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Y. Zhang:
"Resource sustainability: the fifth dimension of sustainable development for Resource-based cities in China";
Talk: 2nd Austrian Conference on International Resource Politics: Resources for a social-ecological transformation, Innsbruck; 2019-02-28 - 2019-03-02.

The four dimensions of sustainability (environmental sustainability, social sustainability, economical sustainability, and institutional sustainability) and the systematic concept of sustainability are highlighted as the theoretical base in many research and projects in terms of city sustainability. In the recent decade, sustainable development of Resource-based cities (RBCs) is a hot but hard topic in China. RBCs, which greatly depend on resources and whose economy is highly relevant to mining activities, have more interaction with resources than the general cities. Learning from the western experience is a popular approach for the sustainable development of many RBCs in China. However, applying of theories, principles, and approaches of sustainable development from the North to the South, which is mainly from developed countries to developing countries, like from Europe to China, is also a big challenge because of the differences in development stages, institutional systems, and historical and cultural aspects. Therefore a logical theoretical framework based on the dimensions of sustainable development and systematic concept of sustainability is crucial for supporting the learning from western experience and developing sustainability transformation strategies for RBCs in China. In order to reach this theoretical base, the development paths and mechanisms of RBCs in Europe and China are compared from the four dimensions of sustainable development, and an analysis about the relation of mineral resource and RBCs in China from six aspects - resource reservation, resource exploitation, resource utilization, resource recycling, resource-relevant policies, laws and plans is carried out. The comparison is supported by literature review, which covers historical papers published as early as 1930s in Europe, and reports, policies, and papers, which are announced or published in the recent two decades in China. The analysis is conducted by a generalized literature review of RBC-relevant papers and data analysis of RBCs in China. Based on the comparison and analysis, resource sustainability is proposed to be the fifth dimension for the sustainable development of RBCs in China. Further, a sustainable development model with five dimensions for RBCs in China is developed. This model aims at assisting decision makers and planners in better understanding of the resource-city relation from the local, regional, and national levels, learning from western sustainable development experiences, and developing efficient strategies for transforming RBCs to sustainable cities.