Economic Development Of Cities Research Articles

How can low-carbon help high-quality urban development?-Empirical evidence from low-carbon city pilot policies.

High-quality development is the paramount task for comprehensively building a socialist modernized country. The low-carbon city pilot policy, with cities as the unit of action, provides new opportunities for high-quality economic transformation. Based on panel data from 261 cities between 2005 and 2018, this study calculates the level of high-quality economic development in Chinese cities, constructs a multi-period difference-in-differences model, analyzes the impact of the low-carbon city pilot policy on high-quality economic development, and explores the policy's heterogeneous effects on high-quality development in different types of cities and its transmission mechanism. The research findings show that the low-carbon city pilot policy can significantly promote high-quality economic development in cities and has heterogeneous effects in terms of regional differences, city types, and city scale. The effects are relatively greater in the eastern region, non-resource-based cities, and mega-cities. The low-carbon city pilot policy promotes high-quality economic development through mechanisms such as technological progress effects, resource agglomeration effects, and government action improvement effects. Combining theoretical analysis with empirical results, this study proposes policy recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of the low-carbon city pilot policy in promoting high-quality development.

Beggar-thy-neighbor: Carbon leakage within China's pilot emissions trading schemes

The differences in the market liquidity of eight pilot emissions trading schemes (ETS) and the economic development of cities within the provincial-level ETS raise carbon leakage risks among the pilot cities. Utilizing panel data and DID models for 266 prefecture-level cities in China from 2006 to 2019, the empirical analysis reveals several key findings. Firstly, at the provincial level, the Tianjin pilot is found to have significantly increased CO2 emissions, potentially linked to carbon spillover from Beijing. Additionally, at the prefecture-level city level, certain cities in Guangdong Province and Fujian Province exhibit significant increases in CO2 emissions, indicating carbon transfer within the pilot ETSs. Secondly, all three spatial spillover effect tests demonstrate a notable carbon spillover effect between pilot cities. Lastly, the analysis of the moderating effect suggests that administrative intervention within the ETS and market mechanisms have limited impact on carbon spillover between pilot cities, while administrative intervention outside the ETS significantly enhances carbon leakage between pilot cities, primarily driven by carbon transfer resulting from state-owned enterprises' support for government emission reduction actions.

Spatiotemporal pattern evolution and influencing factors of population spatial distribution in Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan urban agglomeration, China

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Population, as a fundamental element in urban development, often reflects a city's economic development pattern through its spatial distribution and dynamic changes. Studying population spatial distribution is pivotal for bolstering the economic activity capacity in urban agglomerations and guiding regional economic health. Using the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan urban agglomeration as a case study, this paper analyzes its overall spatial structure and the spatiotemporal evolution of population at the district and county levels. This analysis utilizes population density, population redistribution index, and population geographic concentration as key indices. Additionally, a spatial econometric model is constructed to assess the impact of economic, social, and environmental factors on population spatial patterns. Findings reveal several key points: (1) Furong District serves as the primary central area, boasting a population geographic concentration of 25.1% in 2021. Tianxin District, Kaifu District, Yuhua District, Shifeng District, Yuelu District, and Hetang District constitute the secondary central areas, while Yutang District, Tianyuan District, Lusong District, Yuhu District, Wangcheng District, and Changsha County form the tertiary level areas. (2) Population density within the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan urban agglomeration gradually decreases from Furong District outward. The first central area and sub-central areas experience increasing population density, highlighting a polarization trend in the population distribution. (3) The overall Moran's index for the spatial distribution of population in the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan urban agglomeration is significantly positive, indicating a strong spatial autocorrelation and a deepening spatial agglomeration of population distribution. (4) Per capita disposable income, financial expenditure, and education level positively influence the geographical concentration of population in the urban agglomeration, while GDP per capita, road area per capita, and environmental quality exert a negative impact. Notably, the most influential factors shaping population spatial distribution are GDP per capita, disposable income per capita, and air quality.</span></p>

How Semi-Urbanisation Drives Expansion of Rural Construction Land in China: A Rural-Urban Interaction Perspective

The expansion of rural construction land in China has led to ecological consequences under the context of rural depopulation, despite government land use controls. While previous studies have investigated the local factors contributing to the expansion of rural construction land, the semi-urbanisation of urban immigrants distant from rural areas has received less attention. To better understand the connections between the semi-urbanisation in the urban areas and the construction land expansion in rural areas, this study constructed a network/spatial lag of N/X (N/SLX) model that incorporated the network lagged term of the socio-economic traits of semi-urbanised migrants to analyse how urban semi-urbanisation influenced rural construction land. Our findings suggest that both the income of rural-urban migrants and the difficulty of obtaining urban household registration are positively correlated with the expanding extent of rural construction land. Conversely, the living expenses of migrants and city economic development are negatively correlated with that of rural construction land. Considering our findings, we propose that policies facilitating the settlement and integration of rural out-migrants into cities and proceeding urbanisation based on county towns are crucial to curb the inefficient expansion of rural construction land.

The impact of the digital economy on urban total factor productivity: mechanisms and spatial spillover effects

Digital economy is the indispensable pathway for driving industrial structural upgrading and fostering innovation and entrepreneurship in cities, ultimately facilitating China's economic transformation. Simultaneously, the enhancement of urban total factor productivity (TFP) serves as a crucial means to achieve high-quality economic development in cities. This study examines the specific impact of the digital economy on urban TFP using a panel data model with a sample of 285 Chinese prefecture-level cities from 2011 to 2019. Additionally, it employs a mediation effect model to test the mechanisms through which the digital economy influences urban TFP and utilizes a spatial Durbin model to analyze the spatial spillover effects of the digital economy on urban TFP. The research findings reveal the following key points: (1)The digital economy has an overall significantly positive impact on urban TFP. (2)The digital economy indirectly promotes urban TFP by encouraging the advancement of industrial structure and fostering innovation and entrepreneurship in cities. (3)The influence of the digital economy on urban TFP exhibits spatial spillover effects, where the digital economy in neighboring cities significantly enhances the TFP growth of local cities.The results of this study contribute to elucidating the mechanistic pathways through which the digital economy affects urban TFP, holding significant practical implications for achieving high-quality economic development in urban areas.

Research on the Impact of Water Conservation Projects on the Economic, Leisure Environment and Ecological Development of Cities Under Extreme Climate Events

This study examined the effect of water conservation projects on the economic and ecological development of a city from the perspective of different stakeholders. We used Xiling Gorge as a case study and recruited people in Yichang as the study respondents. The study was conducted using a mixed research method. Samples were collected and analyzed through fieldwork, a questionnaire survey, and structured interviews using intentional sampling and snowball sampling. The study revealed that modern water conservation projects could improve convenience by stabilizing water sources, increasing the government’s willingness to invest, and improving public infrastructure and transportation facilities. The projects can also lead to developing special products, creating business opportunities, raising awareness, and attracting young people to return to their hometowns. However, industries and projects cannot be differentiated because of the lack of funds for urban development, lack of necessary considerations in decision-making, and lack of entrepreneurial skills among the public. Additionally, population aging could lead to a labor shortage, which may prevent tourism areas from improving the quality of services and meeting the needs of tourists. Consequently, the perceptions of residents and tourists on the current state of economic, social, environmental, and ecological development in the village diverge.

Analysis of Economic Indicators in Zhanjiang City during Epidemic Period Based on Remote Sensing Light Index

GDP (Gross Domestic Product) reflects the economic power and market scale of a city, offering an important reference for political decision-making and national development. The luminous remote sensing plays an important role in exploring the city economic development, analyzing and forecasting urban GDP. The luminous remote sensing is a new method to evaluate and display macro issues of economic and social development. This article analyzes the correlation between the lighting index and the economic index GDP, and constructs the best linear regression model of the economic index of Zhanjiang, considering the impact of the Covid-19. Based on the regression slope of night light intensity before and after the Covid-19, this article analyzes the economic trend of Zhanjiang during the epidemic period. The results show that there is a significant linear correlation between the night light index and the socio-economic index, and the regression slope of the light can reflect the short-term economic trend and evaluate the city-level economic indicators well.

Effect of Community Participation Levels on Tourism Village Development

Tourism is a catalyst for community economic development in cities and villages. In Indonesia, the central government encourages village governments and their communities to turn their villages into tourist villages. This is an effort to improve the village’s economy. Lamajang Village is one of the tourist villages in Bandung Regency and is categorized as a pioneer tourism village even though it has been designated as a tourist village for more than 10 years. Previous studies have stated that the success of developing a tourist village depends on the level of acceptance and support of the local community. This study aims to identify forms of community empowerment and measure the level of community participation in the development of tourism villages. The study approach uses the Arstein ladder of participation theory which suggests eight levels of participation and case study. The analysis uses a quantitative approach and is equipped with a qualitative approach to deepen the social phenomena. Data collection were done using in-depth interviews and questionnaires. The method of analysis used content analysis and scoring. This study found that the level of community participation in the development of tourism villages is 86.2% or at a moderate level. Particularly, the level of participation is very high for the form of participation on consultation and placement, and very low on citizen control. These results indicate that high community participation is not the only factor that can determine the success of developing a tourist village.
 Keywords: participation, community, village tourism, development

Lighting Cities: The Application of Public Private Partnerships to Light Up East African Cities

Urban public lighting is an important ingredient for the social and economic development of cities and the safety and security of their citizens. Existing studies support the need for artificial light in cities to enable around the clock activities and enterprise. Although artificial light is a public service commodity, procuring and maintaining lighting in cities is challenging due to funding shortfalls and a lack of technical expertise. The objective of this paper is to identify ways through which public private partnerships can be used to procure and maintain cost-effective and energy-efficient urban streetlighting and introduces a novel approach to generate a sustainable revenue stream to fund the enterprise.

Research on the Evaluation of Urban Quality in Yunnan Province Based on Principal Component Analysis Approach

Urban quality represents the spiritual taste and development quality of a city, and is the unity of the two. The level of urban quality reflects the level of the whole process of a city's planning, construction and management, and also directly affects the convenience and comfort of citizens' life, as well as relates to the agglomeration and attraction of various resource elements such as talents and industries. In other words, it is a comprehensive reflection of a city's strength, directly reflecting a city's economic development strength, urban social and cultural conditions, the beauty of the ecological environment, the level of public services and the living conditions of residents. China's economic development has entered a new period, has shifted from the stage of high-speed growth to the stage of high-quality development, and a clear understanding of the quality of the city is of great significance to high-quality development. This paper uses principal component analysis to conduct a comprehensive evaluation study of urban quality in 16 cities and towns in Yunnan Province from five dimensions: quality of urban economic development, social and cultural quality, quality of ecological environment, quality of public services, and quality of life of residents, using empirical data for the period of 2017-2021 as a sample of 16 cities and towns in Yunnan Province. The study found that although the comprehensive index of urban quality of each state and city in Yunnan Province has been steadily increasing year by year, the gap between the states and cities has not been significantly reduced. The development level of city sub-quality in each state and city in Yunnan Province is not balanced, and there are geographical differences, with a few cities, such as Kunming, having higher quality, while the quality of the majority of cities needs to be improved. The comprehensive scores of these city qualities are affected by indicators of economic development, social progress and environmental protection, and also show their own characteristics and advantages. In order to improve the quality of cities in Yunnan Province, it is recommended that policy guidance be strengthened, coordinated development among cities be promoted, investment in environmental protection be increased, and the development of social programs be advanced.

Which network effectively supports urban economic growth? Evidence from China

ABSTRACT City's economic development is increasingly dependent on its positionality in urban networks built on various intercity element flows. In this study, based on data crawling and gravity modelling, seven urban networks of 286 prefecture-level and above cities in mainland China were constructed for 2011 and 2019, and various influencing factors were analyzed. A qualitative comparative analysis was then employed to explore the impacts of urban connectivity in different networks on the urban economy and shed light on the optimal combination of networks to support urban economic growth effectively. The results demonstrate that in 2011, intercity capital, information, trade, knowledge, and technology networks were all essential to urban economic development, while the labour and transportation networks were supporting the former five networks. In 2019, urban development relied more on innovative knowledge and technology networks rather than labour, information, transportation, and trade networks. The importance of the capital network decreased, whereas the knowledge and technology networks still played significant roles in urban economic growth, suggesting an overall transformation to an innovation-driven economy in China.

The impact and nonlinear relationship of low-carbon city construction on air quality: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China

Many low-carbon policies have been implemented to realize China's “double carbon goals”. Maximizing the synergistic effects of pollution reduction is very important. This study develops difference-in-difference and panel threshold models to analyze the effects of the low carbon city pilot (LCCP) policy on air quality and the nonlinear relationship between them. The results show that: (1) As a whole, the LCCP policy can effectively improve air quality in pilot cities. When regional heterogeneity is concerned, the policy shows a pollution mitigation effect in the eastern and central regions, while it shows a green paradox effect in the western region. (2) The LCCP policy has a spatial spillover effect and displays a U-shaped relationship in terms of distance in a full sample context. The spatial spillover effects of the LCCP policy in terms of the distance vary across regions. (3) There is a nonlinear relationship between LCCP policy and air quality based on the level of economic development and city innovation. When a city's economic development and innovation levels are relatively weak, the policy effect is reflected as a green paradox effect. The LCCP policy can significantly improve the air quality in the pilot cities only when the economic development level and city innovation level exceed a certain threshold. That means different cities should make their low-carbon development plans due to their development level.

Leadership vacuum and urban economic development: Evidence from a transition country

This study focuses on the impact of municipal government officials’ vacancies on the economic development of their cities. Using manually collected data on unfilled senior governmental positions measured by the absence of municipal party secretaries in China from 2003 to 2019, we find that these absences limit city economic development. We identify two possible channels through which this happens: government efficiency and economic policy uncertainty. Finally, we show that the impact of these vacancies on city economic development is stronger in cities in which there is greater pressure to promote government officials and in less developed cities. Thus, this study offers new evidence that vacancies in city government undermine that city's economic development, particularly in a country undergoing an economic transition.

Impact of ecological conservation policies on land use and carbon stock in megacities at different stages of development

Urban expansion, especially the construction of megacities, increases carbon emissions and adversely affects the carbon storage of terrestrial ecosystems. However, scientific land-use management policies can increase carbon storage. This study takes two megacities at different stages of development, Beijing and Tianjin, as examples to explore the impact of different ecological conservation scenarios on both urban land use and carbon storage to provide recommendations for the construction planning of large cities with low-carbon development as the goal. Furthermore, we coupled the patch-generating land use simulation (PLUS) model with the integrated valuation of ecosystem services and tradeoffs (InVEST) model to simulate land use and carbon storage under a natural development scenario, a planned ecological protection scenario (PEPS), and a policy-based ecological restoration scenario (PERS). From 2000 to 2020, both cities had different degrees of construction land expansion and carbon loss, and Tianjin's dynamic degree of construction land was 0.94% higher than Beijing's, with a carbon loss 183,536.19 Mg higher than Beijing's; this trend of reducing carbon reserves will continue under the natural development scenario (NDS). Under the PEPS and PERS, the carbon stock of both cities increases, and the impact on Tianjin is greater, with an increase of 4.51% and 8.04%, respectively. Under PERS, the carbon stock increases the most, but the dynamic degree of construction land use is negative for both cities. Beijing's carbon stock is 0.40% lower than Tianjin's, which deviates slightly from the trend of urban economic development. Megacities in the rapid development stage can refer to Tianjin, strictly following the ecological protection land planning scope and vigorously implementing ecological restoration policies to effectively increase regional carbon stock. Megacities in the mature stage of development can refer to Beijing, and flexibly implement ecological restoration policies to increase regional carbon stock without affecting the city's economic development.

Financial Management in Reaching Product Empowerment Index Standards Related to Science on MSME Performance

Product innovation has a positive effect on MSME performance. So, product innovation has a positive effect on the performance of MSMEs accepted. Products with interesting and creative innovations will be in demand in the market so that they will improve the performance of MSMEs. A city's economic development requires appropriate action to maximize existing resources through the financial management of MSME actors. One of the solutions to control financial management is to form a UMK Sentra, as a center that can become a forum for its members. Therefore, MSES need to have good financial management to improve their business performance. This study aims to determine the level of effectiveness of financial management at the UMK Center on Jalan Sei Serayu Number 103, Tanjung Rejo, Medan Sunggal District, Medan City, North Sumatra. This study uses qualitative methods through observation and interviews with key informants at MSE centers. From the results of the research, the majority of MSME performance members in Medan City did not experience many obstacles that could affect the growth and sustainability of their business due to the existence of the UMK Sentra group as a center of knowledge for its members. In Medan City, the local government and the MSE Sentra group work well together in managing finances and business. In this study, the system applied to the MSME performance Sentra group in Medan City proved effective in opening opportunities for MSME performance to advance their business and improve their economic welfare to meet the Empowerment index standard.

Discussion on the impact of digital inclusive finance on high quality economic development: Empirical research based on cities in the Yangtze River Delta

The article combines the two main development lines of digital inclusive finance and high-quality economic development in the new era, with 41 cities in the Yangtze River Delta region as the research object. The digital inclusive finance development index is used to measure the level of digital inclusive finance development in cities, and the entropy weight TOPSIS method is used to measure the level of high-quality economic development in cities. A panel model is used to analyze the impact of digital inclusive finance on high-quality economic development. The conclusion is that the development level of digital inclusive finance is on the rise in all cities, but the regional development imbalance is also very obvious. Digital inclusive development has a positive promoting effect on the high-quality economic development of the Yangtze River Delta region. In addition, there is regional heterogeneity in the promoting effect of digital inclusive finance on high-quality economic development. With the improvement of urban level in the Yangtze River Delta region, the promoting effect of digital inclusive finance on high-quality economic development continues to improve. To this end, relevant policy recommendations are proposed. Firstly, to accelerate the development of digital finance and promote high-quality economic development. Secondly, to increase government investment and strengthen new infrastructure construction. Thirdly, to focus on information technology construction and enhance the level of digital technology. Fourthly, to deepen regional coordinated development and improve the quality of economic development.

Study on fuzzy comprehensive competitiveness evaluation of urban exhibition industry with hesitant fuzzy information

With the development of socialist market economy, the exhibition industry has emerged as the tertiary industry matures in a globalized economic environment. As a new economic form, the exhibition economy presents new opportunities for economic development. The research on the exhibition industry at home and abroad has been relatively mature, and there has been a scientific analysis of the industrial linkage effect of the exhibition industry. The strong industrial linkage effect has made the exhibition industry occupy a very important position in the economic development of cities. However, in the development of China’s urban exhibition industry today, it is no longer a simple question of developing and enhancing the strategic position of the exhibition industry in economic development, but rather a question of how to enhance the competitiveness of China’s urban exhibition industry. Only when the level of competitiveness is improved can the economic and social benefits brought by the exhibition industry be brought into full play. The fuzzy comprehensive competitiveness evaluation of urban exhibition industry is a classical multiple attribute decision making (MADM) problems. Recently, the TODIM and VIKOR method has been used to cope with MAGDM issues. The hesitant fuzzy sets (HFSs) are used as a tool for characterizing uncertain information during the fuzzy comprehensive competitiveness evaluation of urban exhibition industry. In this manuscript, the hesitant fuzzy TODIM-VIKOR (HF-TODIM-VIKOR) method is built to solve the MADM under HFSs. In the end, a numerical case study for fuzzy comprehensive competitiveness evaluation of urban exhibition industry is given to validate the proposed method.

TOD mode: study on land planning and land use optimization for urban rail transit station area

The rational planning of land around rail transit stations in cities can effectively improve the convenience of transportation and economic development of cities. This paper briefly introduced the transit-oriented development (TOD) mode of urban planning. We constructed a hierarchical structure for evaluating the quality of land plan-ning of urban rail transit stations through the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method. The structure started from three large aspects, i.e., traffic volume, regional environmental quality, and regional economic efficiency, and every large aspect was divided into three small aspects. Then, an optimization model was established for land planning of rail transit stations. The land planning scheme was optimized by a genetic algorithm (GA). To enhance the optimization performance of the GA, it was improved by coevolution, i.e., plural populations iterated inde-pendently, and every population replaced the poor chromosomes in the other populations with its excellent chro-mosomes in the previous process. Finally, the Jinzhonghe street station in Hebei District, Tianjin city, was taken as a subject for analysis. The results suggested that the improved GA obtained a set of non-inferior Pareto solutions when solving a multi-objective optimization problem. The distribution of solutions in the set also indicated that any two objectives among traffic volume, environmental quality, and economic efficiency was improved at the cost of the remaining objectives. The land planning schemes optimized by the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algo-rithm, the traditional GA, and the improved GA, respectively, were superior than the initial scheme, and the opti-mized scheme of the improved GA was more in line with the characteristics of the TOD mode than the traditional one and the PSO algorithm, and the fitness value was also higher. In conclusion, the GA can be used to optimize the planning design of land in rail transit areas under the TOD mode, and the optimization performance of the GA can be improved by means of coevolution.

An empirical study on the economic linkage characteristics of Yangtze River port cities based on discrete second-order derivatives

Abstract Rapid economic development cannot be achieved without a well-developed trade in goods of various forms, so it depends on the construction and development of coastal or inland ports. How to coordinate the relationship between ports and cities in the development process is of great significance to the sustainable development of port cities, and is also an important part of the current research on ports. This paper uses gray correlation model to study the correlation between city economic development indexes and port development indexes, and finds that the correlation between GDP and gross industrial output value and port cargo throughput is the largest, and on the basis of gray correlation analysis, the impulse response analysis finds that the growth of total economic volume and gross industrial output value of port cities has an obvious promotion effect on the development of ports in the short term. The research results show that the value added of Nanjing’s tertiary industry drives the port logistics of Nanjing port most significantly; the growth rate stabilizes at 0.006 after the 11th period. The growth of Nanjing port container throughput on the value added of Nanjing’s secondary industry changes most significantly and finally stabilizes at 0.0035.

Geographical problems of economic development of the seaside towns controlled by the government of Georgia: The cases of Batumi and Poti

The main goal of the study is to identify and classify economic problems in the cities of the coastal zone of Georgia. For this purpose, the Georgian coastal cities of Batumi and Poti have been selected. The research attempts to answer three strategic questions: 1. What is the relationship between the authorities of the seaside city and the existing business entities? 2. How does the population assess the role of authorities at various levels in the economic development of the cities under study? 3. What is the participation level of the population in economic projects in their cities? The study is empirical in nature. The main method used is triangulation (document analysis, qualitative research, quantitative research, mapping), partly a case method, and comparative analysis. It has been established that the territorial resources of both cities are severely limited for their future economic development. The study presents a classification of the existing problems hindering the economic growth of coastal cities based on expert assessments. It turns out that owing to limited financial resources, city municipalities cannot increase their participation in current economic projects. The article reveals certain disagreements between the interests of municipalities and economic entities. Furthermore, a survey conducted among the population shows an indifferent and even negative attitude of the local population towards the role of local municipalities in the economic development of cities. The research indicates that an involvement of the urban population in ongoing and promising economic projects in cities is rather low.