Can smart city construction improve urban ecological total factor energy efficiency in China? Fresh evidence from generalized synthetic control method

Abstract

The smart city concept was proposed in the wave of “New Urbanism”. To improve the quality of urbanization, China has launched smart city construction since 2012. Taking 153 cities from China as the research sample, we evaluated the impact of smart city policy (SCP) on urban ecological total factor energy efficiency (ETFEE) using the generalized synthetic control method. The main results are as follows. (1) SCP significantly improves urban ETFEE after controlling the endogeneity and unobserved time-varying confounders, and this conclusion is strongly supported by multiple robustness tests. (2) There is a two-stage mediating mechanism through which SCP functions. Specifically, SCP promotes innovation by enhancing intelligence (including informatization, human capital, and technology), thereby improving urban ETFEE. (3) Public participation and market conditions play moderating effects, and they improve the contribution of SCP on urban ETFEE. (4) For heterogeneity, SCP plays a significant role in eastern cities, large-size cities, non-resource-based cities, and non-old industrial base cities, whereas it has little impact on other cities’ ETFEE. This study provides empirical evidence and policy insights for constructing smart cities in China and even other emerging economies.