The complexity for the resource-based cities in China on creating sustainable development

Sustainable urban development is an eternal challenge for the world, among which the resource-based city faces more complex dilemmas because of their particularities. The level of sustainability can reflect whether the policy is effective. In turn, policy analysis can help us understand the complexity of urban sustainable development, to which little attention has been paid. Considering their role of providing basic energy and raw materials for the economy, understanding the complexity of resource-based cities on creating sustainable development is more crucial. Therefore, this paper aims to fill the research gap through China's case and provide an absolutely new perspective of policy analysis through analyzing the deficiencies in policy development, implementation and response. We argue that more effective and reasonable policies are the key to solve the complex problem for such cities on creating sustainable development, and three aspects of policy development, implementation and response are all very important. We suggest the government build a special management system with absolute powers and responsibility, develop implementable policies with a normative but flexible indicator system, develop coherent policies based on timely evaluation and establish a complete data system to monitor and record the dynamic development and provide support for later evaluation and future policy development.