Yangtze River Delta City Research Articles

Modelling driving factors of PM2.5 concentrations in port cities of the Yangtze River Delta

PM2.5 is one of the major air pollutants in port cities of the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) of China. Understanding the driving factors of PM2.5 is essential to guide air pollution prevention and control. We selected 17 major port cities in YRD to study the driving factors of PM2.5 in 2019 and 2020. Generalized Additive Models were built to model the non-linear effects of single, multiple and interactions of driving factors on the variations of PM2.5. NO2, SO2 and the day of year are most strongly associated with the variation of PM2.5 concentration when used alone. Anthropogenic emissions play complicated roles in regulating PM2.5 concentration. Although the effect of cargo throughput (CT) on PM2.5 concentration is non-monotonic, higher PM2.5 levels are found to be associated with higher levels of SO2 and CT. This work can potentially provide a scientific basis for formulating PM2.5 prevention and control policies in the region.

Has the healthy city pilot policy improved urban health development performance in China? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment

Healthy city (HC) construction, as an important path for many cities or regions at home and abroad to cope with economic, ecological and demographic problems, and to improve the image of cities, is gradually becoming an important grip for China to promote the construction of beautiful China, healthy China and ecological civilization. On the basis of systematically reviewing the connotation of healthy cities, this study constructed a HC assessment system, measured the HC construction performance of 284 cities in China using the combination model based on the analytic hierarchy process and entropy weight, and further applied the synthetic control method and interaction term model to quantitatively assess the implementation effects and impact mechanism of China's HC pilot policies. The results showed the following. (1) The average allocation level of HC construction performance in China from 2009 to 2019 showed an "N-shaped" fluctuating upward trend, rising from 0.3251 in 2009 to 0.3556 in 2019, an increase of 9.38%, but the average allocation level was between 0.3 and 0.4, which was still at a relatively low level. (2) The spatial distribution pattern of the HC construction performance showed the characteristics of "south > north" and "east > central", and mainly showed the spatial evolution pattern of gradually decreasing from the high value area with the Yangtze River Delta city cluster, cross-strait city cluster, Pearl River Delta city cluster, and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei city cluster as the core. (3) The implementation of the HC pilot policy had a positive impact on the HC construction performance of most of the pilot cities, but there were differences in the policy effects. The driving effect on the HC construction performance of pilot cities such as Dalian, Wuxi and Yuxi was more significant, while the driving effect on the HC construction performance of pilot cities such as Baoji was not significant. (4) The HC pilot policy-related initiatives would have positive effects on HC construction performance through reducing pollution emissions and improving medical services, while the impact pathways of improving environmental quality and enhancing health culture atmosphere have not yet played a positive role. These findings could provide references for the implementation and improvement of the new round of HC policies.

The Effect of Digital Economy on Urban Green Transformation—An Empirical Study Based on the Yangtze River Delta City Cluster in China

Under the new development pattern, promoting urban green transformation efficiently addresses resource and environmental restrictions and is the foundation of high-quality development. However, the development of green transformation in Chinese cities faces constraints in three dimensions, production, life, and ecology, and it is not clear whether the digital economy, as a key driver of green development, can empower urban green transformation. Therefore, this paper measures the level of urban green transformation from the three dimensions of production, life, and ecological space and empirically tests the impact of the digital economy on urban green transformation from 2011 to 2020 by using panel data from 41 cities in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration. The results indicate: (1) The development of the green transformation level in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration demonstrates a constant upward trend, but the absolute difference fluctuates and declines; (2) the development of the digital economy has a positive impact on urban green transformation, as well as changes in urban production, living, and ecological space; (3) the digital economy helps the green transformation of cities by supporting the growth of an advanced and rationalized industrial structure. Nevertheless, the indirect influence of an advanced and rational industrial structure on urban green transformation is quite different.

Study on the Allocation of SO2 Emission Rights in the Yangtze River Delta City Agglomeration Region of China Based on Efficiency and Feasibility

Rational allocation of pollutant emission rights is one of the ways to promote the sustainable economy and environment of cities. Based on the overall goal of emission reduction in the 13th Five-Year Plan proposed by China, the Yangtze River Delta city agglomeration with high homogeneity is selected as the research object, and three allocation models of SO2 emission rights are established using data envelopment analysis (DEA), shadow price and information entropy. The fairness of the three allocation schemes is evaluated by the per capita relative deprivation coefficient (RDC). The study shows that: (1) the three-objective information entropy allocation model takes into account the principles of maximum output-input efficiency, protection of regional GDP and scheme fairness, and the relative deprivation coefficients (RDCs) are all less than 0.5, which can be used as the best scheme for SO2 emission rights allocation in the Yangtze River Delta city agglomeration. (2) Cities in Jiangsu province need to reduce SO2 emissions. (3) Taking city agglomerations with high homogeneity as the research object has more practical significance, which can provide policy advice for sustainable development of similar city agglomerations.

Spatial-Temporal Differentiation and Dynamic Evolution of Digital Finance Inclusive Development in the Yangtze River Delta Economic Cluster of China

Clarifying the sources of the digital finance inclusive development gap helps profoundly understand the regional characteristics of inclusive digital finance and benefits and formulate and implement specific policies scientifically and reasonably. Based on the 2011–2020 “Peking University Digital Finance Inclusive Index,” this study explores the regional disparity in digital finance inclusive development and its sources in the Yangtze River Delta economic cluster using the methods of the center of gravity shift, standard deviation ellipse, nested Theil index difference decomposition, and Kernel density. We found that inclusive digital finance shows a rising trend year by year, with evident heterogeneity and spatial agglomeration characteristics; interprovincial differences are the primary sources of the overall differences in inclusive digital finance in the Yangtze River Delta. The spatial effect of digital inclusion finance between the Yangtze River Delta regions has continuity. Because of the significant positive spatial correlation of digital inclusion finance between regions, digital inclusion finance in this region is vulnerable to potential shocks from neighboring regions. Moreover, with or without the spatial lag term, the level of inclusive digital finance in all regions of the Yangtze River Delta shows a leap forward. This paper looks at the regional gap of inclusive digital finance and its structural decomposition in the Yangtze River Delta city cluster from three perspectives: time trend, spatial structure, and dynamic evolution. This gives an empirical basis for the different kinds of digital finance inclusive development policies and a guide for making decisions to speed up the formation of a regional digital finance inclusive synergistic development path.

Research on the Heterogeneity of Digital Economy Driving Regional Integration Development

Based on the panel data of 63 cities in China's Yangtze River Delta, Beijing Tianjin Hebei and Pearl River Delta urban agglomerations from 2011 to 2019, this paper measures the level of digital economy development and regional integration based on relevant theories and practical basis, and tests the impact of digital economy development on regional integration development and its heterogeneity in the three urban agglomerations, Finally, the following conclusions are drawn: ① The development level of digital economy has a significant positive impact on the development level of regional integration of urban agglomeration, that is, promoting the development of digital economy of urban agglomeration is conducive to the integrated development of urban agglomeration. ② There are significant differences in the impact of the digital economy development level of the three urban agglomerations on the regional integration development level of urban agglomerations, showing the phenomenon of Yangtze River Delta > Beijing Tianjin Hebei > Pearl River Delta. Finally, on this basis, the paper puts forward some suggestions on how to use digital economy to drive the development of regional integration.

Spatiotemporal evolution of coupling coordination in population-land relationship and its influencing factors: A case study of 26 main cities in Yangtze River Delta, China

Crucial to regional integration and sustainability of urban agglomeration, coordination between urban land expansion and population growth caused by rapid urbanization has drawn increasing attention. Though the population-land relationship has been widely explored, few studies have investigated the internal mechanism from an allometric growth perspective. This study aims to reveal spatiotemporal evolution and influencing factors of population-land coordination in 26 central cities of Yangtze River Delta (YRD) from 1989 to 2018, via incorporating the coupling coordination model, super-slack-based measure model (Super-SBM), and spatial Durbin model with fixed effects. The results indicated that: 1) the pace of land expansion significantly exceeds population growth, and great distinction of allometric growth within regional cities is observed; 2) population-land interaction is still located in the low coordination stage, and its productivity efficiency sees a slight fall with fluctuation; 3) urban land exploitation, population agglomeration and productivity efficiency have significant positive effects on population-land coordination. Finally, several recommendations are proposed, involving targeted urban land supply for different cities, trans-administrative regional land and industrial planning. This study provides some insights into the sustainable population-land relationship.

Scarcity Value Assessment of Ecosystem Services Based on Changes in Supply and Demand: A Case Study of the Yangtze River Delta City Cluster, China.

Rapid urbanization and economic development have resulted in a mismatch between the supply and demand of ecosystem services. The theoretical value of ecosystem services (ESTV) is not suitable for determining ecosystem service compensation, posing challenges for integrated regional ecological development. A scarcity value model was used to analyze the influence of changes in supply and demand on the scarcity value of ecosystem services (ESSV) in the context of land-use change. The spatio-temporal distribution characteristics and trends of the ESSV from 2010 to 2020 were assessed in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) urban agglomeration in China, and the driving factors were analyzed to provide theoretical guidance for horizontal ecological compensation across regions. The results show the following: (1) In the scenario that did not consider the impact of supply and demand changes on the scarcity value, the total ESTV decreased by 8.67% from 2010 to 2020, and high-value areas shifted to the west and south, whereas low-value areas shifted to the central and northern region and the Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai Ringbelt. The ESTV was low in Shanghai and Jiangsu and high in Zhejiang. (2) In the scenario that considered changes in the supply and demand of ecosystem services, the ESSV increased from RMB 213 million in 2010 to RMB 1.323 billion in 2020; an increase of 521.13%. The scarcity value showed high variability within the provinces, with a larger difference between Zhejiang and Jiangsu and a smaller difference between Anhui and Shanghai. The ESSV was higher in counties with increased urbanization and high population density and lower in counties with slower economic growth and fewer people. (3) Regional ecological integration planning and management should be strengthened, and the ESSV might be considered as the reference standard for ecological compensation. The ESSV showed that spatio-temporal heterogeneity might guide the conversion from ecological resources to ecological capital and promote the regulatory role of market mechanisms to achieve horizontal payments for ecosystem services across regions.

Maritime cluster relatedness and policy implications

Despite existing debates on the maritime cluster's institutional composition, geographical boundary, or evolutionary patterns, few studies have empirically scrutinized the relatedness of industrial sectors inside a maritime cluster. This study aims to develop an industry-relatedness model to quantitatively measure the paired industry relatedness among three maritime sectors: port-related, shipping-related, and maritime business services. Maritime sectors can be labour-intensive or capital-intensive, and thereby we constructed a compound ratio of capital per capita to address the heterogeneity issue in evaluating the industry relatedness. Instead of focusing on a specific maritime cluster, we applied the model to three representative maritime clusters, namely Western Europe, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), and the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), to enhance the generalizability of our findings and implications. Findings suggest that the maritime cluster in Western Europe is characterized by more inter-sector connections. In Western Europe, Ship owning and operating, and Ship management and agency are found to operate with the highest relatedness; GBA has a polarized maritime industry structure with Hong Kong specializing in Ship finance and Shipbroking; cities in YRD operate with a speciality in Shipbuilding and repairing. This study found that differences in industry relatedness are mainly attributable to the focal region's evolutionary history and governance structure. We also provided a valuable reference for policymakers to plan and improve local and regional maritime cluster development.

Sensing Tourist Distributions and Their Sentiment Variations Using Social Media: Evidence from 5A Scenic Areas in China

The distribution and sentiment characteristics of tourists directly reflect the state of tourism development, and are an important reference for tourists to choose scenic areas. Sensing the tourist distributions and their sentiment variations can provide decision support for the development planning of scenic areas. In this study, we crawled tourist social media data to explore tourist distribution characteristics and the patterns of tourist sentiment variations. First, we used web crawlers to obtain social media data (tourist comment data) and the location data of China’s 5A scenic areas from the Ctrip tourism platform. Second, SnowNLP (Simplified Chinese Text Processing) was optimized and used to classify the sentiment of tourists’ comments and calculate the sentiment value. Finally, we mined the distribution characteristics of tourists in 5A scenic areas and the spatio-temporal variations in tourists’ sentiments. The results show that: (1) There is a negative correlation between the number of tourists to China’s 5A scenic areas and tourist sentiment: the number of tourists is highest in October and lowest in March, while tourist sentiment is highest in March and lowest in October. (2) The spatio-temporal distribution of tourists has obvious aggregation: temporally mainly in July, August and October, spatially mainly in the Yangtze River Delta city cluster, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei city cluster, and Guanzhong Plain city cluster. (3) Tourist sentiment cold/hot spots vary significantly by city clusters: the Yangtze River Delta city cluster is always a sentiment hot spot; the northern city cluster has more sentiment cold spots; the central city cluster varies significantly during the year; the southwestern city cluster has more sentiment hot spots.

Allocation of SO2 emission rights in city agglomerations considering cross-border transmission of pollutants: A new network DEA model

Currently SO2 emission rights are allocated without considering the cross-border transmission characteristics of pollutants, and the allocation scheme cannot reflect the fact that air pollutant overflows in space. In this paper, the WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting Model)-CMAQ (Community Multiscale Air Quality) is combined with the data envelopment analysis (DEA) allocation model for the first time, and a two-stage (Stage-1: SO2 formation, Stage-2: SO2 treatment) network DEA allocation model is proposed with the SO2 spatial transmission taken as the intermediate output or input index between decision-making units. Based on the principles of efficiency, economic protection and fairness, the model is applied to the study of SO2 emission rights allocation in the Yangtze River Delta city agglomeration with high homogeneity in China. The results show that: (1) When the weight coefficient (α1) in stage-1 is 0.7, 0.8 or 0.9, the per capita relative deprivation coefficient (PRDC) of each decision-making unit (DMU) is less than 0.5 in the allocation scheme, indicating that our scheme can be used as a reference to allocate emission rights in the Yangtze River Delta city agglomeration. (2) With great robustness and universality, our allocation model allows decision-makers to adjust the GDP constraint coefficient and the weight coefficients in the two stages according to their preferences, so as to obtain the optimal allocation results. The model proposed in this paper can help decision-makers to formulate effective policies to reduce pollutant emission, and promote energy conservation & emission reduction and coordinate environmental governance in regions of city agglomerations.

Spatiotemporal characterization of aerosols and trace gases over the Yangtze River Delta region, China: impact of trans-boundary pollution and meteorology

BackgroundThe spatiotemporal variation of observed trace gases (NO2, SO2, O3) and particulate matter (PM2.5, PM10) were investigated over cities of Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region including Nanjing, Hefei, Shanghai and Hangzhou. Furthermore, the characteristics of different pollution episodes, i.e., haze events (visibility < 7 km, relative humidity < 80%, and PM2.5 > 40 µg/m3) and complex pollution episodes (PM2.5 > 35 µg/m3 and O3 > 160 µg/m3) were studied over the cities of the YRD region. The impact of China clean air action plan on concentration of aerosols and trace gases is examined. The impacts of trans-boundary pollution and different meteorological conditions were also examined.ResultsThe highest annual mean concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, NO2 and O3 were found for 2019 over all the cities. The annual mean concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, and NO2 showed continuous declines from 2019 to 2021 due to emission control measures and implementation of the Clean Air Action plan over all the cities of the YRD region. The annual mean O3 levels showed a decline in 2020 over all the cities of YRD region, which is unprecedented since the beginning of the China’s National environmental monitoring program since 2013. However, a slight increase in annual O3 was observed in 2021. The highest overall means of PM2.5, PM10, SO2, and NO2 were observed over Hefei, whereas the highest O3 levels were found in Nanjing. Despite the strict control measures, PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations exceeded the Grade-1 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and WHO (World Health Organization) guidelines over all the cities of the YRD region. The number of haze days was higher in Hefei and Nanjing, whereas the complex pollution episodes or concurrent occurrence of O3 and PM2.5 pollution days were higher in Hangzhou and Shanghai.The in situ data for SO2 and NO2 showed strong correlation with Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) satellite data.ConclusionsDespite the observed reductions in primary pollutants concentrations, the secondary pollutants formation is still a concern for major metropolises. The increase in temperature and lower relative humidity favors the accumulation of O3, while low temperature, low wind speeds and lower relative humidity favor the accumulation of primary pollutants. This study depicts different air pollution problems for different cities inside a region. Therefore, there is a dire need to continuous monitoring and analysis of air quality parameters and design city-specific policies and action plans to effectively deal with the metropolitan pollution.

Evaluating the anthropogenic nitrogen emissions to water using a hybrid approach in a city cluster: Insights into historical evolution, attribution, and mitigation potential

Anthropogenic reactive nitrogen (Nr) emissions from agricultural production and food consumption in city clusters have caused water quality degradation and scarcity. In this study, anthropogenic Nr emissions to the water environment were quantitatively evaluated in the Yangtze River Delta city cluster from 2011 to 2020 using coupling nitrogen (N) flow analysis and the grey water footprint (GWF) method. The spatiotemporal characteristics of the GWF and the relative contributions of natural and human factors to the water pollution level (WPL) were analyzed. The results showed that from 2011 to 2020, the total N-related GWF decreased by 12.1 %, mainly driven by reduced fertilizer application and livestock numbers. In 2020, the primary pollution source changed from livestock to humans; however, non-point sources still dominated the GWF. The spatial clustering trend of the GWF was significant: high and low GWF were mainly concentrated in the northeast and southwest regions, respectively. From 2011 to 2020, the mean center of the GWF moved west due to the decrease and increase in the eastern and western regions, respectively, supporting the pollution haven hypothesis. The WPL ranged from 2.67 to 5.03 and fluctuated due to variations in precipitation. The relative contributions of natural and human factors to the WPL evolution were 72.9 % and 27.1 %, respectively. According to the scenario analysis, increasing the N use efficiency to 50 %, manure recycling rate to 80 %, and sewage treatment rate in urban and rural regions to 98 % and 40 %, respectively, could decrease GWF by 39.6 %. The present study establishes an open framework to evaluate anthropogenic N emissions to water, and the outcomes provide valuable references for sustainable N management in city clusters.

The Impact of the Quality of Digital Economy Development on Manufacturing in the Yangtze River Delta City Cluster

Yangtze River is the most dynamic, open and innovative region in China, as well as an important region for modernization and comprehensive opening. In this paper, under the strategic background of the integration of the Yangtze River Delta region, this paper systematically studies the transformation and upgrading of digitalization and manufacturing from the perspective of urban agglomeration, establishes a measurement model of the digital economy, constructs a comprehensive evaluation system for the quality of digital economy, and intuitively displays and studies the impact mechanism and realization path of digital economy and manufacturing transformation and upgrading. The objective of the study is to examine whether the development of the digital economy is a driver of regional development. The results of the study revealed that the quality of digital economy development in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration has a positive impact on the transformation and upgrading of the local manufacturing industry.

The relationship between air quality and MODIS aerosol optical depth in major cities of the Yangtze River Delta

The AOD derived from the MODIS deep blue(DB) algorithm and AQI were used to investigate the correlation between AOD and AQI in seven major cities of Yangtze River Delta (YRD) from January to December 2019. The accuracy of MODIS AOD was validated by AERONET. Moreover, the AOD and AQI were studied to explore the annual and seasonal distribution characteristics, and the correlation analysis was carried out using five regression models. It was found: Ⅰ) There was a significant correlation between AOD and AERONET data (R2 ˃ 0.80, RMSE = 0.106, and MAE = 0.089). Ⅱ) The highest AQI was observed in winter (83), followed by spring (76), autumn (74), and summer (72). Ⅲ) The monthly average AOD showed noticeable seasonal variations, which reached the highest in summer (0.91) and the lowest in winter (0.69), followed by spring and autumn. Ⅳ) Among the five models, the cubic model obtained the best results with R2 ˃ 0.55. In the sub-seasonal regression model, the cubic model outperformed other models in spring (R2 ˃ 0.57), summer (R2 ˃ 0.76) and autumn (R2 ˃ 0.38). However, in winter the composite model outperformed others (R2 ˃ 0.68). Ⅴ) Considering annual data, the AOD can predict over 70% of the variations in AQI (0.41＜R2 ＜0.81). These results demonstrate the feasibility of AOD derived from the MODIS DB algorithm in AQI prediction. The method used in this study can be applied as an aid for air pollution control programs in different regions.

A dynamic view of environmental regulation influence mechanism on manufacturing agglomeration-a case study of the Yangtze River Delta city cluster.

Rapid development and agglomeration of manufacturing industries in China inevitably lead to serious environmental pollution problems. The government restrains development of manufacturing industries through environmental regulation policies, but this may affect manufacturing industries agglomeration. Therefore, studying the impact of environmental regulation (ER) on manufacturing agglomeration (MA) is a critical prerequisite for the sustainability of China's manufacturing industry. Based on the panel data of 41 cities in Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region of China from 2003 to 2017, this paper explores the threshold effect of ER on MA using a panel threshold model and analyzes the heterogeneity impact of ER on MA in different regions and analyzes the dynamic mechanism and contribution of each influencing factor on MA using a panel vector autoregressive model. The results show that (1) there is a double threshold effect of ER on MA, showing an inverted "U"-shaped effect of rising and then falling; there are threshold effects of ER on MA based on foreign direct investment (FDI) and economic development level (EDL). The effect of ER on MA has the threshold effect under different FDI and EDL level, in which the effect based on FDI shows an inverted "U" shape relationship of rising and then falling; the effect based on EDL shows a growing trend. (2) There are 29 cities in YRD region in the "weak regulation" or "strong regulation" stage, both of which are not conducive to MA. (3) ER has a facilitating effect on MA, but with the extension of forecast period, this facilitating effect turns into an inhibiting effect. MA is mainly influenced by itself and transportation conditions (TC). Our study can provide some insights for improving the ecological environment and promoting the development of manufacturing clusters in YRD region.

Will city cluster cope with water dilemma?

The study focuses on whether city cluster as an urbanization development mode can solve the problem of stable water system development that cannot be solved at the city level. This study selects the Jing-Jin-Ji city cluster and the Yangtze River Delta city cluster as the research objects for comparative analysis. First, the coupling index system of urbanization and water was constructed, then the urbanization subsystem and the water subsystem were evaluated by the Comprehensive Gravity-Gram Schmidt Orthogonalization coupling model (CG-GSO) and the entropy weight method. Second, the coordinated development between urbanization and water was explored based on the coupling coordination degree model, and its driving factors were analyzed. The results showed: (1) the overall trends of urbanization development were on the rise in both city clusters; (2) whether in the water-deficient Jing-Jin-Ji city cluster or the water-abundant Yangtze River Delta city cluster, the water pollution dimension and the water supply and use dimension alternately occupied the largest proportion in the water subsystem; (3) in the urbanization subsystem and the water subsystem, the driving factors promoting the coordinated development in the coupling system were demographic urbanization dimension and water supply and use dimension in the Jing-Jin-Ji city cluster, and social urbanization dimension and water supply and use dimension in the Yangtze River Delta city cluster. Overall, as the development mode, city cluster did solve the problem of uncoordinated development of the coupling urbanization and water system in inner cities, and the coordination degrees were upward from unbalanced to balanced development, which were from 0.1278 to 0.4118 in the Jing-Jin-Ji city cluster and from 0.1770 to 0.5001 in the Yangtze River Delta city cluster. The study framework could provide ideas for other regions to solve the problem of coordinated development between water and urbanization.

Evaluation of the Quality of Economic Development in Anhui Province Based on Entropy-TOPSIS Model

The quality of economic development is a key topic in economics research and an important measure of the merits of economic and social development. This paper takes the economic development quality of cities in Anhui Province as the research object, constructs the regional economic development evaluation index system, and uses the entropy-TOPSIS method to make a comprehensive evaluation of the economic development quality of cities in Anhui Province from 2011 to 2020. On this basis, this paper ranks the economic development quality of various cities in Anhui Province and develops spatial and temporal evolution analysis, and obtains the following conclusions: (1) The overall level of economic development quality in Anhui Province is low and has not yet been able to achieve high quality development, and there is much room for improving the economic development quality of local cities; (2) The imbalance of economic development quality among local cities in Anhui Province is serious, with the economic development quality in the east &gt; west of the province, decreasing from the central region centered on Hefei to the north and south, and the difference of development level in the region is large and shows a trend of expansion. Therefore, in the new development stage, cities in Anhui province should propose development strategies according to local conditions, fully integrate into the Yangtze River Delta city cluster, and promote the inflow of production factors and industrial adjustment, so as to achieve high-quality economic development.

Urban Low-Carbon Consumption Performance Assessment: A Case Study of Yangtze River Delta Cities, China

Urban low carbonization has been an essential element in China’s carbon peak and carbon neutrality strategies. An assessment of urban low-carbon performance could provide valuable information for monitoring and guiding the low-carbon transition in cities. However, due to cross-regional carbon transfer, the actual level of achievement would be masked, if the assessment was based only on a production-based index such as carbon emission intensity (CEI). Focusing, instead, on consumption-based low-carbon performance, this study calculated levels of urban carbon consumption intensity (CCI) based on city-level carbon footprint accounting, investigated the patterns and drivers of changes in CCI of 26 Yangtze River Delta (YRD) cities from 2012 to 2015, and conducted a comparative analysis of CEI and CCI data from both static and dynamic viewpoints. It was found that the CCI of YRD cities decreased from 1.254 to 1.153 over the period. Cities at higher economic levels were found to have lower CCI values. Decomposition results show that shifts in production structure, intensity of emissions and changing consumption patterns contributed to the decline in CCI of the YRD area. Richer cities were found to show greater declines in CCI due to decarbonizing structures in production and consumption. The comparative results show that although the CEI and CCI of cities were generally correlated in both static level and dynamic change, the net carbon transfer impacted the correlation sensitivity between various cities. Finally, our findings provide practical guidance on achieving coordinated emission reductions at an inter-city level from both production and consumption perspectives.

Traffic accessibility analysis of major cities in the Yangtze River Delta under the integration of regional development

The Yangtze River Delta region is one of the regions with the highest economic development dynamics in China, and the importance of its transportation hub status is self-evident. This paper selects the indicator of traffic accessibility and adopts the weighted time cost method to analyze the traffic accessibility and equilibrium of major cities in the Yangtze River Delta region, and draws the following conclusions: (1) the improvement of traffic accessibility can drive the economic development of the city (2) the highway accessibility of cities in the Yangtze River Delta is high, which proves that the city roads in the region are well paved and the road travel is convenient; (3) the railroad accessibility of the Yangtze River Delta city cluster is low, so the railway paving needs to be accelerated in the regional city development planning, and thus the shortage of road travel needs to be completed. accessibility is low, so in the regional urban development planning, railroad paving needs to accelerate the pace, and then make up for the shortcomings.