Sustainable Development and Adaptive Governance of Developing Country: from Singular Indicator to Integrated Framework

Most of the world’s population growth for the foreseeable future will occur in urban areas in developing countries. However, such processes are neither smooth nor sustainable, but increasingly plagued by various problems in health, quality of life, environmental quality, social cohesion and stability. Given the complex nature of sustainable development (SD) at regional level – featured by multi temporal & spatial levels and various stakeholders, methodology taken for dealing with this issue should be a pluralistic approach – involving multiple actors from local communities and being applicable at different geographical scales. Since the focal points of SD at regional level, in the context of developing countries, are equally focused on poverty and equity, as well as environmental issues, the inner logic of the methodology for diverting these regions towards SD should cover three fundamental issues - to which “direction”, by what “means”, and through what “process” - that should such regional development transformation to be initiated.

Obtained Ph.D. in ecology from the Northwest A&F University, and served as post-doctoral fellow in the School of Economics and Finance, Xi’an Jiaotong University. He is now assistant research fellow in Northwest Institute of Historical Environment and Socio-Economic Development, Shaanxi Normal University.