Search

Carbon emission issues are becoming increasingly severe, and the carbon emissions in shrinking cities, primarily characterized by population loss, are often overlooked and insufficiently studied. This paper focuses on the carbon emissions from county-level administrative units in China's three northeastern provinces from 2001 to 2017. The study scientifically identified shrinking cities and measured the differences in carbon emission characteristics between growing and shrinking cities using the Theil index. Ultimately, the paper constructs a panel spatial econometric model to analyze the factors influencing them and explore their spatial effects. (1) The total carbon emissions in the Three Northeastern Provinces exhibited an inverted U-shaped trend, increasing from 734.21 million tons in 2001 to 1731.73 million tons in 2017, with the Mann–Kendall trend test showing a significant increase; spatially, this manifests as a significant positive spatial autocorrelation. (2) The region has 138 shrinking cities, accounting for over 50%; regarding carbon emission characteristics, the Theil index has consistently remained above 0.18, indicating significant differences between the carbon emissions of growing and shrinking cities. (3) The panel spatial econometric model results show that the influencing factors of carbon emissions in shrinking cities have unique directions, intensities, and spatial effects. In shrinking cities, aside from localized GDP effects and per-capita GDP acting as a suppressant, the population size has a pronounced inhibitory effect on local and surrounding carbon emissions. The analysis reveals significant differences in the carbon emission patterns and mechanisms between growing and shrinking cities; based on these results, the paper proposes differentiated carbon control strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the critical period of strengthening the construction of ecological civilization, the construction of forest cities has become an important measure to promote urban ecosystem restoration and achieve sustainable development. Based on the mechanism of forest city promoting green development, the construction of a national forest city is regarded as a "quasi-natural experiment". Using China's urban panel data from 2005 to 2019, the impact of national forest city construction on urban green total factor productivity was evaluated using Multistage asymptotic double difference. The results show that National Forest Cities with environmental regulation can significantly promote regional green total factor productivity, which is still valid after a series of Robustness tests. Mechanism analysis shows that forest city construction not only affects territorial spatial planning but also forms a linkage with green technology innovation, mutual promotion and mutual promotion to jointly promote the sustainable development goals. This paper argues that building a national forest city is an important measure to achieve China's sustainable development goals in the new era, but in the process of policy implementation, it is necessary to implement the national forest city selection system according to local conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is currently focusing on the cooperative control of air pollution and CO2 emissions, as well as the mitigation of economic policy uncertainty (EPU). By using panel data from 282 cities spanning from 2003 to 2017 and a newly constructed city-level EPU index, a spatial Durbin, two-way fixed-effects model is employed, with the aim of estimating the impact of EPU on the synergistic emissions intensity (SEI) of air pollutants and CO2. Additionally, this paper investigates the potential channels through which EPU influences SEI. It also explores how pressures related to environmental protection and economic development affect the impact of EPU on SEI. The results indicate that a unit increase in EPU will result in a rise in the SEI of local cities, adjacent cities, and total cities by 930.9%, 69,162.7%, and 70,093.6%, respectively. Moreover, the channel analysis suggests that EPU exacerbates SEI by undermining the upgrading of the industrial structure, augmenting industrial structure distortion, and escalating labor market distortion. Furthermore, the effect of EPU on SEI may be lessened by an increase in environmental protection pressure, while an increase in economic development pressure may exert a positive influence. Finally, this paper concludes by recommending that policymakers should prioritize the maintenance and stability of economic policies, facilitate the advancement of the industrial structure, enhance the efficiency of labor resource allocation, and underscore the significance of managing urban air pollution and CO2 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The virtual water flow behind product trade provides researchers with ideas to alleviate water problems in China's coastal areas, with accompanying resource and economic implications. This paper adopts a multi-region input–output model to calculate virtual water flows in coastal areas and analyses resource benefits and economic benefits, by combining the water stress index and shadow price, to measure gains and losses of virtual water flow. This study shows that (1) China's coastal areas depends on external water supplies; (2) virtual water flows between coastal and inland areas generated 38.26 billion m3 of net scarce water savings and CNY 31,751 billion of net economic benefits, indicating that coastal areas benefited from virtual water flows from both resource and economic perspectives; (3) virtual water flows among coastal provinces and cities caused 11.10 billion m3 of net scarce water losses, but generated CNY 9784 billion of net economic gains, indicating that a further intensification of water stress in coastal areas, but such a virtual water flow pattern was beneficial from an economic perspective. This paper reveals the resource and economic impacts of virtual water flow at the national scale and among coastal provinces and cities and further proposes suggestions for promoting the beneficial flow of virtual water in coastal areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since entering the 21st century, many developing countries around the world have begun to enter a stage of rapid urbanization; large-scale "rural-urban" population migration has become a typical social phenomenon in these countries. Against this backdrop, this paper aims to elucidate the spatial migration characteristics of rural populations and to discuss future rural–urban development strategies. For this purpose, this paper takes China as a case and employs methods such as spatial autocorrelation analysis, hotspot analysis, and network analysis to construct an intercity migration network of rural migrants and analyze its spatial characteristics and internal structure. The results indicate that the migration pattern of the rural population exhibits notable spatial clustering features. Cities in the eastern and central regions are, respectively, hotspots for the inflow and outflow of rural populations, with internal migration dominating in western cities and relatively inactive rural population movements in northeastern cities. Municipalities directly under the central government, sub-provincial cities, and provincial capitals show a significant tendency to attract rural populations, while prefecture-level and county-level cities mainly radiate rural populations outward. Cities nationwide form seven major clusters in the migration network, and these clusters exhibit distinct structural characteristics. Rural population migration is influenced by various factors. In the future, considerations should focus on the county as the primary unit, attracting rural populations for local employment, and promoting rural revitalization and agriculture development. The findings of this paper are of reference significance not only to China but also to many developing countries with similar national conditions in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the knowledge economy era, innovation has become a key emphasis for urban competitions. This paper constructs a theoretical research framework that integrates the basic understandings, influencing factors and ensuing results of intercity innovative competition relations. On the basis of data from the general programs of the National Natural Science Foundation of China from 2005 to 2019, this paper constructs intercity innovative competition relations in China, analyses their spatial distribution and quantitative characteristics, and quantitatively investigates the impact of urban innovation capacity and multidimensional proximity (e.g., geographical proximity, institutional proximity and cognitive proximity) on intercity innovative competition relations through a negative binomial model. The study obtained the following findings: (1) In terms of the overall intercity innovative competition relations, the intensity of China's intercity innovative competition relations gradually increased from 2005 to 2019, with a spatial clustering towards cities with high administrative ranks (e.g., municipalities directly under the central government, sub-provincial cities and provincial capitals); Beijing is always at the centre of innovative competition relations, but its standing has slightly slipped in recent years. (2) From the perspective of disciplines, cities can become benchmarks in particular fields of innovative competitions by competing according to their disciplinary strengths; intercity innovative competition relations in China vary across various academic disciplines. (3) In terms of influencing factors, urban innovation capacity has significant positive effects on intercity innovative competition relations; geographical proximity, institutional proximity and cognitive proximity all have significant positive effects on innovative competition relations; and interactions occur between multidimensional proximities, including a complementary effect between geographical proximity and institutional proximity, a substitutive effect between cognitive proximity and geographical proximity, and a substitutive effect between cognitive proximity and institutional proximity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-wheeled non-motorized vehicles (TNVs) have become the primary mode of transportation for short-distance travel among residents in many underdeveloped cities in China due to their convenience and low cost. However, this trend also brings corresponding risks of traffic accidents. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the driving behavior characteristics of TNVs through their trajectory data in order to provide guidance for traffic safety. Nevertheless, the compact size, agile steering, and high maneuverability of these TNVs pose substantial challenges in acquiring high-precision trajectories. These characteristics complicate the tracking and analysis processes essential for understanding their movement patterns. To tackle this challenge, we propose an enhanced You Only Look Once Version X (YOLOx) model, which incorporates a median pooling-Convolutional Block Attention Mechanism (M-CBAM). This model is specifically designed for the detection of TNVs, and aims to improve accuracy and efficiency in trajectory tracking. Furthermore, based on this enhanced YOLOx model, we have developed a micro-trajectory data mining framework specifically for TNVs. Initially, the paper establishes an aerial dataset dedicated to the detection of TNVs, which then serves as a foundational resource for training the detection model. Subsequently, an augmentation of the Convolutional Block Attention Mechanism (CBAM) is introduced, integrating median pooling to amplify the model's feature extraction capabilities. Subsequently, additional detection heads are integrated into the YOLOx model to elevate the detection rate of small-scale targets, particularly focusing on TNVs. Concurrently, the Deep Sort algorithm is utilized for the precise tracking of vehicle targets. The process culminates with the reconstruction of trajectories, which is achieved through a combination of video stabilization, coordinate mapping, and filtering denoising techniques. The experimental results derived from our self-constructed dataset reveal that the enhanced YOLOx model demonstrates superior detection performance in comparison to other analogous methods. The comprehensive framework accomplishes an average trajectory recall rate of 85% across three test videos. This significant achievement provides a reliable method for data acquisition, which is essential for investigating the micro-level operational mechanisms of TNVs. The results of this study can further contribute to the understanding and improvement of traffic safety on mixed-use roads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different choices of living space for urban residents are concrete reflections of a social class divide. Emerging residential space differentiation is a critical issue in Chinese cities. This paper aims to explore the current situations and mechanisms of residential spatial differentiation, and reveal its social responses in Chinese cities. Taking Wuhan, the largest city in central China, as an example, this research divides the residential space based on social resource structures. It analyzes and compares spatial differentiation and influencing factors of different residential areas and houses with different prices in Wuhan by spatial differentiation indicators and geographic detector. The results show that residential areas are divergent due to differences in urban resource spatial structure, with few and concentrated high-quality residential areas. The spatial differentiation level of different residential areas also varies, with central location, landscape, educational resources, and other dominant scarce resources being the key to residential spatial differentiation in most of China's big cities. In addition, residential spatial differentiation can lead to issues including housing wealth inequality, resource deprivation, and class identity solidification. In the end, this paper puts forward policy implications on alleviating residential spatial differentiation and optimizing allocation of residential resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Park green space is a big part of public infrastructure in cities, and how to evaluate and optimize the mismatch of urban park green space (UPGS) has become the focus of current research in academia and industry. Taking China's 286 cities as an example, this paper used the spatial cluster and Boston Consulting Group Matrix to analyze the aggregation laws and changing modes of UPGS from 2010 to 2020, introduced the spatial mismatch model to analyze the matching of its supply and demand with GDP and population, and adopted the Geodetector to analyze the influencing factors. The findings: (1) The evolution of UPGS in China had long been characterized by a "pyramidal" pattern, i.e., limited green cities > developing green cities > steady green cities > booming green cities, exhibiting the spatial characteristics of gradient differences between the coasts and inland areas, and the aggregation of blocks in some areas. (2) The supply and demand mismatches of the UPGS were relatively stable, with negative matching being the main supply mismatch type, and positive matching being the main demand mismatch type. The contribution of supply and demand mismatches similarly showed a spatial pattern of a gradual decrease from the coast to inland and the aggregation of blocks in some areas. (3) Five types of factors played different driving roles on UPGS, with social development remaining a weak factor, and the strong factor switching from urban infrastructure to construction land scale. The interaction detection was dominated by a bilinear enhancement, with super-interaction factors changing from an output value of the tertiary industry and population urbanization rate to education expenditure in local general public budgets. (4) Based on the mismatch between the supply and demand for UPGS in China, 286 cities were classified into four types, namely a smart shrinking zone, smart growing zone, status quo zone, and overlay policy zone, and differentiated development proposals for the corresponding zoning were put forward. This paper constructed an application framework of "evolution pattern + supply demand match + driving factors + policy zoning" for UPGS at a large scale, which will effectively enhance the effective allocation of its resources across the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transportation infrastructure is essential to regional innovation systems, and the high-speed railway (HSR) is reshaping China's regional innovation pattern. Previous research lacks an analysis of the impact of opening an HSR on urban traditional and green innovation. This paper uses urban panel data from 285 prefecture-level cities in China from 2003 to 2019 to study the impact and mechanism of opening an HSR on urban innovation from a comparative perspective. The results of a multi-period difference-in-difference (DID) model show that opening an HSR can promote both traditional and green urban innovation, especially impacting urban green innovation. A further analysis of the mechanism of action found that high-quality talent and communication infrastructures are two crucial mechanisms of transmission for the opening of an HSR to affect urban innovation. In addition, heterogeneity analysis showed that opening an HSR promotes traditional urban and green innovation for cities in general. However, for central cities, the opening of an HSR has no significant impact on green innovation and has little effect on promoting traditional innovation. The policy inspiration of this paper is that, in the face of an innovation gap and the inequality of regional innovation and development, the construction of HSRs should be promoted according to local conditions. Construction and layout resources should be shifted from central cities to general cities to narrow the regional innovation gap. In addition, it is necessary to pay attention to the roles of the flow of high-quality talent and communication infrastructure in promoting urban innovation and sustainable urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of the Internet and digital technology, digital infrastructure has become an important part of urban infrastructure. Many cities are enacting smart policies to promote the development of digital technology infrastructure. However, what are their mechanisms? There is currently a shortage of literature on the subject. This paper tried to solve this problem and used China as an example. Using panel data from cities in China, this paper used the spatial multiple-period difference-in-difference (SDID) method to investigate the impact of smart city policy (SCP) on digital infrastructure. First, we found that SCP significantly promotes the construction of digital infrastructure, with strong positive spatial spillover effects. This result remained valid after a series of rigorous robustness tests. Second, we discovered that the indirect effects of policy implementation outweigh the direct effects. Furthermore, smart city development enhances local government investment in digital infrastructure, attracts more high-tech enterprises, and consequently drives improvements in urban digital infrastructure levels. Lastly, we observed that the effectiveness of smart city policies is stronger in cities with good fiscal conditions, strong economic development, and a thriving digital economy. This research will not only enrich research on smart cities but also provide policy recommendations for strengthening digital infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the intensification of urbanization, characterized by increasingly dense land use, the proliferation of high-rise residences has emerged as a predominant housing solution, particularly evident in developed cities like those in China. With a primary aim of enhancing the residential living environment within high-rise structures, this study advocates for a comprehensive whole life cycle perspective. By employing digital technology and conducting experiments centered on a representative case study, this paper focuses on optimizing the functional layout of public activity spaces within high-rise residential projects. Specifically, this article aims to address challenges such as the inadequate configuration and articulation of various public spaces, along with the underutilization of peripheral activity areas. Central to the optimization efforts is the utilization of the Kruskal algorithm, which enables the analysis of flow lines and functions, ultimately leading to the derivation of optimal solutions. Through a detailed analysis of our case study, this paper provides actionable insights into enhancing the feasibility and effectiveness of public spaces within high-rise residential projects. Recognizing the pivotal role of public space layout in shaping residents' living experiences, the importance of addressing this issue early in the design phase was emphasized. By integrating scientifically driven digital technology solutions, smart, inclusive, and convenient communities that cater to the diverse needs of their inhabitants are aspired to be created. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientific and technological innovation and ecological progress are important forces for China's high-quality development. Nevertheless, the current body of research seldom explores the mutual dependence and evolutionary patterns of the two regional systems when considering both historical and future perspectives. This paper aims to enhance the current theoretical research framework by focusing on the coastal region of China. It analyzes and predicts the co-evolution and space–time distribution process of two systems by constructing a coupled model and a gray prediction model. The results show the following: (1) the coupling and coordinated development level of the two coastal systems has basically reached the stage of good coupling and coordinated development, and the level has increased, but the gap has gradually increased, and Jiangsu and Guangdong have reached the leading level; (2) the spatial distribution in coastal areas is uneven, showing a convex spatial pattern of "high in the middle and low at both ends"; (3) during the forecast period, the overall coupling and coordination level of the two systems will continue to improve, but individual cities still cannot jump out of the development state of slow development processes. With the aim of fostering the harmonious growth of both systems at both regional and national levels, this paper proposes practical recommendations concerning the establishment of a sustainable interaction mechanism, the evolution of the industrial structure towards ecological sustainability, and the economic contribution to scientific and technological innovation. Furthermore, this article serves as a valuable reference for advancing the sustainable development of other nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Solow residual method, traditionally pivotal for calculating total factor productivity (TFP), is typically not applied to green TFP calculations due to its exclusion of undesired outputs. Diverging from traditional approaches and other frontier methodologies such as Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA), this paper integrates undesired outputs and three types of spatial spillover effects into the conventional Solow framework, thereby creating a new spatiotemporal econometric Solow residual method (STE-SRM). Utilizing this novel method, the study computes the industrial green TFPs for 280 Chinese cities from 2003 to 2019, recalculates these TFPs using DEA-SBM and Bayesian SFA for the same cities and periods, and assesses the accuracy of the STE-SRM-derived TFPs through comparative analysis. Additionally, the paper explores the statistical properties of China's urban industrial green TFPs as derived from the STE-SRM, employing Dagum's Gini coefficient and spatial convergence analyses. The findings first indicate that by incorporating undesired outputs and spatial spillover into the Solow residual method, green TFPs are computable in alignment with the traditional Solow logic, although the allocation of per capita inputs and undesired outputs hinges on selecting the optimal empirical production function. Second, China's urban industrial green TFPs, calculated using the STE-SRM with the spatial Durbin model with mixed effects as the optimal model, show that cities like Huangshan, Fangchenggang, and Sanya have notably higher TFPs, whereas Jincheng, Datong, and Taiyuan display lower TFPs. Third, comparisons of China's urban industrial green TFP calculations reveal that those derived from the STE-SRM demonstrate broader but more concentrated results, while Bayesian SFA results are narrower and less concentrated, and DEA-SBM findings sit between these extremes. Fourth, the study highlights significant spatial heterogeneity in China's urban industrial green TFPs across different regions—eastern, central, western, and northeast China—with evident sigma convergence across the urban landscape, though absolute beta convergence is significant only in a limited subset of cities and time periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shrinking cities suffer from a decreased level of resident activities. As a result, areas with low levels of resident activities may become breeding grounds for social issues. To ease and prevent social issues, it is important to deploy physical space optimisation strategies to effectively guide the distribution of resident activities in shrinking cities. To support the development of such spatial strategies, this paper introduces machine learning-based methods for analysing the nuanced non-linear relationship between resident activities and physical space in shrinking cities. Utilising dual-scale grids, this study calculates multi-source spatial elements, which are subsequently integrated with resident activity data to construct a gradient boosting decision tree model. It then analyses the weight of different spatial elements' impacts on resident activities and their nonlinear relationships. The model proposed in this study demonstrates good precision in construing the relationship between resident activities and physical space. Based on the research findings, strategies for different types of spatial development in shrinking cities are drawn out. This paper advocates for the application of this analytical approach before conducting spatial planning in shrinking cities to maximise the effectiveness of spatial development in guiding resident activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the increasingly complex global climatic environment and the rapid development of China's urban construction, China's historical and cultural cities are experiencing an external impact as well as internal fragility. Representing the capacity of the urban system to address impact and pressure, resilience can effectively guarantee the sustainable development of historical and cultural cities. A scientific and reasonable resilience assessment system can guide the resilience construction of historical and cultural cities in an effort to effectively counter the impact and pressure they face. Therefore, it is necessary to research the resilience of historical and cultural cities. On the basis of the complex adaptive system (CAS), and by applying multiple assessment indicators, this paper established a resilience assessment system for China's historical and cultural cities, comprising 38 indicators in six dimensions, to analyze the characteristics and the influencing mechanisms of the resilience of the historical and cultural cities and to reveal the inherent logic underlying their complex presentation. Using six historical and cultural cities in east China as an example, the study applied the assessment system to assess and analyze the different resilience levels of the cities. The comprehensive resilience of Changzhou City obtained the highest score at 0.64, indicating a higher degree of resilience; the scores of Yantai City, Huzhou City, and Nantong City were 0.59, 0.54, and 0.50, respectively, representing moderate degrees of resilience; the scores of Zhongshan City and Quzhou City were 0.44 and 0.40, respectively, exhibiting a lower degree of resilience. Moreover, the factors that result in an unbalanced development of urban resilience were explored from the perspectives of economy, system, and culture. The paper contains some significance in guiding the development of the resilience of historical and cultural cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photovoltaic (PV) power generation is booming in rural areas, not only to meet the energy needs of local farmers but also to provide additional power to urban areas. Existing methods for estimating the spatial distribution of PV power generation potential either have low accuracy and rely on manual experience or are too costly to be applied in rural areas. In this paper, we discuss three aspects, namely, geographic potential, physical potential, and technical potential, and propose a large-scale and efficient PV potential estimation system applicable to rural rooftops in China. Combined with high-definition map images, we proposed an improved SegNeXt deep learning network to extract roof images. Using the national standard Design Code for Photovoltaic Power Plants (GB50797-2012) and the Bass model, computational results were derived. The average pixel accuracy of the improved SegNeXt was about 96%, which well solved the original problems of insufficient finely extracted edges, poor adhesion, and poor generalization ability and can cope with different types of buildings. Leizhou City has a geographic potential of 1500 kWh/m2, a physical potential of 25,186,181.7 m2, and a technological potential of 442.4 MW. For this paper, we innovatively used the Bass Demand Diffusion Model to estimate the installed capacity over the next 35 years and combined the Commodity Diffusion Model with the installed capacity, which achieved a good result and conformed to the dual-carbon "3060" plan for the future of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the urban development trend of sprawl, improving energy use efficiency is a proper way to promote green and low-carbon construction in cities. This paper uses panel data from 283 prefecture-level and above cities in China from 2008 to 2019 to measure the urban sprawl index, and analyze the spatial-temporal evolution law of urban sprawl and electricity consumption. The relationship between urban sprawl and electricity consumption is empirically examined, and the differential effect of urban sprawl on electricity consumption is analyzed. Finally, the impact of urban sprawl on electricity consumption based on a spatial perspective is explored in depth by establishing a spatial error model. We found the following: (1) The levels of urban sprawl and urban electricity consumption are on the rise. The spatial distribution of urban sprawl is more dispersed, and cities with high electricity consumption levels are mostly concentrated in the eastern coastal areas. (2) Urban sprawl exacerbates electricity consumption, and this conclusion is still robust after a series of robustness tests were conducted and endogeneity issues were taken into account. In terms of the influence mechanism, urban sprawl mainly affects electricity consumption by changing the allocation of land resources, increasing the dependence on private transportation, and inhibiting green technology innovation. (3) The incremental effect of urban sprawl on electricity consumption is more pronounced in cities with high sprawl levels, weak environmental regulations, and low green innovation levels, as well as in west cities. (4) Urban sprawl and electricity consumption both have a significant positive spatial correlation. Electricity consumption of cities is not only related to their own regions but also influenced by the adjacent regions, and the spatial correlation is mainly reflected in the random error term. This paper deepens the understanding of the basic laws of urban sprawl affecting urban low-carbon development, which also has implications for new urbanization strategies and green development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of globalization and the intensification of international competition, the construction of public cultural facilities has long been not limited to meeting the cultural needs of the people but has become an important initiative to shape the competitiveness of cities. This paper collected POI and socio-economic statistics from 2012 to 2020 from 285 Chinese cities and employed the coefficient of variation (CV), Gini index (GI), ESDA, and GeoDetector to analyze the spatial patterns and driving mechanisms of public cultural facilities. Findings: (1) Public cultural facilities in Chinese cities were featured by evident regional gradient differences and uneven spatial distributions, with a CV greater than 1.3 and a GI greater than 0.5 in both years. They also showed signs of aggregation at weak levels, with a Moran I of 0.15 in both years and a cluster pattern of "hot in the east and cold in the west". (2) Different types of public cultural facilities had differences in their differentiation, aggregation, and change trends. The CV changed from 1.39~2.69 to 1.06~1.92, and the GI changed from 0.53~0.80 to 0.47~0.62, with the differentiation of libraries, museums, theaters, art galleries, and cultural centers decreasing gradually, while that of exhibition halls increased day by day. As the Moran I increased from 0.08~0.20 to 0.12~0.24, libraries, museums, art galleries, and cultural centers showed weak aggregation with an increasingly strong trend. Theaters and exhibition halls also showed weak aggregation but in a declining trend, with the Moran I changing from 0.15~1.19 to 0.09~0.1. (3) The five driving variables exhibit significant differences in their strength across time and across regions, with the economic and infrastructure factors being the strongest and the urbanization factor the weakest. There are significant differences in the strength of the driving forces among the factors, with the total retail sales of consumers, the number of subscribers to internet services, regular higher education institutions, and undergraduates in regular HEIs playing both direct and interactive roles as the core factors. (4) The 285 cities in China are divided into four policy zonings of star, cow, question, and dog cities. Star cities should maintain their status quo without involving too much policy intervention, whereas the core and important factors should be the focus of policy in dog cities and cow cities, and the auxiliary factors should be the focus of policy in question cities. This paper contributes to the in-depth knowledge of the development pattern of public cultural facilities and provides a more refined basis for the formulation of public cultural facility promotion policies in China and similar countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to explore the causal relationship between the level of urban digital construction and urban economic growth, this paper takes 280 cities in China as the research object and constructs a comprehensive indicator evaluation system covering digital infrastructure, overall economic level, innovation development level, digital industry development status, and ecological environment conditions. Using the entropy method to weigh various indicators, this paper has obtained the evaluation results of the digital construction level of each city from 2011 to 2021. Furthermore, a panel data regression model is used to empirically analyze the impact of urban digital construction level on urban economic growth. The results show that for every 1% increase in the level of urban digital construction, the GDP will increase by 0.974. Through the above research, we hope to further enrich the theoretical and empirical research in the field of the digital economy, provide a scientific and reasonable method for quantitatively evaluating the level of urban digital construction, and provide decision-making references for improving the level of urban digital construction and promoting sustainable urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elucidating the impacts of service industry's agglomeration on the optimization of industrial structures holds paramount significance in advancing urban economic growth and fostering the coordinated and sustainable development of city economies. This study leverages panel data encompassing 251 prefecture-level cities spanning from 2003 to 2019, employing a spatial Dubin model to scrutinize the influence of distinct types of service industry agglomeration on industrial structure optimization. The results show that specialized agglomeration within the service sector significantly inhibits the rationalization of industrial structures and their underlying fundamentals. Conversely, heightened levels of agglomeration in diversified service industries facilitate the rationalization of industrial structure, predominantly driven by regional spatial spillover effects. Further analysis reveals heterogeneity in service industry agglomeration across cities of varying sizes concerning industrial structure optimization, notably accentuating underutilized spatial spillover effects in smaller cities. In light of these insights, this paper advocates for cities to capitalize on the agglomeration and spillover effects between the service industry and other sectors, strategically selecting optimal service industry agglomeration modes to propel industrial structure optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientifically measuring the level of environmental governance (EGL) and understanding its spatial convergence has important reference value for ecological governance. In this paper, the global entropy method is applied to measure the EGL of 284 prefecture-level cities in China from 2007 to 2019, which are divided into three major river basins, including the Yellow River, Yangtze River, and Pearl River, to observe the spatial–temporal evolutionary characterization through a standard deviation ellipse model. The coefficient of variation and the spatial econometric model are the tools used to conduct the spatial convergence test. The results are as follows: (1) China's EGL is low overall, though it is fluctuating upward at low magnitude, and the three major river basins follow the ranking: The Pearl River Basin > The Yangtze River Basin > The Yellow River Basin. (2) Spatially, the distribution pattern of China's EGL changes from "scattered and sporadic" to "multipolar core". (3) The center of China's environmental governance was concentrated in the east from 2007 to 2019, and the EGL in the midstream and downstream regions of the three major river basins increased rapidly. (4) Environmental governance in China has significant absolute and conditional β-convergence characteristics, as do the three major basins, while the ranking of convergence speed remains "Yangtze River Basin > Yellow River Basin > Pearl River Basin". Of these, economic development accelerated the convergence rate of environmental governance in China and its three major river basins; financial pressure significantly inhibited the convergence of the EGL of the Yellow River Basin. The improvement of the EGL in the Pearl River Basin was also negatively influenced by the industrial structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colleges and universities play a crucial role in fostering innovation, making it essential to explore effective strategies for promoting innovation at the institutional policy level. This paper focuses on the establishment of intellectual property model cities as a starting point and conducts an empirical analysis using innovation data from 234 cities and 942 colleges and universities between 2007 and 2017. By constructing a multi-temporal double-difference model, this study reveals that the establishment of intellectual property model cities effectively fosters innovation in colleges and universities. Further analysis demonstrates that this promotional effect is particularly significant in the western region, key cities, and key colleges and universities, as well as in the fields of invention and utility model patents. These conclusions withstand a series of robustness tests, confirming their validity. This study reveals that the national intellectual property pilot city policy has a significant influence on university innovation. It achieves this by encouraging investment in research and development and enhancing collaboration in innovation. The findings of this study provide important policy suggestions for maximizing the innovation potential of the intellectual property model city policy. This, in turn, can contribute to economic transformation, upgrading, and the promotion of innovation development in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is in the transition period of urbanization, and the imbalance of land use generated during the original rapid development of megacities still exists, resulting in the preservation of a large number of urban villages in the peripheral areas of cities. Unlike formal housing, these villages are heavily influenced by the confrontation and interweaving between top-down policies of local governments and bottom-up spontaneous construction by local villagers, resulting in a diverse and complex status quo. At the same time, self-built housing in urban villages has become a gathering place for a large number of low-income migrants due to its relatively low rental prices. In terms of the research of urban villages on the current situation of housing, the real needs of users and housing performance are mostly subjective judgments and conclusions. Therefore, the entry point of this paper is the leased space and the leasers, taking Laojuntang Village in Chaoyang District of Beijing as the research object and analyzing its current problems and the real needs of users. This paper adopts an integrated approach of fuzzy Kano model evaluation and building performance simulation. After analyzing the data and discussing the influencing factors, this paper identifies the specific problems and user needs that exist in leased spaces in Laojuntang Village: (1) The architectural performance of leased space is a Must-be Quality, which is the bottom-line requirement and must be improved. (2) The quality of the basic facilities and equipment of the leased space is mostly a One-dimensional Quality, Attractive Quality, and the degree of importance is lower than that of the building performance. (3) The external activity facilities of the leased space are mostly undifferentiated needs, for which the local users are not particularly prominent. (4) The scale and plot ratio of local housing is relatively high, and users are dissatisfied and complaining, which falls under the category of Reverse Quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wetland ecosystem service function provides and maintains the Earth's life system, which supports human and social development. However, in recent years, with the intensification of human social activities, the wetland area in northeast China has been reduced, and wetland ecosystem service function has been damaged. This paper evaluates the ecosystem service function of wetlands in northeast China based on the InVEST model, taking 40 prefecture-level cities as the evaluation unit, calculating the carbon stock, soil retention, and habitat quality of the wetlands in the study area and analyzing the drivers of changes in ecosystem service function using the PLUS model. The following results were obtained: temporally, the wetland carbon stock decreased from 754 Tg in 2000 to 688 Tg in 2020; the wetland soil retention increased from 24,424 Tg in 2000 to 33,160 Tg in 2010, and then decreased to 28,765 Tg in 2020; and the quality of wetland habitats was roughly unchanged. The wetland habitats in the study area were categorized into 5 types, classified as I, II, III, IV, or V, and the spatial changes in the 40 prefecture-level cities in northeast China were analyzed. The driving factors affecting the change in the wetland ecosystem service function were further analyzed, mainly focusing on changes in the wetland area itself. The influence of other land-use types and the influence of related policies were analyzed in three aspects, among which the GDP and spatial density of the population are social factors, and the elevation and slope are natural factors that provide larger contributions to the change in wetland area. The reduction in forest and grassland areas and the increase in cultivated land and construction land areas have a negative effect on the ecosystem service function of wetlands, and the implementation of relevant wetland protection policies promotes the ecosystem service function of wetlands. According to the problems faced by wetlands in different regions, the government formulates strategies that are in line with local development, with a view to implementing wetland ecological development in the northeast region in the new context, which will help to realize intensive land use and stimulate the vitality of the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Qinghai–Xizang Plateau is one of the important units of the major project of ecosystem protection and restoration in China's "three zones and four belts"(2021–2035), and balancing its ecological security with rational regional development is the basis for ensuring China's ecological stability. In this paper, the coupling mechanism between regional development intensity and ecological security is explained, and a measurement system of the relationship is designed, from which the coordination degree and type division of the coupling between regional development intensity and ecological security on the Qinghai–Xizang Plateau from 2011 to 2020 is measured. The results show the following: (1) During the study period, the regional development intensity of the Qinghai–Xizang Plateau has been increasing, with Xining and Lhasa as the "core" that drives the development and expansion of the surrounding areas. The ecological security index has been also on the rise, showing a pattern of "belt-shaped depressions in the central and western parts of the Plateau, and vertical clusters in the eastern part of the Plateau". The depression moves toward the southern part of Xinjiang. (2) The degree of coupling and coordination between development intensity and ecological safety in each city (prefecture) on the Qinghai–Xizang Plateau has increased by different degrees, but many cities (prefectures) still show a lag in development intensity or ecological security. (3) The evolution of the pattern of coupling and coordination between regional development intensity and ecological security on the Qinghai–Xizang Plateau varies significantly, forming a pattern of "high in the east and low in the west, with multiple clusters side by side". To some extent, this paper reveals the correlation between the spatial and temporal distributions of regional development intensity and ecological security on the Qinghai–Xizang Plateau, which can provide a basis for the regulation of human activities in the construction of ecological security barriers at the city (prefecture) level on the Qinghai–Xizang Plateau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the deepening of urbanization in China, the coordinated development of cities in different regions is an important part of the sustainable development of the country, and the reasonable quantification of the unbalanced development of cities in different regions is an important issue facing the society nowadays. Previous studies usually use population data to analyze the power-law distribution law to quantify the imbalance of urban development in different regions, but China's population data span a large number of years and numerous division criteria, and the results obtained from different population data are widely disparate and have obvious limitations. The paper starts from a fractal perspective and utilizes OpenStreetMap (OSM) data to extract national road intersections from 2015 to 2022, calculates critical distance thresholds for eight years using urban expansion curves, generates urban agglomerations in China, and quantifies the imbalance of urban development in different regions by calculating the urban agglomeration power-law index. The results indicate that (1) the critical distance threshold of urban expansion curves exhibits a slight overall increase and stabilizes within the range of 120–130 m, (2) the number of urban agglomerations in China has been increasing significantly year by year, but the power-law index has been decreasing from 1.49 in 2015 to 1.36 in 2022, and (3) the number of urban agglomerations and the power–law index of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, and Chengdu–Chongqing regions, which is consistent with the national scale trend, indicates that the scale distribution of urban agglomerations in China at this stage does not conform to Zipf's law, and there is a certain Matthew effect among cities in different geographic areas with a large unevenness. The results of the study can provide new ideas for assessing the coordinated development of cities in different regions. It compensates for the instability of population and economic data in traditional studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 20 July 2021, an extreme rainstorm battered Zhengzhou in China's Henan Province, killing 302 people, including 14 individuals who drowned in a subway tunnel and 6 who drowned in a road tunnel. As the global climate warms, extreme weather events similar to the Zhengzhou flood will become more frequent, with increasingly catastrophic consequences for society. Taking a case study-based approach by focusing on the record-breaking Zhengzhou flood, this paper examines the governance capacity of inland cities in North China for managing extreme precipitation and flooding events from the perspective of the flood risk management process. Based on in-depth case analysis, our paper hypothesizes that inland cities in North China still have low risk perceptions of extreme weather events, which was manifested in insufficient pre-disaster preparation and prevention, poor risk communication, and slow emergency response. Accordingly, it is recommended that inland cities update their risk perceptions of extreme rainfall and flooding events, which are no longer low-probability, high-impact "black swans", but turning into high-probability, high-impact "gray rhinos." In particular, cities must make sufficient preparation for extreme weather events by revising contingency plans and strengthening their implementation, improving risk communication of meteorological warnings, and synchronizing emergency response with meteorological warnings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines whether the widespread adoption of digital technologies in cities has increased attractiveness. Based on China's smart-city construction (SCC), a pilot program aimed at promoting applications of digital technologies in cities, this paper finds that SCC has led to a higher urban population growth in smart cities in China. Two potential channels are suggested by mechanism analysis: improved ecological environment resulting from digital governance with respect to pollution and green production; essential digital information provided by internet users. Specifically, relying on difference-in-differences analysis, the results reveal that, from 2005 to 2017, SCC in China led to approximately 4.4% higher urban population growth in smart cities relative to non-smart cities. In particular, evidence from migrant survey data suggests that smart cities are more favorable destinations for distant migrants, and migrants with higher educational attainment and income. Our findings highlight the importance of digitalization in urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhancing environmental regulation (ER) is an effective way to improve the green innovation efficiency (GIE) of the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) and the key to achieving the target of carbon peaking and neutrality. Using the data of 103 cities in YREB in 2013–2019, this paper explores the effect of heterogeneous ER on GIE. The results of the study are as follows: first, we categorize environmental regulations into formal and informal environmental regulations and explore their impact on green innovation efficiency separately. The results show that both formal and informal environmental regulations can effectively promote GIE in the YREB urban agglomeration. Second, the Spatial Durbin Model (SDM) model is used to analyze the spatial effect. The results show that there are spatial effects between heterogeneous environmental regulations and GIE, and environmental regulation can significantly strengthen GIE through positive spatial effects. Third, this paper uses the threshold model to explore the non-linear relationship between environmental regulation and green innovation efficiency. The results show that as ER increases, the positive effect on GIE increases, and this interesting finding holds for both formal and informal environmental regulations. Fourth, the mediating effect model is used to examine whether green technological innovation and industrial structure upgrading exert mediation effects on how environmental regulations affect GIE. The research results can provide effective policy recommendations to promote the green development of the cities in YREB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of China's manufacturing industry has brought about environmental problems that have aroused people's attention to improving carbon emission efficiency and reducing carbon emissions. In this paper, 13 prefecture-level cities in Hunan Province from 2010 to 2020 were selected as research samples, and the coupling coordination degree model and super-efficiency slacks-based measure (SBM) model were used to calculate the level of integration of "two industries" (manufacturing and producer services, short for "TI") and the efficiency of carbon emissions. Then, hypotheses are established: The integration of TI can promote the improvement of carbon emission efficiency; The integration of TI promotes technological innovation; Technological innovation can promote carbon emission efficiency; Technological innovation is an intermediary in integrating TI affecting carbon emission efficiency. By using the fixed effect model and the mediation effect test method, we empirically analyze the influence of the integration of TI on carbon emission efficiency and the mediating role of technological innovation in this process. The conclusions are as follows: the integration of TI has a significant promoting effect on carbon emission efficiency; The integration of TI improves carbon emission efficiency by promoting technological innovation, and technological innovation bears part of the intermediary effect in the process of the impact of the integration of TI on carbon emission efficiency. The policy implications for improving carbon emission efficiency are proposed based on the research results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The smart city concept has taken center stage as a paradigm shift in urban governance, promising innovation, sustainability, and strategic upgrades, and drawing the attention of researchers globally. However, existing frameworks for assessing smart cities remain incomplete and simplistic. This paper aims to address the following question: what is the process and current situation of 30 capitals in China after the implementation of smart city construction, especially from the new perspective of social, physical, and informational space development? To this end, we focus on 30 national and provincial capitals in China, proposing a novel, tri-dimensional SPI model—Social, Physical, and Information space—for smart city spatial development assessment. Employing a robust methodological approach, including entropy weighting, coupled coordination degree models, and the Dagum Gini coefficient, we conduct a spatial development and coordination analysis of these cities from 2011 to 2021. In addition, we utilize BP neural networks to evaluate the contribution of each indicator to the spatial coupled coordination. Our findings indicate a steady increase in the spatial coupled coordination development level of smart capitals in China, alongside a narrowing disparity in development speeds across regions, resulting in a staggered spatial distribution pattern. Specifically, the Information space subsystem represents the most influential driver of coupled coordination. The significance of this research lies in its unique tri-dimensional spatial perspective, offering valuable insights into the spatial development and coordination discrepancies in the smart city concept. These insights offer evidence-based support for regional planning and optimization strategies in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a world-class urban agglomeration, the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration is significant for China's carbon neutrality strategy when calculating the carbon budget and dividing carbon compensation zones. This paper focused on 129 county-level cities in the core area of the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration, calculating the carbon budget for 2000–2020 using night-time light data and analyzing the evolution of spatiotemporal patterns. On this basis, a carbon compensation zoning model was constructed using the K-means algorithm; 129 cities were divided into different carbon compensation zones after combining this model with the main functional zones. The results showed that (1) the carbon emissions increased, with overall stabilization after 2012. The distribution of high carbon emission areas evolved from a "core-periphery" pattern into a "Z-shaped" pattern. Ecological carbon sinks showed a continuous decline, with the southern sinks performing better than the northern ones. (2) The carbon budget of the study area showed a deficit, gradually widening and exhibiting an unbalanced spatial distribution characterized by a "high in the south and low in the north" pattern. (3) Eleven types of carbon compensation zones were designated after overlaying the main functional zones. Low-carbon development suggestions were proposed for each zone type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is facing development challenges, such as the red line of arable land, resource shortage, and tightening ecological and environmental constraints. In this context, improving land green utilization efficiency (LGUE) is not only an important undertaking to optimize the spatial layout of the country and improve resource carrying capacity but also an inevitable choice for the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development. China's energy-consuming right trading (ECRT) is an important energy transition demonstration policy; however, its effect on LGUE has yet to be scientifically evaluated in academic research. Using panel data of 260 prefecture-level cities in China from 2009 to 2021, this study first uses a difference-in-difference model to test the effect of ECRT on LGUE, analyze its transmission mechanism, and further examine the impact of urban characteristic heterogeneity on policy effects from multiple perspectives. Results show the following: (1) The pilot policy of ECRT significantly improves urban LGUE, as confirmed by robustness tests. (2) The ECRT pilot policy enhances urban technological innovation, promotes the upgrading of industrial structure, and thereby improves LGUE. (3) The ECRT has a more significant enhancement effect on the central and western cities, large-scale cities, and resource-based cities. (4) Government environmental protection assessment can have a positive moderating effect, that is, further amplifying the effect of ECRT on improving urban LGUE. In conclusion, we should solidly promote the construction of a unified national ECRT market, formulate policy implementation plans tailored to local conditions, and steadily improve LGUE. To a certain extent, this paper reveals the inherent logic of how ECRT affects LGUE, which provides opportunities for cities to improve LGUE through ECRT, and provides reference for promoting the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As global warming intensifies, reducing carbon emissions has become a global common mission. Tourism transportation is one of the important sources of carbon emissions, and reducing its carbon emissions is a key part of achieving China's carbon reduction goals. Based on the panel data of various provinces and cities in North China from 2000 to 2022, this paper calculates the carbon emissions of tourism transportation by using the carbon emission coefficients of different transportation modes in different segments. Moreover, the temporal and spatial evolution of the tourism economy is systematically analyzed. The Tapio decoupling model and LMDI addition decomposition model are used to analyze the relationship between carbon emissions and tourism economic growth and the effects of 11 influencing factors on carbon emissions. The results show that: (1) The carbon emission of tourism transportation in North China has experienced four stages: a steady growth period, a transitional adaptation period, a stable equilibrium period, and a drastic decline period. The overall carbon emission level of tourism transportation is as follows: Hebei Province > Shanxi Province > Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region > Beijing City > Tianjin City. (2) The decoupling coefficient between tourism traffic carbon emissions and economic development fluctuates but mainly shows a weak decoupling state. (3) In terms of influencing factors, passenger size and passenger density have the greatest impact on the carbon emissions of tourism transportation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New urbanization in counties and the logistics industry are closely related and are essential in promoting regional economic and social development. There are specific challenges and obstacles to revealing the interaction mechanism and system state measurement between the two. This paper explains the two coupling mechanisms and constructs the evaluation index system. It proposes a new analysis method based on the coupling coordination degree model, the spatio-temporal evolution analysis, and the grey prediction model. The goal is to learn more about and fully realize the coordinated development mechanisms of the two. It then uses the Hebei province of China as an example to empirically analyze its systematic cross-sectional data from 2013 to 2022. Research findings: (1) In Hebei province, the new urbanization in counties and the logistics industry have a systematic coupling relationship. However, the logistics industry's comprehensive development level is relatively lagging. The two systems have been at a high-level coupling stage for the last decade and maintain a high coupling status. The coupling coordination has shown significant improvement. (2) Although the geographical distribution of the coupling and coordination degree of the new urbanization in counties and logistics industry system has short-term volatility, it is still stable in the long term and presents economic-related spatial characteristics. (3) Over the next five years, the coupling coordination of 11 cities in Hebei province will steadily grow. There will be greater harmonization between the two systems. (4) From the analysis results, the evaluation index system of the coupled system constructed is scientific and reasonable. The analysis method can not only measure the system's coupling degree, but it can also predict the development trend and analyze the spatial evolution. The technique has novelty and validity, which can be used as a reference for analyzing and making decisions about similar systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The "City in a Park" (CIP) is a new concept of urban transformation and development proposed in China in recent years, guiding the construction of healthy and sustainable living environments. This paper analyzes urban planning based on the CIP concept from a synergetic perspective, aiming to explore how the integrated planning of ecological spaces and built environments can promote systematic sustainable development in ecology, economy, and society. This research employs methods including document collection, unstructured interviews, field observations, and participatory observation, focusing on a case study of the Sichuan Tianfu New Area (STNA), a demonstration zone for the CIP. The study finds that the planning of the STNA extends the planning scope of urban ecological spaces beyond the traditional urban construction boundaries, not only preserving the natural resources but also enhancing the city's overall sustainability through regional ecological services. By designing ecological spaces as green infrastructure that connects urban and rural areas, the primary sector is more readily integrated with the secondary and tertiary sectors, facilitating the integration of the urban and rural infrastructure and industries. The STNA integrates urban and rural administrative divisions, builds a cross-departmental collaborative management platform, and guides public participation in the planning process, ensuring the efficiency and effectiveness of planning implementation and enhancing the equitable sharing of social services. This research provides new insights into comprehensive, cross-disciplinary, and ecology-oriented urban planning. It offers evidence for an understanding of the application pathways and effects of the CIP concept in urban planning practice and provides valuable experience for other cities to promote harmonious coexistence between the city and nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use is an embodiment of human socio-economic activities and represents a bridge between these activities and natural systems. Rural residential land represents a space for rural residents to reside in and exhibits spatial characteristics that evolve over time, which is proof of rural socio-economic development. As one of the most developed regions in China, cities along the Beijing–Hangzhou Canal experienced significant changes in rural residential land use from 1990 to 2020. This paper analyses the spatial differentiation of rural residential land in 21 cities on the Grand Canal. Then, it explores the driving factors of this land using spatial grid analysis and the geographic detector model. According to the spatial differentiation characteristics and the driving factors of rural residential land, the study proposed an improved potential model for rural residential land improvement. Lastly, it proposes three different forms of rural residential land based on the results. The study found that (1) the change in rural residential land in the northern part of the Grand Canal was more volatile than that in the southern part. The change in rural residential land from 1990 to 2020 conformed to the pattern of cultivated land–rural residential land–urban construction land. (2) Based on the driving factors of rural residential land, the land is divided into one-dimensional cities, two-dimensional cities, and three-dimensional cities. Circular, linear, and scattered cities of different sizes were affected by socio-economic factors, transportation accessibility, and the natural environment, respectively. (3) Based on the potential scale of rural residential land consolidation, different types of development strategies were proposed through research, including constructing large-scale villages, relocating and reconstructing new villages, and constructing high-quality villages, respectively. Enhancing the scientific planning of rural residential land and its efficiency and tapping into the potential of land consolidation can offer the protection of agricultural land and the integration of urban and rural areas in the new era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Park and Ride (P&R) as a demand management tool has the effect of reducing traffic congestion in urban centers, saving energy and reducing pollutant emissions. Since 2000, many cities in China have been constructing P&R facilities, which have partially alleviated urban traffic congestion and provided a time-reliable mode of travel for commuters heading to urban centers. However, in recent years, due to the pricing policy of the P&R facility, there has been an insufficient supply of P&R facilities in many places. In fact, the P&R system prefers to welcome travelers who make long-distance subway rides and does not want those who make short-distance subway rides to occupy more parking spaces. To address this, this paper proposes a tiered pricing strategy that considers charging parking fees based on the distance traveled by commuters after switching to public transportation, to improve the utilization of P&R. That is, charge less for parking for long-distance subway riders and more for short-distance subway riders. Firstly, based on questionnaire data from SP surveys, a fixed pricing mixed logit model (FP model) and a tiered pricing mixed logit model (TP model) for P&R facilities are constructed. Utilizing two models, we explored the mechanisms underpinning traveler's mode choice influenced by daily habits and travel considerations through the comparison of the two models to validate the effectiveness of the tiered pricing for P&R facilities. The study found that the implementation of a tiered pricing method for P&R facilities increases its attractiveness to long-distance subway ride travelers, resulting in a higher proportion of long-distance subway riders among P&R commuters. In the study's last section, a marginal effect analysis was conducted on the per-kilometer cost (Pkm) within the P&R model. This analysis determined the optimal Pkm for three subway travel distances within the P&R model. Consequently, it calculated the corresponding P&R parking fees for these three subway travel distances. Additionally, we have predicted the implementation effects of the tiered pricing scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, an increasing number of Chinese cities have experienced population decline, impacting the urban economy, public services, and paid use of state-owned land (PUL). This paper employs a coupled coordination degree model and the gray correlation coefficient method to examine the relationship between the rate of population change from 1990 to 2020, the rate of PUL change from 2000 to 2020, and the coupled coordination of economy and public services. The study arrives at several conclusions: (1) Cities with declining populations exhibit a lower PUL rate than those without population shrinkage, indicating reduced activity in the land market. (2) Population growth plays a significant role in the coordinated development of the urban economy and public services, fostering urbanization. (3) The economy and public services in shrinking cities rely heavily on revenue generated from the transfer of PUL rights to support their coordinated development. This research provides an insightful comparison between shrinking and non-shrinking cities by integrating the unique compensated land transfer system in China with the critical variable of population change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the overarching principle of sustainability, the reliance solely on expanding the landmass to meet the demand for high-quality economic growth is unsustainable. To address the need for harmonious ecological–economic development, this paper examines the influence of carbon emissions trading (CET) policies on the urban land green utilization efficiency (LGUE) from an environmental regulation perspective. Harnessing municipal panel data from 278 cities across China between 2011 and 2020, the study initially employs a super-efficient SBM model to estimate the urban LGUE. Further, a progressive difference-in-differences methodology is utilized to delve into CET's impact on the LGUE. The main results are as follows. (1) Through the visual analysis of the time–space evolution trend, the LGUE displays pronounced spatial agglomeration, with the LGUE values being higher in the central and western regions compared to the east, and in the south versus the north. Over time, it follows a "U-shaped" change pattern. (2) The CET policy exerts a statistically significant positive influence on the LGUE, although this effect is accompanied by a temporal lag. Following a number of approaches to validate the results, the impact remains significant. (3) Regarding the heterogenous effects, the CET policy appears to have a greater impact on resource-based cities and those in the eastern part of China relative to non-resource-based and central–western cities. This research offers empirical evidence and countermeasure recommendations for the further refinement of the CET policy to enhance the urban LGUE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's urbanization has received as much attention as its economic growth in recent years. While rapid urbanization has promoted modernization and wealth creation, it has also brought many problems and challenges. So, since 2014, the Chinese government has implemented a new urbanization policy nationwide. However, few researchers have examined whether China's new urbanization policies promote sustainable urbanization. This paper evaluates the sustainable urbanization of 19 urban agglomerations in China using the elastic coefficient. The results indicate a significant increase in the number of cities achieving sustainable urbanization since the implementation of China's new urbanization policy. The number has risen from 46 in the period of 2010–2015 to 71 in the period of 2015–2021. Considering the impact of the new coronavirus on economy, there would have been even more cities entering sustainable urbanization during the latter period. This indicates that the new urbanization policy has a positive influence on the sustainable urbanization of China's urban agglomerations. The sustainable urbanization status is not static and changes with different policies that are implemented in different time periods. Therefore, it is important to find useful policies that can guide and enhance the urbanization process in these cities. In addition, cities that have a sustainable urbanization status are not perfect. To address this issue, it is important to categorize and implement targeted policies for cities experiencing both sustainable and non-sustainable urbanization. Changes in a city's size or urbanization rates are not related to the city's sustainable urbanization status. A larger city size does not indicate sustainable urbanization, and, similarly, cities with faster urbanization rates do not exhibit a higher level of urbanization sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite growing recognition of nature-based solutions (NBS), there remains a research gap in understanding their implementation in urban areas, which poses a significant challenge for urban forest development. Therefore, our paper aims to explore the intersection of NBS with urban forests (UF), identify current barriers, propose strategies to maximize the potential of urban forests as nature-based solutions (UF-NBS) in effectively improving the resilience of urban forests, and enhance the service capacity of urban forest ecosystems. To achieve our objective, we conducted a comprehensive analysis that included a bibliometric review to summarize the evolution of the UF-NBS literature and classify UF-NBS types for the first time. Subsequently, we identified and organized current challenges faced by UF-NBS. Additionally, we proposed an original technological framework system for urban forest development based on NBS principles. The results show the significance of UF-NBS for enhancing urban resilience and human wellbeing, with multiple successful implementations in both China and Europe, validating their effectiveness. However, the implementation of UF-NBS faces several challenges, including inadequate financing, the gap between scientific knowledge and practical implementation, the absence of region-specific information, and the need for interdisciplinary collaboration. This study contributes to establishing a scientific theoretical basis for integrating UF and NBS and provides a systematic approach for decision-makers in urban forest management. Future research should focus on exploring the integration of UF within the NBS framework and prioritize knowledge sharing, international cooperation, and education initiatives to promote the global adoption of UF-NBS and address pressing urban challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sustainable Development Goals, adopted by all United Nations Member States, emphasize sustainable cities and communities, aiming to strengthen development planning and foster positive links between urban and rural areas by 2030. As the newly leading platform for urbanization development, characteristic towns ('Tese Xiaozhen' in Chinese) contribute to the target of sustainable urbanisation, wherein town policies are especially important for leading the sound development of characteristic towns. However, the effect of these characteristic towns policies remains uncertain. Additionally, most related studies have utilized qualitative methodologies in policy evaluation, which may be inadequate to guide actual practice. Thus, in order to accurately acknowledge the effect of characteristic towns policies, a policy evaluation framework is established in this paper, utilising the multiple streams theory, text mining and the Policy Modelling Consistency Index model (PMC-Index model). Then, taking 225 policy documents promulgated in China from 2015 to 2022 as the research objects, policy evaluation indicators were selected by combining the multiple streams theory to improve the PMC-Index model and a text mining method. Thereafter, an empirical analysis was conducted to evaluate the consistency of 10 characteristic towns policies chosen. The results indicate that the mean value of the PMC indexes of the 10 examined policies is 7.13 in the total of 9 points, which means that the general performance of the characteristic town policies is satisfactory, yet the low scores in terms of effectiveness, content, and guarantee. In the end, some recommendations and suggestions are proposed for clarifying administrative attributes, optimizing the integration of urban and rural resources, and adjusting the policy hierarchy to a bottom-up approach. This study not only provides a policy evaluation framework to comprehensively understand the consistency of global urbanization policies but also offers a beneficial reference for promote urban–rural sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To promote the coordinated development of urban and rural areas, China has adopted a hybrid strategy of urbanization and rural village renewal. Due to the large development differences between villages, choosing appropriate strategies is significant for rural development. By introducing a new idea to promote urban–rural integration development through a "rural cluster", this paper explores the comparative advantages of villages in urbanization and renewal, identifies the spatial interaction between villages, and proposes a rural cluster strategy based on the same characteristics and close relationships. Taking Laizhou city, a coastal county in eastern China, as the study area, it provides a new way to deal with village problems at a small scale but of a large number due to difficult development in China. The results indicated that some villages have both high or low rural urbanization suitability (RUS) and village renewal potential (VRP), which makes it difficult to choose development strategies. Compared with the VRP, the spatial interaction of villages in the RUS is closer, but fewer villages participated. The results of village clustering show that the scale of different village clusters and the degree of interaction between villages in Laizhou differ greatly, and village clusters across townships are very common. Since the driving forces of the different scale of rural groups vary, this paper suggests that the development direction and investment focus should be determined according to the scale and characteristics of individual rural groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of Chinese-style fiscal decentralization on regional energy intensity has long been disputed by the supporters of "federal environmentalism" and those who hold "race to the bottom" views. At the same time, with the transformation of China's development mode, the Chinese government is paying increasing attention to the protection of ecological civilization and the realization of sustainable development, and the government's attention to the ecological environment is becoming an important factor affecting regional energy intensity. Therefore, this paper takes the fiscal decentralization and ecological attention of local governments in China as the research object and analyzes their impact mechanism on regional energy intensity. Firstly, the entropy weight method was used to measure the comprehensive score of fiscal decentralization of Chinese local governments, and the text analysis method was used to obtain the ecological attention index of Chinese provincial local governments, which was sorted into panel data of 30 provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) in mainland China from 2007 to 2019. The spatial econometric model and panel threshold model are structured as the means for analyzing the impact that fiscal decentralization and the ecological attention of local governments have, respectively, on regional energy intensity targets. We obtained the following conclusions: Chinese fiscal decentralization can significantly improve the regional energy intensity, and the fiscal decentralization of a region can significantly reduce the energy intensity in nearby regions; the enhancement of ecological attention of local governments will significantly inhibit regional energy intensity, and also has a significant inhibitory effect on the energy intensity of neighboring regions. As the threshold variable—which is the ecological attention of local governments—increases and reaches a certain level, fiscal decentralization will significantly and reversely inhibit regional energy intensity, indicating that the ecological attention of local governments can moderate the distortion of fiscal decentralization with regards to regional energy efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthropogenic land cover change is one of the primary sources of increasing carbon emissions and affects the potential of terrestrial ecosystems to store carbon and act as carbon sinks. As a necessary means to reduce land expansion, land-use intensification significantly impacts greenhouse gas emission reduction and the low-carbon transition of the economy. This paper constructs a framework for the relationship between intensive land use (ILU) and low carbon transition (LCT), considering direct and spatially driven effects. First, this paper constructs a multidimensional indicator to measure intensive land use and documents the spatial pattern of intensive land use levels in China. Second, this paper assesses the spatial driving effect of intensive land use on China's economic low-carbon transition. Based on data from 283 Chinese cities from 2006–2019 and using a spatial Durbin model, the study provides empirical evidence that intensive land use can significantly promote low-carbon transition in neighboring and economically linked cities (especially in eastern cities, large and medium-sized cities, and veteran economic circles). Tests introducing exogenous policy shocks further confirm the robustness of the findings. In addition, industrial structure transformation and technology spillovers are identified as the dual mechanism channels of intensive land use for low-carbon transition in China, and the spatial driving effect on neighboring cities attenuating with geographic distance is also confirmed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring the spatial pattern and development strategies of urbanization from the perspective of the multi-dimensional coordination of population, economy, and land is the key to solving the problems of the urban–rural gap and human–land contradiction. This paper analyzed the spatial agglomeration of population, economy, and construction land area growth rates and explored their coordinated development in Chinese prefecture-level cities from 2010 to 2020 by using the spatial autocorrelation model, elasticity coefficient model, and coupling coordination model. The results are as follows: (1) China's population, economy, and construction land area were all growing, with the highest economic growth and the lowest population growth, and most prefecture-level cities in central and northeastern China had negative population growth. (2) The growth rates of the population, economy, and construction land in Chinese prefecture-level cities had significant positive spatial clustering characteristics; the spatial agglomeration of the economy was the most prominent and the high-value areas were mainly concentrated in western China. (3) The elasticity coefficients between the population, economy, and construction land in most Chinese prefecture-level cities indicate uneven development of urbanization, manifested as population growth lagging behind construction land expansion and further lagging behind economic development. (4) More than 56% of Chinese prefecture-level cities have uncoordinated development among the population, economy, and construction land mainly distributed in northeast China and central China. The results can provide references and decision-making support for promoting the sustainable development of China's new urbanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After rapid development in recent decades, China has laid a strong economic foundation and established material conditions. Despite this, the country still confronts a range of challenges that impede higher-quality economic and social development. To measure high-quality regional development, eco-wellbeing performance (EWP) has become an important tool that seeks to strike a balance between economic development, human wellbeing, and environmental protection. This paper proposes a three-stage network efficiency evaluation model to decompose EWP into three stages, namely ecological economic efficiency (EEE), economic innovation efficiency (EIE), and innovation wellbeing efficiency (IWE). A directional distance function (DDF) model was utilized to assess the overall EWP efficiency and phase-in efficiency for 248 cities over the period from 2016 to 2020. The study results indicate that EWP in China is generally low. In terms of the three sub-stages of EWP, the first stage performs optimally, the third stage performs the second best, and the second stage is the worst. The research suggests that the principal reason for the generally low EWP may be linked to the efficiency of the transformation of economic investments into innovative outcomes in the second stage. From a regional viewpoint, EWP generally shows a gradually decreasing trend from the east, central, and west to the northeast, but the stage performance varies among regions. The eastern region has lower EEE, but both EIE and IWE perform better than the national average; the central region is well-balanced between the three stages; the western region leads the country in EEE, but lags in both EIE and IWE; and the northeast region has inferior performance in all stages. This study's findings provide vital reference values for policy-makers to determine key points for enhancing EWP in different regions of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an important part of the prefabricated building standard system, the evaluation standards for prefabricated buildings play an important guiding role in the construction and development of prefabricated buildings. However, at present, the national evaluation standards for prefabricated buildings are highly extensive and general, and some of their contents are not well considered, while local standards based on the national standard have been formulated in accordance with the actual situation in their respective regions, which makes the evaluation of prefabricated buildings in various regions more confusing, which also causes differences when calculating the prefabrication rate, restricting the development of prefabricated buildings. In order to promote the construction of a complete evaluation standard system for prefabricated buildings in China, this paper combs through the methods used for the calculation of the prefabrication rate of prefabricated buildings in 28 provincial-level administrative regions in China, conducts a comparative analysis and empirical research on the calculation of the prefabrication rate under different standards in four dimensions, and applies t-tests and simulated annealing algorithms to optimize the projection pursuit model to analyze the differences in the total scores of the prefabrication rate under different standards, as well as the key factors that affect them. The study shows that (1) the same building may have different prefabrication rates under different standards for prefabricated buildings, and the way of calculating the prefabrication rate and the scoring criteria of the evaluation items will result in significant differences in the calculated prefabrication rate. (2) Depending on the value of the optimal projection direction vector, it was found that among the evaluation criteria, the enclosure wall and the internal partition wall have the greatest influence on the total score value, while the main structure has the least influence on the total score value. (3) There are similarities as well as differences in the evaluation criteria of prefabricated buildings in each province. On this basis, by analyzing the reasons for these differences, corresponding suggestions are made for governments needing to formulate or revise local standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]