the manufacturing industry is the key to achieving sustainable economic development. The development of the manufacturing industry is affected by a variety of factors, and it is particularly important to reflect on its level of development from multiple perspectives. [...] Read more.
Promoting high-quality development of the manufacturing industry is the key to achieving sustainable economic development. The development of the manufacturing industry is affected by a variety of factors, and it is particularly important to reflect on its level of development from multiple perspectives. This paper built an evaluation indicator system for the manufacturing industry’s high-quality development using the structural equation model. An improved TOPSIS evaluation model was constructed based on the combined weighting of the level difference maximization method. The time series arithmetic mean operator was introduced to assign weight to time, and the quadratic weighted integration enabled a dynamic evaluation. The level of high-quality development of China’s manufacturing industry from 2018 to 2022 was assessed both statically and dynamically. According to the findings, the overall high-quality development of China’s manufacturing industry exhibited a trend of first declining and then increasing when the current status was only element taken into account. Regionally, there was a sequential decline from the east to the central part, followed by the western and northeastern regions. When focusing solely on the degree of growth, it was higher in the northeast and lower in the east. However, the regional characteristics declined when both the current status and the degree of growth were considered. Evaluating the high-quality development level of the manufacturing industry can provide references and lessons for promoting regional coordinated and sustainable development of China’s manufacturing industry. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable and Resilient Regional Development: A Spatial Perspective)
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11 pages, 1213 KiB  
Article
Impacts of Deficit Irrigation on Strawberry Physiology, Water Productivity, Quality, and Yield
by Pingguo Yang, Patrick J. Drohan, Xiaojiao Zhang, Huaiyu Long, Konstantinos X. Soulis and Xiaorong Shi
Sustainability 2025, 17(2), 675; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17020675 - 16 Jan 2025
Viewed by 895
Abstract
Strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) has a unique flavor and nutritional value. To investigate the effects of deficit irrigation on the growth, yield, quality, and water use efficiency of strawberries, “Zhangji” and “Hongyan” varieties were assessed in a greenhouse. Four irrigation levels [...] Read more.
Strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) has a unique flavor and nutritional value. To investigate the effects of deficit irrigation on the growth, yield, quality, and water use efficiency of strawberries, “Zhangji” and “Hongyan” varieties were assessed in a greenhouse. Four irrigation levels were set as 95% (CK), 75% (LS), 55% (MS), and 35% (±5%) (SS) of the field capacity, respectively. Five successive plant growth stages were analyzed. The results indicate that the plants’ daily water consumption intensity, as well as fruit yield and titratable acidity, decreased with increasing water stress, while vitamin C (Vc), soluble sugar, soluble protein, the sugar–acid ratio, and water use efficiency increased. Yield significantly decreased under the MS and SS treatments compared with CK. Malondialdehyde, proline contents, and superoxide dismutase activity reached the highest values under SS. Our results indicate that the greatest effect of water restriction occurs during the seedling growth and fruit color-turning periods. Given the higher Vc, titratable acidity, soluble sugars, and soluble proteins, the “Zhangji” variety may be preferable to the “Hongyan” variety, and an irrigation level at 70~80% of field capacity is recommended for good strawberry yield and taste quality. Deficit irrigation can save water resources, improve water use efficiency, and promote agricultural sustainable development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable and Resilient Regional Development: A Spatial Perspective)
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25 pages, 3702 KiB  
Article
Dynamics Influencing Factors and Sustainable Development Strategies in Population Shrinking Cities of Jiangsu Province, China
by Congjian Chen, Fen Xu and Yang Cao
Sustainability 2024, 16(23), 10209; https://doi.org/10.3390/su162310209 - 22 Nov 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1064
Abstract
Studies on urban shrinkage in eastern China lack relevant contributions. This study investigates population dynamics in Jiangsu Province, focusing on county-level cities to understand the factors influencing urban population size. It developed a multidimensional indicator system per 2014, 2017, 2020, and 2023 statistical [...] Read more.
Studies on urban shrinkage in eastern China lack relevant contributions. This study investigates population dynamics in Jiangsu Province, focusing on county-level cities to understand the factors influencing urban population size. It developed a multidimensional indicator system per 2014, 2017, 2020, and 2023 statistical data, incorporating road network accessibility, socio-economic levels, resident income, public services, and the built environment. Employing static fixed effects models and dynamic panel regression models, it analyses trends and evolutionary patterns of permanent population changes. The findings indicate an overall increase in the permanent population over the past decade, although the growth rate has slowed in the last five years. Notably, there is a significant spatial clustering of population growth and contraction, often aligned with high-speed transportation corridors. Unlike existing research findings, the urban shrinkage pattern in Jiangsu Province is unique. Some cities in northern Jiangsu exhibit a ‘relative contraction’ pattern, where population decline coexists with high economic growth and spatial expansion. Key short-term factors influencing population size include the city’s economic level and residents’ disposable income, while long-term factors encompass city level, industrial structure, and transportation networks. Small towns exhibit ‘close-range mobility’, with primary short-term influences stemming from residents’ income, public service quality, and intercity transportation accessibility. Indeed, long-term factors primarily reflect economic development quality and urban employment rates. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable and Resilient Regional Development: A Spatial Perspective)
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