Evaluating the sustainability of land use integrating SDGs and its driving factors: A case study of the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration, China

Achieving the sustainability of land use (SLU) is of significance in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, limited research has been conducted on the integrating SDGs into land use assessment. This paper constructs a SLU evaluation framework oriented to SDGs to investigate the spatial-temporal characteristics of SLU during 2000–2020 and its driving factors, taking 192 counties in Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration (YRD), China as a case. Results show that the SLU level in YRD demonstrates an overall decrease trend of fluctuations, along with obvious regional differences. The spatial pattern of the SLU level in YRD is high in the northern region and low in the southern region, but this gap is gradually narrowing. The spatial distribution of SLU has positive agglomeration characteristics, manifested as HH and L-L types. Furthermore, SLU depends more on the combination of natural and socioeconomic factors. Industrial structure, fiscal deficit, urbanization level, vegetation coverage and precipitation characteristics can promote the SLU, while the economic development level, government intervention and population density have a negative impact on SLU.