Energy effect of urban diversity: An empirical study from a land-use perspective

Abstract

Rapid urbanization not only consumes substantial amounts of valuable land resources but also changes the pattern of land-use. Diversity of land use measures the functional composition of urban land and reflects the structure of urban activities from a land perspective. This paper explores the relationship between urbanization and energy use, by empirically investigating the impact of land use diversity on energy consumption in urban areas with a panel dataset of prefecture-level cities in China. The instrumental variables method is employed to address the endogeneity of land-use diversity. It is found that the land-use diversity of China's cities has exerted an energy-saving effect, while the effect only works for medium-sized cities. The findings imply the possibility of promoting urban energy saving by moderate control of city size and diversity of land use.