Impacts of urbanization process on PM2.5 pollution in "2+26" cities

Abstract

The urbanization process has some impacts on air quality. And PM2.5 is considered as the critical air pollutant. "2 + 26" Cities, the air pollution transmission channel cities of Jing-Jin-Ji, has been serious air pollution in recent years. Previous studies on "2 + 26" Cities urbanization process were few, and there were also few studies on the effects of different urbanization levels on PM2.5 pollution. Thus, the paper took "2 + 26" Cities as an example to assess the impacts of urbanization process and different urbanization levels on PM2.5 pollution. The panel data of population, economic and land aspects from 1999 to 2016 and fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) and dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) methods were utilized. It was found that there was significant positive relationship between urbanization process and PM2.5. The influential mechanisms of urbanization process on PM2.5 pollution varied with the cities’ developing levels. Therefore, the governments should take urban development levels into consideration to formulate appropriate PM2.5 concentrations control policies.