Can the Relationship between Atmospheric Environmental Quality and Urban Industrial Structure Adjustment Achieve Green and Sustainable Development in China? A Case of Taiyuan City

Abstract

Atmospheric environmental quality affects the high quality and sustainable development of the economy. The optimisation and upgrading of the industrial system are important to improve the operation efficiency of the economy and society. Firstly, this paper constructs the theoretical analysis framework of coupling and coordination between the atmospheric environment system and the industrial system and analyses the internal mechanism of the interaction and coordinated development of the two systems. Then, it puts forward the combination of the coupling coordination model and the VAR model (Vector autoregressive model) and presents the analysis and evaluation method of the relationship between them from the two perspectives of “static” and “dynamic”. Finally, the empirical study is conducted in Taiyuan, a resource-based city in China. The results show that: (1) The two systems in Taiyuan have an obvious interaction and develop in the direction of benign coupling. (2) The impact of the two systems on each other is mainly in the medium and long term and dominated by the role of the atmospheric environment system on the industrial system. This study provides a theoretical framework and evaluation methods for evaluating and analysing the relationship between the urban atmospheric environment system and the industrial system in China, and then provides suggestions for policymaking.