Comparative study of city-level sustainability assessment standards in China and the United States

In analyses of urban environments, city-level sustainability assessments standards have received a lot of attention. Many countries, particularly in the developed world, have developed the standards to measure the performance of neighborhoods, districts, and cities in achieving sustainable development goals. In this study, four standards from China and the United States were selected and analyzed within the scope of green and sustainable development. China’s new Assessment Standard for Green Eco-districts (ASGE) targets to support China’s New-type Urbanization Plan from the conceptual stage to the concrete implementation. LEED® rating systems are one of the important references for the development of ASGE. By comparing ASGE with the advanced standards it draws from, this study aimed to evaluate ASGE’s work in adapting to China’s national conditions; pointing out the strengths and weaknesses and proposing improvements. The study results indicate that the rating systems of ASGE are in line with China’s national conditions, and that some non-technical indicators are forward-looking, but that there is still room for improvement in terms of implementation paths, weight assignment, number of indicators, and index system. Based on these explorations, this study provides suggestions for aspects of principles and methods that could be used for the construction of similar standards in developing countries.