Abstract
The complex correlation between regions caused by the externality of air pollution increases the difficulty of its governance. Therefore, analysis of the spatio-temporal network of air pollution (STN-AP) holds great significance for the cross-regional coordinated governance of air pollution. Although the spatio-temporal distribution of air pollution has been analyzed, the structural characteristics of the STN-AP still need to be clarified. The STN-AP in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration (YRDUA) is constructed based on the improved gravity model and is visualized by UCINET with data from 2012 to 2019. Then, its overall-individual-clustering characteristics are analyzed through social network analysis (SNA) method. The results show that the STN-AP in the YRDUA was overall stable, and the correlation level gradually improved. The centrality of every individual city is different in the STN-AP, which reveals the different state of their interactive mechanism. The STN-AP could be subdivided into the receptive block, overflow block, bidirectional block and intermediary block. Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Wuxi could be key cities with an all above degree centrality, betweenness centrality and closeness centrality and located in the overflow block of the STN-AP. This showed that these cities had a greater impact on the STN-AP and caused a more pronounced air pollution spillovers. The influencing factors of the spatial correlation of air pollution are further determined through the quadratic assignment procedure (QAP) method. Among all factors, geographical proximity has the strongest impact and deserves to be paid attention in order to prevent the cross-regional overflow of air pollution. Furthermore, several suggestions are proposed to promote coordinated governance of air pollution in the YRDUA.
Highlights
With the rapid development of industrialization and urbanization, China’s economy has achieved rapid growth, but the country has suffered serious air pollution [1, 2]
This study identifies the spatial correlation of air pollution in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration (YRDUA) through an improved gravity model, and the spatio-temporal network of air pollution (STN-AP) from 2012 to 2019 is visualized using UCINET 6.0
Since the variables that influence the spatial correlation of air pollution are correlated data, the measurement methods traditionally to analysis the correlated data may have multi-collinearity problems, while quadratic assignment procedure (QAP) method does not need to consider the independence between variables, so it can overcome the problem [36, 37]
Summary
With the rapid development of industrialization and urbanization, China’s economy has achieved rapid growth, but the country has suffered serious air pollution [1, 2]. Air pollution is a typical public problem with characteristics such as cross-regional, strong fluidity, wide influence, noncompetitive and nonexclusive, and it usually formed a correlation within a certain region [3]. These make the effect of the fragmented governance that depends on administrative divisions very limited. In December 2019, the Outline of the Integrated Regional Development of the Yangtze River Delta was promulgated This policy alleviate the conflict of motivations for air pollution control and enhance the awareness of cooperation between cities, which provides an excellent opportunity for the coordinated governance of air pollution in the YRD. Several suggestions are proposed to strengthen the coordinated governance of air pollution in the YRDUA
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