Sustainable urban development strategies for China considers the transition that needs to be made in China to achieve sustainable urban development. After outlining the links between economic growth and energy use, a conceptual framework is developed to contrast the major economic, technological, energy and environmental assumptions between conventional and sustainable development strategies. Using five of China's cities (Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenyang and Xian) as examples, the authors demonstrate that urban environmental degradation in China, as in many Asian countries, is attributable to the pursuit of economic growth under the conventional development model.