Exploring spatial patterns of sustainability and resilience of metropolitan areas in the US using self-organizing maps

Promoting sustainability and resilience is critical for long-term development of cities. However, there are still no consistent approaches to identify and measure sustainability and resilience in urban regions even though many indicators have been widely used. In addition, the relationships between urban regional sustainability and the sustainability of its components are unclear. To address these two knowledge gaps, we have constructed three sets of indicators to measure regional sustainability, transportation sustainability, and urban resilience. We then developed an approach based on Self-Organizing Map to cluster and compare selected US Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) with publicly available data, exploring the clustering and spatial patterns and relationships between sustainability and resilience. Our results have shown that regional sustainability and transportation sustainability are not the same but closely related, however, the measures and spatial distribution patterns of MSA sustainability and resilience do not always match. This study highlights the need to investigate the consistency of sustainability and resilience measures before formulating policies to promote sustainable and resilient urban development.