DEVELOPMENT STATUS AND TREND ANALYSIS: NATIONAL SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PILOT ZONES IN CHINA

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted in 2015 attracted wide international attention. China's State Council issued the Development Plan for China's Innovation Demonstration Zone for Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2016, which offered a Chinese prescription for global sustainable development. Implementation of the Plan is based on National Sustainable Development Pilot Zones (NSDPZs). This gives rise to the question of what adjustments are needed to promote the development of NSDPZs under the Plan's guidance. This study aims to analyze the current situation of NSDPZs and explore the research direction in the future. Based on the development situations of NSDPZs over the past 30 years, this study investigated their spatiotemporal distribution characteristics, related research progress, and existing problems. Moreover, proposals are made for the key tasks of NSDPZs according to the Plan's requirements in terms of the following: exploring the mechanism for integrating science and technology innovation with social undertakings, solving the bottleneck problem in regional sustainable development, exploring avenues for high-quality development, and promoting the coordinated development of NSDPZs in eastern, central, and western regions. This study can serve as a reference for relevant decision making and provide rich cases demonstrating China's approach to sustainable development.