Efficiency of urban development: gaps in continental profile

International authorities such as the European Commission and the United Nations pay special attention to sustainable urban development, for this purpose, strategies such as the European Green Deal or the Sustainable Development Strategy 2030 agenda, SDG 11 Sustainable cities and communities are developed. Urban development represents a fundamental direction in the transition process towards the green economy, a sustainable economic model. The paper aims to identify the degree of efficiency of economic development in the context of sustainable development for 41 cities in Romania, Germany, Japan, United States of America and Australia. To achieve this objective, the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method is used, with the aim of identifying the gaps regarding the sustainability of the analyzed cities. Data Envelopment Analysis allows the evaluation of the efficiency of urban settlements in the sample based on representative variables, selected as input. So, the research is ready to give answer to question like “What are the efficient cities in terms of sustainability?” and “What are the relationships between the cities included in the sample?”. The main results showed that there are cities that have a model of sustainable economic development, but certain cities present significant gaps from the point of view of efficient sustainable economic development. In addition, port cities seem to develop an association relationship, with inefficient port cities being associated with efficient port cities.