Yangtze River Delta City Research Articles

Optimizing the Allocation of CO2 Emission Rights in the Yangtze River Delta City Agglomeration Region of China Based on Equity, Efficiency and Sustainability

Optimizing the Allocation of CO2 Emission Rights in the Yangtze River Delta City Agglomeration Region of China Based on Equity, Efficiency and Sustainability

The impact of green behavior on spatial heterogeneity of city green development-the case of Yangtze River Delta city cluster

The impact of green behavior on spatial heterogeneity of city green development-the case of Yangtze River Delta city cluster

Comprehensive maps of material stock dynamics reveal increasingly coordinated urban development in the Yangtze River Delta of China

Sustainable urban development critically depends on effectively managing the interplay between material stock (MS) and economic growth. This study combined convolutional neural network model and nighttime lights data to map building MS of Yangtze River Delta (YRD) urban agglomeration in China from 2000 to 2020 across 1 km × 1 km pixel scale, then uncovered the spatiotemporal dynamics of MS and its correlation with economic development. Our findings indicate that the model performed robustly on the test set (R2 > 0.88). YRD's MS surged over tenfold, reaching 20,772 teragram, primarily expanding along northwest-southeast developmental axes. Most YRD cities exhibited synchronized growth in material stock and GDP, suggesting an emergent pattern of sustainable urban expansion. However, cities at the developmental extremes highlighted the need for optimizing urban development strategies. By categorizing YRD cities into four distinct development modes, our study offers deep insights into the dynamics of urban development, underpinning targeted strategies that could guide cities towards more sustainable and resource-efficient growth trajectories.

Spatio-temporal interplay between ecosystem services and urbanization in the Yangtze River Economic Belt: A new perspective for considering the scarcity effect

The expeditious trajectory of urbanization has profound ramifications on the configuration and functioning of the natural milieu. Given the constrained opulence of natural capital and its indispensable bestowal of ecosystem services in different regions, meticulous contemplation of the relationship between urbanization and the ecosystem service scarcity value (ESSV) while formulating decisions is imperative. This study focuses on the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB), where ESSV is quantified by combining the dynamic changes in market supply and demand factors. The influence of supply and demand changes on the ESSV is discussed and analyzed in four scenarios. Subsequently, a multidimensional urbanization comprehensive evaluation index system was established to explore the spatiotemporal interactive response mode between ESSV and urbanization. Our findings manifest a notably augmented ESSV in the YREB from 1990 to 2020, particularly prominent between 2000 and 2010. Moreover, the growth in public goods services outpaced that in private goods services within the same period. Demand-driven scarcity has emerged as the foremost determinant of ESSV. Urbanization levels gradually increased from 1990 to 2020, with a uniform allocation of heightened ESSV and urbanization throughout the region. The urbanization level of YREB, as a whole, exhibited conspicuous spatial heterogeneity, with the downstream region significantly surpassing the middle and upper reaches, and the downstream Yangtze River Delta city cluster and the middle reaches of the Chengdu-Chongqing city cluster notably outpacing that in the surrounding region. The coupling coordination degree (CCD) between the ESSV and urbanization in the YREB develops in a harmonious direction during the study period, accompanied by palpable spatial disparities. The area of unbalanced development gradually decreased, and the area proportion of the coordinated development type of ESSV and urbanization increased continuously. Overall, this study elucidates regional disparities in the reciprocal relationship between the ESSV and urbanization in the YREB, thereby unveiling the extent of incongruity between regional urbanization and the ecosystem. It serves to identify the juncture at which ecological sustainability and urbanization converge harmoniously, thus offering novel insights in achieving comprehensive, high-caliber, and synchronized development in the YREB.

Assessing the impact of urban road transport development on haze pollution in the Yangtze River Delta region

The aim of this paper is to explore whether and how urban road transport (URT) development affects haze pollution. One of the innovations of this paper is that URT development is measured by road accessibility with novel digital elevation model datasets, which have been used by few scholars. The endogenous problem caused by revere causality issue in the relationship between URT development and haze pollution is also considered. Based on the panel data of prefecture-level cities of Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region in China from 2011 to 2018, this paper uses long-lagged values of URT development as the instrumental variable, employing the two-stage least squares (2SLS) method. The study shows that URT development leads to an increase of haze pollution. Moreover, mechanism tests based on moderating and mediating models support the finding that decreasing haze pollution resulted from better connection effects, while rising agglomeration effects tend to bring about increasing haze pollution, and the latter effect is larger in magnitude than the former. Current URT development may have long-term negative consequences for livability of YRD cities, and urban decision makers should reconsider the effectiveness of the current road transport investment and construction.

Measurement report: Characteristics of airborne black-carbon-containing particles during the 2021 summer COVID-19 lockdown in a typical Yangtze River Delta city, China

Abstract. Black-carbon-containing (BCc) particles are ubiquitous in ambient air, significantly contributing to particulate matter (PM) pollution. The unexpected outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the summer of 2021 prompted a localized and prolonged lockdown in Yangzhou, situated in the Yangtze River Delta, China. This lockdown led to significant alteration of local anthropogenic emissions, while neighboring cities continued regular operations, providing a unique opportunity for the investigation of BCc particle characteristics influenced by varying emission conditions. Single-particle aerosol mass spectrometer (SPA-MS) analysis revealed a notable decrease in the proportion of freshly emitted BCc particles during the lockdown (LD) period. However, PM2.5 concentrations remained relatively unchanged, with an observed increase in the proportion of aged BCc particles during LD compared to the period before the lockdown (BLD). The study also underscores the significant role of regional transport in PM2.5 pollution during the campaign. Moreover, reactive trace gases (e.g., NOx, SO2, and volatile organic compounds – VOCs) could form thick coatings on pre-existing particles, likely via enhanced heterogeneous hydrolysis under high relative humidity (RH), resulting in significant BCc particle growth (∼ 600 nm), as well as PM2.5 concentration, during LD. Our study highlights that short-term, strict local emission controls may not effectively reduce PM pollution due to the complex production and transmission characteristics of BCc particles and the nonlinear responses of PM2.5 to its precursors. Achieving further effective PM2.5 reduction mandates a focus on nuanced control of BCc particles and necessitates a comprehensive and extensive approach with a regionally coordinated and balanced control strategy through joint regulation.

Research on the coupling coordination of digital economy and urban green development in the Yangtze River Delta of China

Digital economy has become an important engine for promoting green development.The existing literature mainly analyzed the impact of digital economy on green development, but rarely examines the coordinated development relationship between the two. This study contributes to the literature by constructing a research framework for the coupling coordination of digital economy and urban green development, using entropy method, coupling coordination model, and spatial auto-correlation to examine the coordinated development relationship between the two.The results show that:(1) During the research period, the comprehensive level of digital economy and urban green development in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) both showed an upward and consistent trend. The level of digital economy was significantly lower than that of green development, but the gap between the two continued to narrow. (2) The overall coupling coordination level between digital economy and green development in the 41 cities of YRD was relatively low but showing a continuous upward trend. It has undergone a transition from near imbalance to primary coordination, still with a long way to realize high-quality coordination. (3) The coupling coordination level of digital economy and urban green development in different regions of YRD showed spatial differences, the order from high to low was Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui province respectively. (4) The coupling coordination of digital economy and urban green development in the YRD exhibited significant spatial positive correlation and spatial dependence characteristics. The research results can provide a new perspective to promote the positive interaction between green development and digital economy.

Do high housing prices inhibit entrepreneurial activity?—Evidence from Yangtze River Delta cities, China

AbstractContrary to the existing literature that suggests the inhibitory or facilitating effect of housing prices on entrepreneurial dynamism, this paper explores the nonlinear effect of housing prices on entrepreneurship and countervailing effect of entrepreneurial dynamism on housing prices, in addition to investigating the spatial interaction between the two. This paper constructs a simultaneous equation model (SEM) to empirically test the interaction and spillover effects between housing prices and entrepreneurial dynamism. The results show that: (1) there is a two‐way interaction between housing prices and entrepreneurial dynamism; (2) the estimated coefficients of housing prices and the quadratic square term of housing prices (14.285 and −0.744, respectively) are consistent and significant as expected, indicating an inverted U‐shaped effect of housing prices on entrepreneurial dynamism; and (3) in geospatial terms, there are positive spatial spillovers and negative spatial interaction effects for both house prices and entrepreneurial dynamism in Yangtze River Delta cities.

Analysis of the integrated role of the Yangtze River Delta based on the industrial economic resilience of cities during COVID-19

The enhancement of regional comprehensive development ability is significantly impacted by the study on the implementation effect of regional integration strategies. The integration strategy’s impact on urban development during COVID-19 in the Yangtze River Delta(YRD) is unclear. According to prior industrial transfer theory, Hefei, Anhui’s capital, is difficult to transfer industries, and other YRD cities push industry integration in Anhui. This study employs the theory of economic and land resource use to examine the resilience of the industrial economy during an epidemic by using industrial land as a representation of industrial economic development. The three cities in Anhui—Wuhu, Maanshan, and Chuzhou (Wu-ma-Chu) were selected as the research area. The study employed the UNet deep learning method to detect the land use types in Wu-ma-Chu. The land transfer matrix and the standard deviation ellipse were utilised to research the alterations in industrial land use and the spatial distribution of industrial output value, respectively. The results showed that the industrial land in Machu continued to grow during the outbreak, highlighting the resilience of the region’s industrial economy. During 2019–2022, the elliptical ring of industrial output value is distributed in Nanjing, revealing the radiating role of Nanjing in integrating into the integration of the YRD. This confirms China’s YRD integration strategy, strengthens regional economic resilience, and encourages coordinated regional economic development.

DNN model reveals sharp decline in PM2.5 concentration in the Yangtze River Delta during COVID-19 lockdown and lift lockdown

The COVID-19 lockdown in early 2020 and subsequent lifting in late 2022 had a significant impact on air pollution levels in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD). Previous studies have not provided a clear understanding of the detailed spatiotemporal characteristics of PM2.5 concentrations in various functional areas of cities during different periods before and after the outbreak of the epidemic. However, by employing a deep neural network (DNN) model and integrating satellite data, meteorological reanalysis, and PM2.5 observations, established an estimation of high-resolution PM2.5 distribution during the period from 2019 to 2022. The DNN model performed well (R2 = 0.78). During the lockdown, PM2.5 concentrations in 14 YRD cities were over 50% lower than in previous years. Interestingly, even after the lockdown was lifted, PM2.5 levels remained relatively low due to reduced human activities caused by widespread infections. Found that PM2.5 reductions varied across different intra-city functional regions during both the lockdown and lift lockdown periods. Overall, the changes in PM2.5 levels during the 2022 lift lockdown were smaller than during the 2020 lockdown. These findings emphasize the need for tailored government policies to address COVID-19's impact on air pollution, considering diverse functional areas within the region.

Examining the Impact of Urban Connectivity on Urban Innovation Efficiency: An Empirical Study of Yangtze River Delta in China

Innovation serves as a vital catalyst for sustainable urban development, with the enhancement of urban innovation efficiency representing a critical strategy to bolster cities’ innovative capacity. Rigorous scientific measurement of urban innovation efficiency and thorough investigation into the key factors influencing it are imperative for advancing urban innovation capacity. Despite this significance, prior research has largely overlooked the impact of urban connections on urban innovation efficiency. Therefore, this paper undertakes the task of measuring the innovation efficiency of 27 cities within China’s Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region using an improved DEA model, while also examining the associated influencing factors. The primary findings are as follows: (1) The comprehensive efficiency of the 27 cities in the YRD remains relatively low, with pure technical efficiency representing a notable constraint, while scale efficiency demonstrates higher overall performance. (2) The cities can be classified into four distinct categories: innovation-leading, innovation-optimizing, innovation-breaking, and innovation-improving cities. (3) The urban innovation efficiency within the YRD exhibits negative spatial spillover effects. (4) And notably, local economic and social characteristics such as human capital and degree of openness play a positive role in enhancing innovation efficiency in YRD cities. Conversely, factors such as economic foundation and government involvement exhibit negative contributions to innovation efficiency enhancement in YRD cities. Additionally, population mobility between cities is identified as a significant contributor to urban innovation efficiency. This study sheds light on the complex dynamics shaping urban innovation efficiency and underscores the importance of leveraging urban connections to bolster innovation capacity in the YRD and beyond.

Can Green Finance Be a Regulator of “Water–Energy–Food” Synergy? Evidence from the Yangtze River Delta

The synergistic relationship between water, energy, and food faces increasing challenges. Green finance as a policy tool promotes high-quality and efficient development of water, energy, and food subsystems. However, whether it can improve the synergistic relationship of “water–energy–food” (WEF) still needs to be studied. Using the panel data of 38 prefecture-level cities in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) from 2013 to 2021, and network DEA and panel regression models, we study the impact of green finance on the level of synergy of “water–energy–food”. The results of the study show that green finance can promote the synergy level of “water–energy–food” in the Yangtze River Delta city cluster, which was first inhibited and then promoted from 2013 to 2021. The impacts of green finance on the efficiency of the three subsystems are also characterized by a “U” shape. However, linear impacts show differences, with green finance improving the efficiency of the water subsystem but not the energy and food subsystems. The implementation of China’s national strategies empowers green finance. The digital strategy, the “dual carbon” strategy, and the new urbanization strategy have increased the effectiveness of green finance in contributing to the level of water–energy–food synergy. Regional heterogeneity analysis shows that the promotion effect of green finance mainly exists in non-resource-based cities, non-main grain-producing areas, and non-cities along the South-to-North water diversion route and large cities. Finally, this paper puts forward relevant policy recommendations.

Spatiotemporal variation and evolutionary analysis of the coupling coordination between urban social-economic development and ecological environments in the Yangtze River Delta cities

When the process of urbanization has brought economic benefits in Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB), the environmental issues become increasingly prominent. The evolutionary coupled coordination degree (CCD) between urban social economy and ecological environments was explored in 41 cities of YREB. Results indicated that the overall CCD between urban social economy and ecological environments showed a fluctuating upward trend from 2010 to 2020 in YREB. The CCD of Shanghai was the best among these of 41 cities, while those of three provinces were lower than the average CCD of YREB. There were significant differentiated spatial clusters of high and low among these YREB cities in both the global and local spatial autocorrelation analyses during 2010–2020. The CCD estimations indicated a fitted spatial distribution of "high in the east and low in the west" in YREB. Furthermore, CCD was positively influenced by the urban density of population, economic acceleration and technical advancement (P < 0.01), while it was negatively influenced by the urban industrial structures and energy consumption (P < 0.01). Subsequently, corresponding policy implications and recommendations, including enhancing policy innovation and promoting technological progress, were proposed to facilitate the formulation of evidence-based developmental strategies and policies of sustainable cities and society in YREB.

Spatial analysis of digital economy and its driving factors: A case study of the Yangtze River Delta City Cluster in China.

The digital economy (DE) has become a major breakthrough in promoting industrial upgrading and an important engine for high-quality economic growth. However, most studies have neglected the important driving effect of regional economic and social (RES) development on DE. In this paper, we discuss the mechanism of RES development promoting the development of DE, and establish a demand-driven regional DE development model to express the general idea. With the help of spatial analysis toolbox in ArcGIS software, the spatial development characteristics of DE in the Yangtze River Delta City Cluster (YRDCC) is explored. We find the imbalance of spatial development is very significant in YRDCC, no matter at the provincial level or city level. Quantitative analysis reveals that less than 1% likelihood that the imbalanced or clustered pattern of DE development in YRDCC could be the result of random chance. Geographically weighted regression (GWR) analysis with publicly available dataset of YRDCC indicates RES development significantly promotes the development of DE.

Structural Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Carbon Emission Spatial Association Network: A Case Study of Yangtze River Delta City Cluster, China

Structural Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Carbon Emission Spatial Association Network: A Case Study of Yangtze River Delta City Cluster, China

Does the new energy vehicles subsidy policy decrease the carbon emissions of the urban transport industry? Evidence from Chinese cities in Yangtze River Delta

New energy vehicles (NEV) have become an important driving force for carbon reduction in the transportation industry. This paper adopts the extended environmental pressure assessment (STIRPAT) model and the time-varying difference in differences (DID) model to evaluate the effectiveness of the NEV subsidy policy to achieve sustainable governance. The results show that the NEV subsidy policy can significantly decrease the carbon emission of the transport industry. The mechanism analysis results indicate that the NEV subsidy policy can decrease carbon emissions by promoting a green transformation of the consumer car purchasing structure. Further analysis found that a “fraudulent subsidy” can significantly weaken the policy effect of subsidies. The results of heterogeneity analysis indicate that the subsidy policies introduced by different levels of government have different effects. The subsidy policy of the central government has a more significant effect, and repeated subsidies from central and local governments will weaken the policy's effectiveness. These findings provide valuable insights for policymakers in developing countries to optimize subsidies for new energy vehicles in reducing carbon emissions in the transportation industry.

Digital economy, innovation factor allocation and industrial structure transformation-A case study of the Yangtze River Delta city cluster in China.

The attainment of regional high-quality development necessitates the critical role of the digital economy in facilitating the transformation of industrial structures. This study intends to investigate the effect of the digital economy on industrial structure transformation from the perspective of innovation factor allocation using a panel dataset of 41 cities in the Yangtze River Delta region for the period from 2011 to 2020. This paper considers four dimensions to measure the level of industrial structure transformation i.e. industrial structure servitization, industrial structure upgradation, service industry structure upgradation and industrial interaction level. The results of the study suggest that the digital economy can significantly improve industrial structure transformation. The results remain consistent even after several robustness checks. Further, the analysis of the mechanism of action shows that the digital economy can promote industrial structure transformation by optimizing the innovation factor allocation. The study provides several policy implications for the digital economy and its role in the promotion of industrial structure transformation.

Measurement and spatial correlation analysis of high-quality development Level: A case study of the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration in China

Against the backdrop of slowing economic growth and increasing environmental pressure, the Yangtze River Delta city cluster, as one of the largest city clusters in the world, has become more driven in its pursuit of high-quality development. We constructed a system of 24 evaluation indexes and used entropy-weighted TOPSIS to calculate and study the high-quality development index of urban agglomerations in the region. First, the level of high quality development (HQD) of the Yangtze River Delta city cluster generally improved from 2010 to 2021, with 2017 was the best year, while 2010 was the worst year. Second, in the multidimensional evaluation of HQD, Jiangsu excels in innovation and people's livelihood with 0.524 and 0.534, respectively; Shanghai (0.531) excels in coordinated development; Zhejiang excels in green and economic development with 0.557 and 0.484, respectively; and Anhui lags behind in all aspects. Third, the development process of HQD in the Yangtze River Delta region is uneven, and the level of HQD development varies greatly among the city clusters in the province. The measurement results show that Shanghai (0.511) has the highest score, followed by Zhejiang (0.484), Jiangsu (0.440) and Anhui (0.435). Fourth, spatial correlation analysis shows that Shanghai and Jiangsu are mainly distributed in the double-high region, Zhejiang is distributed in the high-low region, while Anhui is concentrated in the low-low region. The results of this study help us understand more deeply the characteristics and challenges of high-quality development in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomerations and provide a scientific basis for more precise urban development policies.

A Study of the Impact of the Digital Economy on the Efficiency of Urban Green Economy—Based on the Yangtze River Delta City Cluster

A Study of the Impact of the Digital Economy on the Efficiency of Urban Green Economy—Based on the Yangtze River Delta City Cluster

Research on Coupling Coordination of China’s Urban Resilience and Tourism Economy—Taking Yangtze River Delta City Cluster as an Example

Urban resilience provides the foundation and guarantee for the tourism economy, and the development of the tourism industry provides new opportunities and impetus for urban resilience. The coordinated development of urban resilience (UR) and the tourism economy (TE) contributes to the high-quality development of the regional economy. This study takes 27 cities in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) urban agglomeration as an example. Various analytical techniques, including the entropy method, coupling coordination degree model (CCDM), kernel density estimation, Theil index, and obstacle degree model, are employed to investigate the spatiotemporal evolution patterns and influencing factors that affect the coupling coordination degree (CCD) between UR and TE. The findings indicate that: (1) The urban resilience and tourism economy exhibited an increasing trend denoted by “N” and “M”, respectively. (2) The coupling coordination level has undergone a development phase of “Moderate disorder–Bare coordination–Moderate disorder”. (3) The level of coordination has been enhanced, with intra-regional differences identified as the primary source of variation. (4) The number of Internet users, the number of students in institutions of higher learning, per capita public financial expenditure, science and technology expenditures as a share of fiscal expenditures, urban per capita disposable income, foreign exchange earnings from tourism, and the number of inbound tourists is the main factors affecting the CCD of urban resilience and tourism economy.