Abstract
This research sought to uncover the environmental effects that urban sprawl brings about by using panel data of 35 large and medium-sized cities over the timespan 1998–2019. A nonlinear relationship between urban sprawl and environmental pollution might exist and be shown by constructing the conceptual mathematical model. The panel unit root test indicated that there exists a long-run equilibrium relationship between urban sprawl and environmental pollution. Regression results showed that there is a U-shaped curve relationship between the two core variables for the full sample. The impacts of urban sprawl on environmental conditions have regional heterogeneity. A significant U-shaped curve was discovered for eastern and western regions, while an insignificant inverted U-shaped curve was discovered for the central region. Furthermore, we found a significant U-shaped curve for cities with high and low degree of sprawl. By contrast, we found a significant inverted U-shaped curve for cities with a middle degree of sprawl, which indicated that moderate urban sprawl is beneficial for environmental conditions. We additionally discovered a significant U-shaped curve and inverted U-shaped curve for cities with low and middle pollution, respectively. Fixed-asset investments and foreign direct investments exacerbate urban environmental pollution. Market freedom and industrial structure adjustment are conducive to pollution reduction. The conclusions were consistent when we subdivided the sample by time periods and substituted with a systematic GMM (Generalized Method of Moments) estimation method in the robustness check. Policy recommendations were put forward according to the research findings.
Highlights
After the economic reform and opening-up policy, with the promotion of China’s rapid urbanization, the level of urbanization and regional development has been greatly improved
This paper selected panel data from 1998 to 2019 across 35 large and medium-sized cities in China to empirically analyze the effect of urban sprawl on environmental pollution
The research findings showed that urban sprawl has a nonlinear correlation with the ecological environment
Summary
After the economic reform and opening-up policy, with the promotion of China’s rapid urbanization, the level of urbanization and regional development has been greatly improved. The rural society accelerated the transformation to urban society. The number of cities and towns is climbing, and the scale of cities and towns is enlarging. The rapid improvement of urbanization level means that a large amount of the rural population transfer to the city. As a process of population concentration to the city, theoretically speaking, it is conducive to the economical and intensive use of land.
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