Abstract
City sizes are rapidly expanding, and urban air pollution is a serious challenge in China. PM2.5 (fine particulate matter) is the primary pollutant of urban pollution. This study aimed to examine the correlations between PM2.5 and city size. In this paper, using the panel data of 278 cities in China from 2007 to 2016, we constructed a static and dynamic panel model based on the STIRPAT (Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence and Technology) analytical framework. We found that there was a significantly inverted N-shaped correlation between PM2.5 and city size. Two inflection points were found at 949,200 and 3,736,100. We found no evidence to support the EKC (Environmental Kuznets Curve) hypothesis, while the “Pollution Haven Hypothesis” gained support. The contradiction between PM2.5 and city size will exist for the long term. Policy recommendations were proposed based on our findings. Controlling the city size does not seem to be necessary for very large cities as they have passed the second inflection point. Cities with a growing population are under great pressure to prevent PM2.5 pollution and need to implement greater measures to reduce pollution.
Highlights
China’s urbanization ratio increased from 44.9% in 2007 to 58.52% in2017, as the size of Chinese cities has grown rapidly
Will the expansion of city size inevitably lead to an increase in PM2.5 pollution? What is the relationship between PM2.5 pollution and city size? Can controlling the size of the city improve the quality of the urban environment? This paper aimed to answer these questions by examining the correlation between PM2.5 pollution and city size
1–5, the coefficient signs and significance of the city size and per capita gross domestic product (GDP) were invariant as other variables were added, showing that the results were robust
Summary
China’s urbanization ratio (measured by population) increased from 44.9% in 2007 to 58.52% in. 2017, as the size of Chinese cities has grown rapidly. The number of cities with an urban population over 1 million increased from 57 in 2007 to 75 in 2016. Beijing and Shanghai have become megacities, whose populations have reached 18.79 million and 24.19 million, respectively. The continuous expansion of the city size has caused “urban diseases”, of which pollution has become the first and foremost. Argued that the rapidly growing urbanized population in China has caused serious environmental pollution, air pollution. Urban pollution is closely linked to the size of the city—as the size of the city increases, the total amount of urban pollution emissions increases. The expansion of cities has created serious urban pollution and placed tremendous pressure on the environment
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