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AbstractThis study examines the impact of green finance on China’s tourism industry using panel data of 240 cities—both tourist and non-tourist—from 2011 to 2019. Our findings reveal an ‘inverted U’ relationship between green finance and tourism development in both tourist and non-tourist cities. We identified the threshold of green finance in tourist cities to be 0.302, higher than the threshold of 0.284 in non-tourist cities. In addition, international trade, foreign direct investment, and disposable income per capita were found to promote tourism, while urban price levels, integration of the digital economy, and air pollution showed an inhibitory effect on tourism development. The results also indicated that fixed asset investment is a promoting mechanism, while city loans, government expenditures, and tertiary industry serve as inhibiting mechanisms linking green finance to tourism. Overall, cities with lower levels of tourism development may need greater short-term financial support to facilitate their progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2007, China has launched several rounds of national low-income housing campaigns to alleviate housing affordability issues. However, little academic attention has been devoted to the actual practices of public housing provisions in Chinese cities of different fiscal, political and economic situations, as well as heterogeneities in their municipal responses. Based on a prefecture-level panel dataset (including 290 Chinese cities) from 2009 to 2017, the empirical analysis reveals an uneven landscape of public housing provision significantly associated with the local government-driven land-based development and the time horizon of the city leaders' current tenure. The empirical results suggest that the level of public housing provision is not only negatively impacted by the degree of land finance but also influenced by the industrial-sector-biased land supply strategies. However, the local governments' motivation in supplying public housing land is found to be stronger for cities in which the lengths of the city party secretaries' tenures are longer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although land-use change driven by general economic factors has been discussed substantially, rarely has any work been done within the perspective of economic geography – considering the impact of economic spatial differences. This study applies the 3Ds (Density, Division and Distance) framework published by the World Bank to explore their impacts on urban land-use change – focusing on urban land and stand-alone industrial land. Employing the dynamic system-GMM (Generalized Method of Moments) model and a mediating effect model, we examine the direct and indirect effects of 3Ds on land-use change in cities with different income levels and in different regions. Our results find that deepening spatial differences facilitate the expansion of urban land and stand-alone industrial land use. Furthermore, the 3Ds has indirect effects on land use through the interactions between density and distance, as well as between division and distance. These impacts are divergent in cities with different income levels and region-specific. The main contribution of this paper is twofold. Theoretically, the study develops a new systematic framework to explain land-use change within the field of economic geography. Empirically, we examine the theoretical framework of spatial inequality by considering both direct and indirect effects. This study also has important policy implications for improving the economic value of land use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few studies have investigated the spatial patterns of the air temperature urban heat island (AUHI) and its controlling factors. In this study, the data generated by an urban climate model were used to investigate the spatial variations of the AUHI across China and the underlying climate and ecological drivers. A total of 355 urban clusters were used. We performed an attribution analysis of the AUHI to elucidate the mechanisms underlying its formation. The results show that the midday AUHI is negatively correlated with climate wetness (humid: 0.34 K; semi-humid: 0.50 K; semi-arid: 0.73 K). The annual mean midnight AUHI does not show discernible spatial patterns, but is generally stronger than the midday AUHI. The urban–rural difference in convection efficiency is the largest contributor to the midday AUHI in the humid (0.32 ± 0.09 K) and the semi-arid (0.36 ± 0.11 K) climate zones. The release of anthropogenic heat from urban land is the dominant contributor to the midnight AUHI in all three climate zones. The rural vegetation density is the most important driver of the daytime and nighttime AUHI spatial variations. A spatial covariance analysis revealed that this vegetation influence is manifested mainly through its regulation of heat storage in rural land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prominence of agglomeration externalities (AEs) and network externalities (NEs) in urban sustainable development has intensified in recent times, with advances in transportation infrastructure and information technology acting as key accelerators. Despite the scholarly attention they receive, the specific spillover effects that these externalities exert on green technology innovation (GTI) remain under-explored. In an effort to bridge this knowledge gap, the present study employs a spatial Durbin model to scrutinize, spanning a decade from 2011 to 2021, the impact and spatial spillover of AEs and NEs on GTI across 283 Chinese cities of prefecture level and above. The findings reveal the following: (1) AEs exert a U-shaped influence on GTI, initially inhibiting it, before ultimately fostering its growth. (2) NEs are found to consistently promote GTI. (3) The spatial spillover effects of AEs on GTI are significantly positive, while those from NEs are not statistically significant. (4) The influences of AEs and NEs on GTI exhibit marked regional variations. This study extends the research scope on the factors influencing GTI by examining the role of AEs and NEs, thereby aiming to offer valuable insights for enhancing the level of GTI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban areas are major sources of carbon emissions, making it crucial to understand their emission characteristics for effective carbon reduction and sustainable development. Using carbon emission data from mainland China (2001–2021), we analyzed the spatio-temporal dynamics and future trends of city-level emissions and explored influencing factors using machine learning methods. Results indicate significant fluctuations in carbon emissions, with over 40 % of mainland Chinese cities experiencing a doubling in total emissions. Geospatially, cities in South Coast (SC), East Coast (EC), Northeast (NE), and NorthCoast (NC) show stronger intensity and increasing trends in carbon emissions compared to other regions, with over 80 % of cities in these regions experiencing high or higher increases. Additionally, a continued rise in carbon emissions was detected in most Chinese cities, with an average Hurst index of 0.64, indicating persistent trends. Using the XGBoost method, factors such as population density, built-up area, urban green coverage rate, and GDP were found to strongly correlate with urban carbon emissions, exhibiting significant spatial heterogeneity. This research uncovers the characteristics and influencing factors of urban-scale carbon emissions, offering valuable insights for policymakers to tailor carbon reduction strategies to the specific needs and conditions of various urban areas.

The prosperity of the nighttime economy is an important criterion for measuring urban development. Based on regression analysis of data from 330 prefecture-level cities in China, this study explores the potential link between urban lighting and urban innovation capacity. The results show that the relationship between nighttime light intensity and urban innovation capacity follows an inverted U-shaped curve. Moreover, urban nighttime light stability moderates the above relationship. In addition, the heterogeneity analysis indicates that low population density, weak economic foundation, and high administrative grade weaken the relationship between lighting intensity and urban innovation capacity. Finally, the mechanism analysis suggested that the inverted U-shaped relationship between urban lighting and innovation capacity may be caused by the encroachment of the service industry and the loss of urban attractiveness. By exploring the proxy effect of nighttime lighting on urban innovation, this study reveals the imbalance between extrinsic image and the intrinsic capacity of cities, which not only extends the research on urban construction and development but also provides guidance for local governments concerning how to achieve all-round coordination of cities.

The existing calculation methods of city building carbon emissions based on energy audits, city statistics and energy balance sheets have problems such as time-consuming and labour-intensive, missing data and large errors, resulting in the lack of a complete and accurate database of city building carbon emissions in China. To address this, the calculation method based on city statistical data (CSD-M) and the calculation method based on provincial energy balance sheets (PEB-M) were used to calculate the carbon emissions from city buildings. The PEB-M was corrected using CSD-M results, reducing the error to 12.8%. Based on CSD-M and modified PEB-M, a database of building carbon emissions in 362 Chinese cities was developed. Finally, the spatio-temporal characteristics of city building carbon emissions in China were analysed, and the current situation of carbon emissions in different cities was compared. This study provides a basis for future carbon reduction policies tailored to city characteristics.

With the launch of cultural tourism in Tianjin, the regeneration and heritage preservation of the Five Avenues, the former upscale residential area of the British Concession, has been accelerated. In 2012, the public monumental sports building of this area, Minyuan Stadium, was reconstructed into a leisure hub. Subsequently, several local community residents began documenting their memories of Minyuan and their views on its renewal on online We-media platforms. This article explores the residents' perceptions of Minyuan as portrayed in the unexplored informal online archives and investigates how they differ from the official discourse. The findings reveal that the residents tend to present a dynamic image of Minyuan that moves beyond a Westernized image by highlighting low-cost temporary spatial practice in which ordinary people participated during the post-concession Socialist Revolution and Construction. These residents' perceptions challenge the official representation of the local culture of the Five Avenues and the image of Minyuan, and contribute to provide an alternative perspective for understanding postcolonial identity construction in Chinese cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An accurate evaluation of carbon emission efficiency (CEE) at the city level can provide guidelines for understanding low carbon performance, which is crucial to achieving dual carbon targets. Existing CEE studies focused on national, industrial, and provincial scales while neglecting the city level and failing to consider competing relationships among decision-making units in their measurement models. To fill these gaps, this paper introduces the data envelopment analysis game cross-efficiency model (DEA-GCE) to measure urban CEE performance and compares it with the traditional Super-SBM model using the data from 283 Chinese cities between 2006 and 2019. The results show that (1) the DEA-GCE method provided more intensive and stable results. (2) Overall CEE of Chinese cities declined slightly amidst fluctuations during this period. (3) CEE in cities exhibits spatial clustering characteristics. CEE performance in Northeast China has improved, while CEE in Northwest China continues to lag behind. This study introduced an innovative method for calculating urban CEE and conducted an empirical study of 283 Chinese cities, which has implications for formulation of emission reduction policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under dual market and policy forces, industries vacated central business districts in Chinese cities, showing a decentralised layout. Using Chinese industrial firms' micro-data (2004–12), with township-level division as the unit, we describe urban industrial decentralisation and polycentric layout, exploring their impact on firms' total factor productivity (TFP). We found that: (1) industrial decentralisation negatively impacted TFP during the early and middle stages of urbanisation; (2) the polycentric layout can alleviate the firms' TFP losses caused by decentralisation; and (3) industrial decentralisation reduces diversified agglomeration, lowering TFP. The conclusions of this study provide policy recommendations for urban industrial spatial planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the growth of global population and economic development, people are facing the problem of increasing scarcity of renewable energy and unsustainable energy use. To achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs) proposed by the United Nations, research on energy consumption efficiency has become particularly important. This research evaluates the energy consumption efficiency of 270 cities in China through an improved EBM model and finds a common phenomenon of low energy consumption efficiency in the cities, with the highest efficiency in northeast China and the lowest efficiency in eastern China. In addition, the efficiency of industrial exhaust emissions most significantly positively correlates with the efficiency of employed population and total energy consumption efficiency, while the efficiency of regional GDP does not significantly correlate with the efficiency of the two input variables. Using the LMDI method to decompose the driving factors of energy consumption efficiency in the cities, we find that the most important factor affecting energy consumption efficiency is their own energy endowment. Therefore, to improve the energy consumption efficiency of its cities, the China government should comprehensively consider factors such as regional economic development level, industrial structure, and technological level differences, formulate relevant energy-saving and emission-reduction policies, focus on optimizing the energy consumption structure, encourage technological progress and innovation, and help increase investment in science and technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the panel data of 285 cities in China from 2000 to 2019, this paper searches the number of patent applications related to urban artificial intelligence from five dimensions: algorithm, data, computing power, application scenario and related technology. Combining the two perspectives of industrial upgrading and rationalization, we analyze the internal influence theory of the research topic from the theoretical and empirical perspectives. The results show that artificial intelligence is not only conducive to industrial upgrading, but also significantly inhibit the deviation of industrial structure from equilibrium, which is conducive to industrial rationalization. In addition, the conclusion of this paper is still valid after a series of robustness tests, such as eliminating the samples of central cities, winsorize treatment and instrumental variables method. Through the heterogeneity test, it is found that the promoting effect of artificial intelligence on industrial upgrading is more obvious in big cities and cities with high level of industrial upgrading. The internal mechanism test results show that artificial intelligence promotes industrial upgrading by promoting technological innovation. In cities with a high degree of marketization and Internet development, the role of artificial intelligence in promoting industrial upgrading can be strengthened. The research conclusions of this paper will be conducive to accelerating the development of artificial intelligence to promote industrial upgrading, and provide a useful reference for realizing high-quality development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Production assumptions play dominant roles in the modeling of data envelopment analysis (DEA). Few studies systematically investigate how the production assumptions in DEA influence the environmental efficiency and technology inequality measurements. This study aims to fill this research gap. The representative categories of production assumptions are considered, that is, disposability and returns to scale (RTS). Based on the given disposability and RTS, the corresponding DEA models are proposed. The proposed models are then applied to measure the environmental efficiency and technology inequality of Chinese cities. Fixed effects panel models are further adopted to explore the effect mechanism of production assumptions. The main findings are summarized as follows: (1) disposability and RTS have significant influences on the environmental efficiency of Chinese cities. Managerial disposability considers innovation efficiency and variable RTS captures scale efficiency; (2) disposability affects the technology inequality measurement, while the RTS has no significant impact. Managerial disposability is more sensitive to technological progress compared with natural and weak disposability; (3) the average efficiency is less than 0.803 and the efficiency Theil index is less than 0.04, indicating the environmental efficiency and technology inequality of Chinese cities are at low levels; (4) To improve efficiency, Chinese cities should decrease labor and increase capital. To mitigate technology inequality, the cities should decrease energy under managerial disposability, and decrease capital and labor under weak disposability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Respirable suspended particles (PM2.5) are one of the key components of haze, which not only causes a variety of lung, intestinal, and vascular diseases, but also affects cognitive levels. China is facing the challenge of severe PM2.5 concentrations, especially in urban areas with a high population density. Understanding the key factors that influence PM2.5 concentrations is fundamental for the adoption of targeted measures. Therefore, this study used the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) method to identify the key factors influencing PM2.5 concentrations in 236 cities in northeastern, western, central, and eastern China. The findings were as follows. The emission intensity (EI) played an important suppressing role on PM2.5 concentrations in all cities from 2011–2020. The energy intensity (EnI) inhibited PM2.5 concentrations in 157 cities; the economic output (EO) stimulated PM2.5 concentrations in some less economically developed regions; and population (P) spurred PM2.5 concentrations in135 cities, mainly concentrated in developed eastern cities. This study provides a whole picture of the key factors influencing PM2.5 concentrations in Chinese cities, and the findings can act as the scientific basis and guidance for Chinese city authorities in formulating policies toward PM2.5 concentration reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an investigation of the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on entrepreneurial activity (EA) using panel data from 284 Chinese cities over the period 2010–2019. The study finds that AI has a positive and significant effect on EA, and this result remains robust after conducting a series of tests, including the endogeneity test, the exogenous shock test, and the robustness test. The study also conducts mechanistic and heterogeneity tests, which show that AI promotes technological innovation and drives consumer demand, leading to a positive effect on EA. Moreover, the entrepreneurial effect of AI is more significant in the eastern region, in regions with net population inflows, and in the service sector. These findings provide insights into the entrepreneurial impact of AI, and suggest the need to strengthen the top-level design and application of AI in the entrepreneurial system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial planning is broadly acknowledged for its pivotal role in local climate change adaptation. Nevertheless, variations persist among countries in their perceptions and practices concerning the effectiveness and feasibility of utilizing spatial planning for climate change adaptation. Chinese cities confront the challenges of global warming, rapid urbanization, and intensified extreme weather events. Climate change adaptation agreements, frameworks, and policies have predominantly emphasized the national scale, often overlooking local adaptation efforts. However, the ongoing reform and restructuring of China's territorial and spatial planning system encompasses the categorization, hierarchical management, control of comprehensive national land resource development, and conservation. This process is gradually establishing spatial planning strategies that synergize with the impacts of climate change, thereby offering an opportunity to integrate climate change adaptation objectives into spatial planning. This endeavor is supported by a series of regulatory standards and guidelines to ensure its effective implementation. The study scrutinizes the public draft of territorial and spatial master plans for 368 Chinese cities to assess the integration of climate change concerns at the local level and to identify disparities among cities. Employing the Awareness, Analysis, and Action Framework (3A Framework), which draws from prior scholarship and integrates relevant existing research, we identified and assessed 30 criteria for recognizing and appraising climate change adaptation strategies in territorial and spatial planning. The study's findings indicate that: (1) The role of territorial and spatial planning in integrating climate change issues at the city level requires enhancement, as reflected in the generally low "awareness" of climate change concerns, limited "analytical capacity" regarding climate change, and a certain foundation for "action response" to climate change adaptation; (2) Large cities, characterized by robust economies and population concentrations, generally outperform small and medium-sized cities. They exhibit a superior ability to delineate quantifiable climate adaptation indicators and measures. In conclusion, the study provides prospective recommendations concerning technical approaches, spatial governance, mechanisms, and actions to more effectively incorporate climate change adaptation objectives into local-level territorial and spatial planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on panel data of 285 Chinese cities from 2005 to 2020, this paper uses a set of regional economic analysis tools to explore the spatial and temporal characteristics of urban industrial pollution and its drivers. The results of the research show that the Urban Industrial Pollution Index (UIPI) has shown a significant downward trend overall. However, high levels of industrial pollution are found in the areas where the four major industrial bases are located. The overall development gap of the UIPI shows a fluctuating upward trend. In terms of the contribution of development differences, supervisory density is the highest, followed by intra-regional differences, and inter-regional differences are the lowest. The UIPI has a strong spatial dependence, with a concentration in Henan Province. It is spatially distributed in a “northeast-southwest” direction, with a tendency of diffusion and transfer to surrounding cities. Urban industrial pollution is significantly suppressed by human capital, capital stock, technological innovation and economic agglomeration. Human capital and economic agglomeration can suppress industrial pollution in surrounding cities through spatial spillovers. In addition, a number of influencing factors have a heterogeneous impact on urban industrial pollution across regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since launching its reforms and opening up, China has actively integrated itself into global value chains (GVCs) and experienced continuous growth. However, there exists a significant imbalance between GVC upgrading and economic growth across regions in China. Can GVC upgrading promote economic growth at the regional level? Despite the theoretical foundations and empirical evidence provided at the national level, research on GVC upgrading at the subnational level remains limited. This study constructs a temporal indicator to measure GVC upgrading at the finest subnational level, including cities at the prefecture level and above, and employs panel fixed effects (FE) and mediation models to examine the impact and mechanism of GVC upgrading on regional economic growth, aiming for a meaningful exploration in this area. The results show that GVC upgrading has a significant positive effect on regional economic growth with robust performance. Specifically, a 1-standard-deviation improvement in GVC upgrading leads to a 0.054-standard-deviation increase in the logarithm of per capita gross domestic product (GDP). Heterogeneity analysis shows that the promotion effect is more pronounced in coastal areas and administrative centers. Mechanism analysis indicates that GVC upgrading promotes regional economic growth by facilitating capital accumulation, promoting technological progress, and enhancing human resources, among which, facilitating capital accumulation plays the most significant role, accounting for over 70% of the economic growth effects associated with GVC upgrading. Thus, China should create an enabling environment for promoting GVC upgrading, enhance capital accumulation, foster regional innovation systems, improve the quality of human capital, and promote domestic market integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 30 years, water security issue in Chinese cities has become increasingly serious, largely due to rapid urbanization, population growth and disproportionate investment in water infrastructure. Urban rainwater harvesting (URWH), a household and community-level rainwater management measure, has been widely used during this period. This study provides a critical review of the policies, methods, technology, construction, implementation and benefits related to URWH in China. We show that URWH in China has gone through three phases over the past 30 years: an initial development phase, a rapid development phase and a sponge city construction phase. URWH research has focused mainly on rainwater harvesting, storage, utilization, management and other technologies, with limited attention to policy and benefit analysis. However, the scale of URWH construction and implementation in China remains small and needs further development. Currently, while URWH assessments cover social, ecological and environmental benefits, the economic benefits need to be further strengthened. The next step in URWH implementation should be to strengthen research and development of policy, legal and design standards. This study provides guidance for the implementation of URWH in Chinese cities and other cities alike in developing countries. HIGHLIGHTS Urban rainwater harvesting (URWH) in China has been divided into three stages.; The construction and development of laws and regulations should be emphasized in China in the future.; The construction of URWH projects in China has been uneven.; China's URWH construction constitutes government-led investment projects embodying positive social and ecological benefits.;

The ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has had a far-reaching impact on urban living, prompting emergency preparedness and response from public health governance at multiple levels. The Chinese government has adopted a series of policy measures to control infectious disease, for which cities are the key spatial units. This research traces and reports analyses of those policy measures and their evolution in four Chinese cities: Zhengzhou, Hangzhou, Shanghai and Chengdu. The theoretical framework stems from conceptualisations of urban governance and its role in public health emergencies, wherein crisis management and emergency response are highlighted. In all four cities, the trend curves of cumulative diagnosed cases, critical policies launched in key time nodes and local governance approaches in the first wave were identified and compared. The findings suggest that capable local leadership is indispensable for controlling the coronavirus epidemic, yet local governments' approaches are varied, contributing to dissimilar local epidemic control policy pathways and positive outcomes in the fight against COVID-19. The effectiveness of disease control is determined by how local governments' measures have adapted to geospatial and socioeconomic heterogeneity. The coordinated actions from central to local governments also reveal an efficient, top-down command transmission and execution system for coping with the pandemic. This article argues that effective control of pandemics requires both a holistic package of governance strategies and locally adaptive governance measures/processes, and concludes with proposals for both a more effective response at the local level and identification of barriers to achieving these responses within diverse subnational institutional contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional studies have found significant agglomeration effects of education development on economic growth. Regional favouritism is potentially closely related to public investment in education, further impacting regional growth. This paper provides significant empirical evidence on the potential impact of favouritism on education development in the Chinese context. Using data for 282 Chinese cities from 1996 to 2016 with treatment for endogeneity (Lewbel two-stage least squares estimator), the results provide evidence that Chinese provincial political leaders favour their birthplaces’ education resource development, and that the effect is larger for within-provincial impact and higher tier cities ranked by income.

Rapid suburbanization in China is dramatically reshaping the daily life of urban residents. In China, long-distance commuting, traffic congestion, spatial mismatch and the low quality of life resulting from residential suburbanization are causing widespread concern. This paper compares the changes in time allocation from a time-use perspective, based on two activity-travel survey datasets collected in suburban Beijing in respectively 2007 and 2017. Travelling time to work has increased substantially between 2007 and 2017 and particularly impacted non-working activities. Working and commuting showed to have the greatest impact on time allocated to non-work activities, both in home and out of home, both maintenance and discretionary activities. Furthermore, residents’ allocation of time to non-work activities shows to be influenced too by their socioeconomic attributes, such as gender, marital status and household configuration (e.g. extended family). We found that the space–time constraints imposed by household responsibilities leads to greater gender differences in time allocation. This paper provides insight into how urban residents reallocate their time as a result of increasing suburbanization.

This study uses a rich city-level dataset to analyse the relationship between information and communication technology (ICT) and economic growth in Chinese cities during 2001–2016. It is shown that ICT not only improves the aggregate efficiency of a city but also helps the city absorb technological diffusion from the frontier city. In addition, distance plays little role in technological diffusion process associated with ICT. Cities geographically farther away from or closer to the frontier city can equally benefit from technological diffusion as long as they have the same level of ICT development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governments have increased their collaboration with the private sector regarding public service delivery, and their propensities to do so are largely shaped by their own in-house capacities. In this article, we theorize and analyze whether governments with an extremely low or extremely high technological capacity are more likely to collaborate with third-party platforms in order to jointly provide digital services. We expect there to be a U-shaped relationship between the technological capacity of those governments and their public–private partnership choices. An empirical analysis of digital service delivery across 290 prefecture-level cities in China corroborates this hypothesis. These results deepen our understanding of the competing motivations that drive the public–private partnership process. Points for practitioners: Public–private collaboration has been widely adopted to promote digital service delivery. This article confirms the U-shaped relationship between government technological capacity and public–private collaboration in digital service delivery at the city level. To encourage the collaboration, it is crucial to target governments with varying capacities, which seems to be easier in large cities with high administrative rank and that are overall technologically mature and in a competitive environment technologically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the centrality of China's cities to skate video; the most popular form for capturing, circulating, and consuming skateboarding. China's urban growth produces endless spots to skate; a spot is assemblage of objects and surfaces that offer the opportunity to perform skateboarding maneuvers (tricks). Skate video is the substance of skate culture, the once quintessentially Californian pastime turned global subculture and industry. After skateboarding left the skatepark for the streets in the 1990s, and once video became easier to circulate digitally through streaming platforms in the mid-2000s, the search for spots to perform and capture unsanctioned street skateboarding spread to China's urban landscapes, beginning with Shenzhen. China's cities are sites of global desire among skateboarders for the perfect surfaces and obstacles created in the built environment and the speed at which they are produced. Using skate video as an archive I make four arguments. First, China's cities imputed with a mythical character; endless spots produced with miraculous speed. Second, skate videos re-map China's cities through the skater's gaze, a form of urban knowledge both unique and widely shared. Third, the search for spots indexes urban development in China, privileging the recent and shunning the past. Fourth, skateboarding in China's cities create spaces for inter-cultural encounter between skateboarders and authority, the public and other skateboarders. The article concludes by discussing the utility of skate video as an alternative visual archive of urban China for foreign audiences and increasingly for skate communities in China itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the growth of global population and economic development, people are facing the problem of increasing scarcity of renewable energy and unsustainable energy use. To achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs) proposed by the United Nations, research on energy consumption efficiency has become particularly important. This research evaluates the energy consumption efficiency of 270 cities in China through an improved EBM model and finds a common phenomenon of low energy consumption efficiency in the cities, with the highest efficiency in northeast China and the lowest efficiency in eastern China. In addition, the efficiency of industrial exhaust emissions most significantly positively correlates with the efficiency of employed population and total energy consumption efficiency, while the efficiency of regional GDP does not significantly correlate with the efficiency of the two input variables. Using the LMDI method to decompose the driving factors of energy consumption efficiency in the cities, we find that the most important factor affecting energy consumption efficiency is their own energy endowment. Therefore, to improve the energy consumption efficiency of its cities, the China government should comprehensively consider factors such as regional economic development level, industrial structure, and technological level differences, formulate relevant energy-saving and emission-reduction policies, focus on optimizing the energy consumption structure, encourage technological progress and innovation, and help increase investment in science and technology.

Innovation is generally regarded as critical to long-run economic growth. Recent work, at different spatial scales, suggests economies that develop more complex technologies that are related to their existing knowledge stocks enjoy a growth premium. Thus, "smarter" forms of innovation may accelerate growth. These claims are examined using Chinese patent data distributed across 286 cities over the period 1991–2015. Fixed-effects panel models report that city-level GDP growth in China has a significant and positive relationship with diversification into more related and complex technologies, after controlling for the overall pace of innovation and other covariates. Robustness checks focusing on spatial autocorrelation and endogeneity affirm the core findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic development and ongoing urbanization are usually accompanied by severe haze pollution. Revealing the spatial and temporal evolution of haze pollution can provide a powerful tool for formulating sustainable development policies. Previous studies mostly discuss the differences in the level of PM2.5 among regions, but have paid little attention to the change rules of such differences and their clustering patterns over long periods. Therefore, from the perspective of club convergence, this study employs the log t regression test and club clustering algorithm proposed by Phillips and Sul (Econometrica 75(6):1771–1855, 2007. 10.1111/j.1468-0262.2007.00811.x) to empirically examine the convergence characteristics of PM2.5 concentrations in Chinese cities from 1998 to 2016. This study found that there was no evidence of full panel convergence, but supported one divergent group and eleven convergence clubs with large differences in mean PM2.5 concentrations and growth rates. The geographical distribution of these clubs showed significant spatial dependence. In addition, certain meteorological and socio-economic factors predominantly determined the convergence club for each city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital finance realizes the combination of finance and technology, makes up for many deficiencies of traditional finance, and brings opportunities for green and innovative development. However, systematic research on regional digital finance and green innovation is still lacking. Based on this, this study aims to analyze the impact of digital finance on the regional level of green innovation. For the analysis, the fixed-effect model, the mediating effect model, and the moderating effect model are used to perform regression on the panel data of Chinese cities. The results show that digital finance can significantly improve the level of regional green innovation. Improving the level of regional green financial services is its main mechanism, but the intermediary role of industrial structure optimization and upgrading fails to pass the test. In addition, the results of heterogeneity analysis show that digital finance plays a greater role in promoting green innovation in areas with high levels of traditional financial supply and Internet infrastructure construction. It is worth noting that digital finance does not really play the role of universal benefit, widening the regional green innovation gap. The main contributions of this study are to prove the positive effect of digital finance on green innovation at the regional level, clarify its transmission mechanism and urban heterogeneity analysis, and find that the current digital finance cannot bridge the gap of regional green innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Convergence analysis of China's urban green land-use efficiency (GLUE) will help to explore whether regional differences in GLUE determined by regional economic development and imbalance of resource endowments gradually decrease over time. We construct a DEA model considering variable returns to scale to measure Chinese urban GLUE, and discuss the convergence of Chinese urban GLUE. We find that Chinese urban GLUE is generally low. GLUE of eastern cities is the best. GLUE of non-resource-based (NRB) cities is higher than that of resource-based (RB) cities. GLUE of Pearl River Delta Economic Zone is the highest, while that of Comprehensive Economic Zone of Central 6 Provinces is the lowest. Chinese urban GLUE is mainly affected by technological change. Chinese urban GLUE shows absolute and conditional β convergence, and the gap of GLUE between cities is constantly narrowing. Cities in different locations, resource dependence degrees, and economic zones have different convergence rates. The conclusions help the Chinese government to formulate policies for intensive land use, improve national GLUE, and promote urban intensive and high-quality development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid suburbanization in China is dramatically reshaping the daily life of urban residents. In China, long-distance commuting, traffic congestion, spatial mismatch and the low quality of life resulting from residential suburbanization are causing widespread concern. This paper compares the changes in time allocation from a time-use perspective, based on two activity-travel survey datasets collected in suburban Beijing in respectively 2007 and 2017. Travelling time to work has increased substantially between 2007 and 2017 and particularly impacted non-working activities. Working and commuting showed to have the greatest impact on time allocated to non-work activities, both in home and out of home, both maintenance and discretionary activities. Furthermore, residents' allocation of time to non-work activities shows to be influenced too by their socioeconomic attributes, such as gender, marital status and household configuration (e.g. extended family). We found that the space–time constraints imposed by household responsibilities leads to greater gender differences in time allocation. This paper provides insight into how urban residents reallocate their time as a result of increasing suburbanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the socio-political shaping of Chinese smart urbanism by examining the power relations between the government (national and municipal), private firms and citizens embedded in smartmentality. Our exploration begins with teasing out key analytical standpoints of Alberto Vanolo's concept of smartmentality applied in neoliberal practices of smart urbanism. Through this analytical framework, we conceptualise Chinafied smartmentality and illustrate how it is actually playing out in China by undertaking documentary research and in-depth interviews from an inductive case study of the Smart Transportation System (STS) in the city of Shijiazhuang. We observe that the idea of Chinafication extends smartmentality with a focus on the power dynamic. We further argue that this Chinafied smartmentality implies uncritical technological solutionism that is state-steered in nature, and citizen participation in digital platforms that is performed with limited roles and power for inclusion. The article concludes by calling for future research on the critical examination of value co-creation for shaping a truly citizen-centric mode of governance in Chinese smart urbanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable urban development must balance social, economic and environmental sustainability, compensate for shortages in development process and improve the welfare of society as a whole. In this paper, a comprehensive system for evaluating the sustainable development of the economy–society–environment system and a coupling coordination model of the three systems for analysing the level of city sustainable development are presented. In addition, the spatial autocorrelation cluster of the coupling coordination degree is analysed. The spatial–temporal evolution law is explored by integrating the panel data of 285 cities above the prefecture level in China (2003–2017). The results show that (1) the level of coupling coordinated development has raised; (2) the subsystem lagging problem has been alleviated, but only for approximately 20% of the economy–society–environment priority type cities; and (3) the degree of coupling coordination shows a positive spatial autocorrelation, which presents dispersion to agglomeration, with cities in the high–high agglomeration category mainly distributed in the eastern region and the concentration of cities in the low–low agglomeration category changing from the Midwestern region to part of the north-east China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Segregation studies based on human activity spaces have attracted increasing interest in urban geography and planning. Previously, most research employed variations in the geographical features of individuals' physical activity areas to ascertain social group segregation. A few studies have examined segregation based on one's activity space, comparing this over several years. This research conducts an empirical analysis based on people's activity space in Beijing to detect changes in segregation over time. We investigate activity space-based segregation among Beijing residents, separated into four housing categories for inner-city and suburban areas. The primary outcomes show residents living in different types of housing experience varying degrees of segregation when considering their activity spaces, which has progressed over the years. Furthermore, the findings show that the impact of changes in the built environment on the socio-spatial segregation of residents is gradually deepening, while the impact of institutional contexts such as danwei is gradually decreasing. In summary, this paper provides Beijing-based empirical evidence for this housing type differentiation and increasing segregation, which helps to enrich the understanding of activity space-based socio-spatial segregation of urban residents in China. • Examines the spatial segregation of activities from a longitudinal perspective. • Residents in distinctive housing types of experience differentiated segregation when looking at their activity spaces. • The growing impact of built environment variables on socio-spatial segregation. • The influence of institutional factors on socio-spatial segregation weakens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to adapt to climate change while achieving sustainable economic and social growth has become a major topic of concern worldwide. With the constraints of the dual‑carbon strategy, the integration of regional environmental governance and energy carbon reduction governance is a prevalent focus. This study focuses on analyzing 282 prefecture-level cities in China. The SNA approach and modified gravitation model are utilized to estimate the energy carbon emission efficiency of Chinese cities from 2006 to 2021. The spatial correlation network and the QAP model are ultimately utilized to investigate the factors. The study presented the following findings: ① There are notable temporal and regional discrepancies in the energy carbon emission efficacy of Chinese cities. Generally, defined by high values in the east and low values in the west. ② The efficiency of energy carbon emissions in networks connecting urban areas in China is multidimensional, complex, and organic and has improved stability. ③ The developed regions in the east exert a dominant influence on the geographical network, while the central and western parts of the country, which are distant, are considered peripheral. ④ There are few connections within each segment of the geographic correlation network for energy carbon emission efficiency in Chinese cities; however, there are substantial correlations between segments, indicating the presence of a substantial spillover effect. ⑤ The formation of energy‑carbon emission efficiency correlation networks in Chinese cities is significantly influenced by disparities in economic development and government intervention. Conversely, the level of science and education exerts a significantly negative impact on this phenomenon. It is advisable to encourage the development of a spatial correlation network that connects urban energy carbon emission efficiency. This can be achieved through the implementation of specific measures, the establishment of a regional coordination mechanism, leveraging the strengths of energy-efficient regions in the east, maximizing the potential of each sector, and considering the factors that influence the outcomes. Compressing the driving factors and attributes of the spatial correlation network of energy carbon emission efficiency holds substantial practical importance for facilitating the ongoing expansion of the regional low-carbon energy network space and establishing a regional low-carbon synergistic energy governance system. • The modified gravity model and SNA are used to study energy carbon emission efficiency in cities, and using the QAP method to determine the factors affecting the spatial correlation network of energy carbon emissions. • The relevance and stability of the spatial associations in cities are gradually strengthened, and the three urban agglomerations of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta occupy a central position in the network. • Economic development and government intervention significantly affect spatial networks in positive, the level of science and education has a significant negative impact on spatial networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manufacturing employment has been a popular choice among migrants in Chinese cities in recent decades. However, the decline in manufacturing employment among migrants has emerged as a significant phenomenon during the ongoing industrial transformation. This study utilizes data from the Floating Population Dynamic Monitoring Survey (CMDS) in 2011 and 2018 to investigate the variations in manufacturing employment change among migrants across 184 sample Chinese cities. By examining migrant group change and urban development factors, empirical models are developed to explore the underlying mechanisms. The findings reveal substantial disparities in the percentage change of migrants engaged in manufacturing among the sample cities. Many large cities experience a decline in this percentage, but most small and medium-sized cities witness the opposite trend. While the changes in the structure of migrants explain these variations, the urban employment transformations, including shifts in manufacturing employment opportunities and structural changes, and wage growth in the service employment, play a more significant role. This study illuminates diverse employment choices among migrants in different cities, emphasizing the profound impacts of urban development contexts. It may provide valuable insights into the evolving dynamics of migrant employment in an industrial transformation context. • The percentage change of migrants engaged in manufacturing exists significant disparities among different sizes of cities. • The education level and age of migrants affect their choice of manufacturing employment. • Urban employment transformations play a critical role in shaping the manufacturing employment trends among migrants. • It is crucial to remain manufacturing industries as an important source of employment for migrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study takes China, which is going through severe and unbalanced fiscal pressure, as the research object, using the Need-Capacity Gap method to evaluate the fiscal condition of 284 Chinese regions at prefecture level and above in 2000, 2010, and 2020, and further analyzes the changes in the fiscal disparities. The fiscal disparities of Chinese prefectures have generally shown a differentiation trend in the past 20 years, which is manifested in the continuous optimization of the areas with good fiscal conditions and the deterioration of the areas with poor fiscal conditions. The differentiation of regional fiscal conditions not only exists at the national level, but is also prevalent between and within different regions, between and within prefectures of different administrative class, and between and within prefectures of different urbanization levels. Differences in revenue raising capacity are the main driver of fiscal divergence, and the contribution of revenues to fiscal disparities has been increasing over time. Finally, the study provides a discussion on the relationship between fiscal disparities and regional inequality and the role of transfers in reducing fiscal disparities. • We use the Need-Capacity Gap method to evaluate the fiscal condition of Chinese prefectures. • Fiscal conditions in areas with good (poor) original state see a continuous optimization (deterioration). • Differentiation of fiscal conditions is found across various group divisions. • Fiscal divergence is driven mainly and increasingly by the revenue side. • The relationship between fiscal disparities and regional inequality is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban parks are vital for mitigating urban heat, yet debate persists on whether local urban heat features hinder or enhance park cooling effects. Therefore. We employed Google Earth Engine and Landsat 8 OLI to map the average summer daytime land surface temperature (LST) across China during 2017–2019. This allowed us to evaluate park cooling effects and calculate local urban heat island intensities (LUHI) around each park. Findings revealed that: (1) urban parks had an average cooling intensity (PCI) of 1.38 °C, with Blue and Green Parks demonstrating superior cooling effects, particularly in arid regions. (2) Parks in hotter urban areas exhibited enhanced cooling effects, with notable PCI differences of over 0.4 °C among different LUHI regions, especially for Blue and Green Parks. However, this effect was not observed in the central subtropical (CST) and central temperate (CT) zones. (3) Hotter urban areas had larger Threshold Value of Efficiency (TVoE), particularly for Blue and Green Parks (0.11–0.46 ha), with CT zone parks displaying the largest TVoE among climate zones. (4) The variations in park cooling effects attributed to LUHI primarily stem from differences in land cover composition and their thermal properties. More importantly, our study underscores the greater influence of local urban heat features over urban heat characteristics on park cooling effects. Therefore, local urban heat features surrounding urban parks must be taken into account when planning urban green spaces, what's more, a larger park was more efficient in hotter urban areas. • Quantifies the cooling effects of 13,868 urban parks in 276 Chinese cities. • Describes the diverse local urban heat features of Chinese urban parks. • Demonstrates improved parks cooling effects in hotter urban areas. • Explains the mechanisms behind how cooling effects change with local heat features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial planning is broadly acknowledged for its pivotal role in local climate change adaptation. Nevertheless, variations persist among countries in their perceptions and practices concerning the effectiveness and feasibility of utilizing spatial planning for climate change adaptation. Chinese cities confront the challenges of global warming, rapid urbanization, and intensified extreme weather events. Climate change adaptation agreements, frameworks, and policies have predominantly emphasized the national scale, often overlooking local adaptation efforts. However, the ongoing reform and restructuring of China’s territorial and spatial planning system encompasses the categorization, hierarchical management, control of comprehensive national land resource development, and conservation. This process is gradually establishing spatial planning strategies that synergize with the impacts of climate change, thereby offering an opportunity to integrate climate change adaptation objectives into spatial planning. This endeavor is supported by a series of regulatory standards and guidelines to ensure its effective implementation. The study scrutinizes the public draft of territorial and spatial master plans for 368 Chinese cities to assess the integration of climate change concerns at the local level and to identify disparities among cities. Employing the Awareness, Analysis, and Action Framework (3A Framework), which draws from prior scholarship and integrates relevant existing research, we identified and assessed 30 criteria for recognizing and appraising climate change adaptation strategies in territorial and spatial planning. The study’s findings indicate that: (1) The role of territorial and spatial planning in integrating climate change issues at the city level requires enhancement, as reflected in the generally low “awareness” of climate change concerns, limited “analytical capacity” regarding climate change, and a certain foundation for “action response” to climate change adaptation; (2) Large cities, characterized by robust economies and population concentrations, generally outperform small and medium-sized cities. They exhibit a superior ability to delineate quantifiable climate adaptation indicators and measures. In conclusion, the study provides prospective recommendations concerning technical approaches, spatial governance, mechanisms, and actions to more effectively incorporate climate change adaptation objectives into local-level territorial and spatial planning.

Daily travel distance in urban China has substantially increased. The spatial layout of the 15-minute neighborhood, which supports local living and encourages walking and biking, was detailed in the Urban Residential District Planning and Design Standards in China in 2018. This study investigates the impacts of the 15-minute neighborhood described in the 2018 standards on activity space, using mobile network data in Qingdao, China. A total of 42,991 subscribers of China Mobile are randomly sampled. The 15-minute neighborhood attributes are objectively measured for sampled residents individually. Our study shows that not all 15-minute neighborhood attributes are associated with smaller activity space. Commercial retail services and green open space, which were found to increase walking and physical activity, do not reduce activity space. On the other hand, public services such as primary school and middle school, bus stops, neighborhood centers, and sports facilities within walking distance are positively associated with smaller activity space.