Measurement of sustainable transformation capability of resource-based cities based on fuzzy membership function: A case study of Shanxi Province, China

Measuring the transformation performance of resource-based cities and realizing the sustainable development of resource-based cities are the hotspots of the world. However, there are few studies focused on the sustainability of transformation. This paper designed an evaluation system that can comprehensively reflect the transformation and coordination of resource-based cities. The entropy weight method and fuzzy membership function were used to calculate the transformation degree (TD), coordination degree (CD) and transformation sustainability coefficient (TSC) of ten resource-based cities in Shanxi Province of China from 2007 to 2016. The transformation levels of these cities were constantly improving. The contribution of economic industry transformation (EIT) increased from 25.5% to 42.3%, which became the main driving force. The CD of each city fluctuated greatly; however, the overall trend was upward. The CD between social and livelihood transformation (SLT) and ecological and environmental transformation (EET) was the worst. The TSCs of northern and southeastern cities were relatively good, and they were backward in central and southwestern regions. Since 2013, TSC in some cities has declined in various degrees. It is suggested that the sustainable transformation of resource-based cities should be carried out, especially to solve the unemployment problems caused by the closure of mining areas, and strive to improve the coordination between social development and environmental governance. In addition, the government should attach importance to basic education, introduce high-tech industry based on resource utilization to improve the awareness of city transformation from the root, and gradually get rid of the city's dependence on resource exploitation.