Regional Economic Integration Around a Large Urban Agglomeration: A Case Study of Regions Around the Pearl River Delta from the Perspective of Nighttime Light
Abstract
1. Introduction
1.1. Background
1.2. Literature Review
2. Materials and Methods
3. Results
3.1. Border Effects Within East, West, and North Guangdong
- The border effect across city borders in the regions outside the PRD is enlarging in general, especially across North and East Guangdong. This trend is consistent with the city ranking of average NTL values in Table 2;
- The border effect inside East Guangdong is mainly enlarging. However, this trend does not interrupt all the cities in East Guangdong from entering the highest layer simultaneously in Table 2;
- The border effect across North and West Guangdong is inconsistent. The NTL difference is increasing between Yangjiang and Yunfu but it is decreasing between Maoming and Yunfu. This inconsistent phenomenon also occurs inside West Guangdong. The NTL difference is increasing between Zhangjiang and Maoming but it is decreasing between Maoming and Yangjiang;
- No significant changes are observed in the border effect inside North Guangdong, except for the decreasing trend between Qingyuan and Shaoguan. Given that no geographical border exists between West and East Guangdong, the border effect between the two regions is not available.
3.2. Border Effects Between Cities in the PRD and Cities Outside It
3.3. Panel Data Regression Between the PRD and East, West, and North Guangdong
- At the inter-regional scale, only East Guangdong narrowed its development gap with the PRD region on average. West and North Guangdong widened their development gaps with the PRD on average. The policy interventions have not changed these trends;
- At the intra-regional scale, East and West Guangdong exhibited internal divergence. North Guangdong demonstrated convergence among its cities.
3.4. Trends of Integration in the Border Regions of Cities
4. Discussion
4.1. Major Reasons for Unsuccessful Economic Integration Between East, West, and North Guangdong and the PRD
4.1.1. Transportation Factors
4.1.2. Industry Factors
4.2. Potential Applications in International Cases
5. Conclusions
5.1. Major Findings and Suggestions
- At the inter-regional scale, only East Guangdong narrowed its development gap with the PRD region on average. West and North Guangdong widened their development gaps with the PRD on average. The policy interventions have not changed these trends;
- At the intra-regional scale, East Guangdong consistently showed internal divergence with and without the control for policy, industry structure, and year effects. West Guangdong exhibited internal divergence under controls for policy, industrial structure, and year effects, but the internal trend differs from scenarios without these controls. North Guangdong demonstrated convergence among its cities under controls for policy, industrial structure, and year effects, with small variations compared with scenarios without these controls;
- For the town-level units along city borders, five pairs of cities have a decreasing gap in the border regions between PRD cities and cities around the PRD. These pairs of cities include Heyuan–Huizhou, Qingyuan–Foshan, Qingyuan–Guangzhou, Qingyuan–Zhaoqing, and Yunfu–Foshan. This diminishing border effect only occurs in border regions. In the scale of cities, the border effect is still enlarging.
5.2. Limitations
Author Contributions
Funding
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
Abbreviations
PRD | Pearl River Delta |
NTL | Nighttime light |
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By Region | 2000 | 2005 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
PRD | 75.32% | 79.88% | 79.98% | 79.96% | 79.69% | 79.52% | 79.57% |
East | 9.49% | 6.68% | 6.61% | 6.53% | 6.57% | 6.71% | 6.67% |
West | 8.46% | 7.44% | 7.14% | 7.33% | 7.56% | 7.65% | 7.72% |
North | 6.72% | 6.00% | 6.26% | 6.17% | 6.18% | 6.13% | 6.03% |
By Region | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
PRD | 79.49% | 79.91% | 80.05% | 80.37% | 80.48% | 80.76% | 80.83% |
East | 6.70% | 6.63% | 6.68% | 6.51% | 6.52% | 6.43% | 6.37% |
West | 7.76% | 7.50% | 7.30% | 7.26% | 7.21% | 7.03% | 6.99% |
North | 6.06% | 5.96% | 5.96% | 5.86% | 5.79% | 5.77% | 5.82% |
Rankings in 2020 | Cities | Regions | Average NTL Values in 2020 | Rankings in 2013 | Average NTL Values in 2013 | Change in Rankings | Total Growth Rate in NTL Values |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Shantou | East | 220.51 | 1 | 148.24 | − | 48.76% |
2 | Chaozhou | East | 140.03 | 2 | 81.97 | − | 70.83% |
3 | Jieyang | East | 112.33 | 5 | 60.82 | + | 84.70% |
4 | Shanwei | East | 104.53 | 7 | 31.92 | + | 227.43% |
5 | Zhanjiang | West | 88.06 | 3 | 72.24 | − | 21.90% |
6 | Yangjiang | West | 67.03 | 4 | 62.40 | − | 7.42% |
7 | Maoming | West | 59.49 | 6 | 42.48 | − | 40.05% |
8 | Meizhou | North | 40.89 | 11 | 21.06 | + | 94.17% |
9 | Qingyuan | North | 31.91 | 8 | 31.12 | − | 2.53% |
10 | Heyuan | North | 31.85 | 12 | 20.90 | + | 52.42% |
11 | Shaoguan | North | 31.60 | 9 | 25.82 | − | 22.39% |
12 | Yunfu | North | 28.67 | 10 | 23.82 | − | 20.39% |
Pairs of Cities | Zhanjiang - Maoming | Maoming - Yangjiang | Yangjiang - Yunfu | Maoming - Yunfu | Qingyuan - Shaoguan | Shaoguan - Heyuan | Heyuan - Meizhou | Heyuan - Shanwei | Meizhou - Chaozhou | Meizhou - Shanwei | Meizhou - Jieyang | Chaozhou - Shantou | Chaozhou - Jieyang | Jieyang - Shantou | Jieyang - Shanwei |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Constant | −0.0112 * | 0.0610 *** | −0.0262 * | 0.0201 ** | 0.0248 *** | −0.0001 | 0.0030 | −0.2759 *** | −0.0658 *** | −0.1715 *** | −0.1770 *** | −0.1142 *** | −0.0386 *** | −0.0433 *** | 0.0320 *** |
β | −0.6214 *** | −0.5819 *** | −0.5596 *** | −0.5706 *** | −0.4854 *** | −0.4450 *** | −0.3300 *** | −0.2792 *** | −0.3446 *** | −0.2120 *** | −0.3752 *** | −0.5976 *** | −0.5279 *** | −0.6279 *** | −0.4738 *** |
BORDER | 0.0223 ** | −0.1434 *** | 0.0528 ** | −0.0432 *** | −0.0502 *** | 0.0002 | −0.0059 | 0.5957 *** | 0.1510 *** | 0.3836 *** | 0.3560 ** | 0.2312 *** | 0.0829 *** | 0.0878 *** | −0.0674 *** |
R-square | 0.3861 | 0.3461 | 0.3123 | 0.3254 | 0.2364 | 0.1980 | 0.1089 | 0.1436 | 0.1119 | 0.0755 | 0.1477 | 0.3558 | 0.2789 | 0.3887 | 0.2256 |
No. of Samples | 28,203 | 12,403 | 6105 | 14,878 | 19,306 | 22,155 | 22,366 | 12,090 | 13,366 | 14,028 | 20,503 | 7260 | 10,153 | 12,720 | 10,731 |
Pairs of Cities | Heyuan –Huizhou | Qingyuan –Foshan | Qingyuan –Guangzhou | Qingyuan –Zhaoqing | Shanwei –Huizhou | Shaoguan –Guangzhou | Shaoguan –Huizhou | Yangjiang –Jiangmen | Yunfu –Foshan | Yunfu –Jiangmen | Yunfu –Zhaoqing |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Constant | −0.1754 *** | −0.2876 *** | −0.3851 *** | 0.0105 | 0.1432 *** | −0.2344 *** | −0.1912 *** | −0.0066 | −0.2752 *** | −0.0694 *** | 0.0133 |
Β | −0.4804 *** | −0.5817 *** | −0.6862 *** | −0.4675 *** | −0.4217 *** | −0.6816 *** | −0.4101 *** | −0.4143 *** | −0.7381 *** | −0.4610 *** | −0.5174 *** |
BORDER | 0.3582 *** | 0.7215 *** | 0.8483 *** | −0.0212 | −0.2887 *** | 0.4845 *** | 0.3984 *** | 0.0140 | 0.6094 *** | 0.1403 *** | −0.0281 * |
R-square | 0.2111 | 0.3232 | 0.2964 | 0.2185 | 0.2059 | 0.3165 | 0.1767 | 0.1715 | 0.4390 | 0.2091 | 0.2675 |
No. of Samples | 14,706 | 6903 | 30,876 | 18,145 | 8128 | 37,401 | 16,653 | 8385 | 4465 | 10,440 | 14,028 |
(a) | |||
---|---|---|---|
Model (1) | Model (2) | Model (3) | |
β | −0.0515 *** | −0.0423 *** | −0.0424 *** |
North Guangdong | −0.0523 *** | −0.0444 *** | −0.0925 *** |
West Guangdong | −0.0063 | −0.0062 | −0.0143 |
East Guangdong | 0.0617 *** | 0.0604 *** | 0.0778 *** |
Policy | 0.1605 *** | 0.0784 *** | 0.0567 *** |
Secondary Industry | 0.0844 *** | 0.0125 | 0.0135 |
Tertiary Industry | 0.1425 *** | 0.0535 ** | 0.0547 ** |
North×Policy | - | - | 0.0840 *** |
West×Policy | - | - | 0.0140 |
East×Policy | - | - | −0.0305 *** |
City effect | (random) | (random) | (random) |
Year effect | (random) | (controlled) | (controlled) |
Constant | 0.0881 *** | 0.1816 *** | 0.1935 *** |
(b) | |||
Model (4) | |||
β | −0.0525 *** | ||
Policy | 0.1039 *** | ||
Secondary Industry | 0.0551 | ||
Tertiary Industry | 0.2082 ** | ||
Yunfu | 0.0509 *** | ||
Meizhou | 0.0821 *** | ||
Heyuan | 0.0607 *** | ||
Shaoguan | 0.0180 | ||
Year effect | (controlled) | ||
Constant | 0.0079 | ||
(c) | |||
Model (5) | |||
β | −0.0476 *** | ||
Policy | 0.0135 | ||
Secondary Industry | 0.0358 | ||
Tertiary Industry | −0.0738 | ||
Jieyang | −0.0231 * | ||
Shanwei | 0.0304 ** | ||
Chaozhou | −0.0320 *** | ||
Year effect | (controlled) | ||
Constant | 0.3397 *** | ||
(d) | |||
Model (6) | |||
β | −0.0430 *** | ||
Policy | 0.1238 *** | ||
Secondary Industry | −0.0382 | ||
Tertiary Industry | −0.0341 | ||
Maoming | 0.0014 | ||
Yangjiang | −0.0457 *** | ||
Year effect | (controlled) | ||
Constant | 0.3397 *** |
Pairs of Cities | Zhanjiang - Maoming | Maoming - Yangjiang | Yangjiang- Yunfu | Maoming - Yunfu | Qingyuan - Shaoguan | Shaoguan - Heyuan | Heyuan - Meizhou | Heyuan - Shanwei | Meizhou - Chaozhou | Meizhou - Shanwei | Meizhou - Jieyang | Chaozhou - Shantou | Chaozhou - Jieyang | Jieyang - Shantou | Jieyang - Shanwei |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
β | −0.622 *** | −0.583 *** | −0.560 *** | −0.570 *** | −0.485 *** | −0.445 *** | −0.330 *** | −0.279 *** | −0.344 *** | −0.212 *** | −0.375 *** | −0.598 *** | −0.528 *** | −0.628 *** | −0.473 *** |
BORDER | 0.023 ** | −0.140 *** | 0.053 ** | −0.044 *** | −0.052 *** | 0.000 | −0.006 | 0.596 *** | 0.150 *** | 0.384 *** | 0.357 *** | 0.232 *** | 0.083 *** | 0.087 *** | −0.073 *** |
MARGIN | −0.076 | −0.200 ** | −0.020 | 0.057 | 0.159 ** | −0.078 | 0.009 | −0.006 | 0.132 | −0.305 | −0.115 | −0.041 | −0.049 | 0.035 | 0.200 *** |
R-square | 0.3861 | 0.3463 | 0.3123 | 0.3255 | 0.2366 | 0.198 | 0.1089 | 0.1436 | 0.1119 | 0.0755 | 0.1478 | 0.3558 | 0.2789 | 0.3887 | 0.2261 |
No. of Samples | 28,203 | 12,403 | 6105 | 14,878 | 19,306 | 22,155 | 22,366 | 12,090 | 13,366 | 14,028 | 20,503 | 7260 | 10,153 | 12,720 | 10,731 |
Pairs of Cities | Heyuan - Huizhou | Qingyuan - Foshan | Qingyuan - Guangzhou | Qingyuan - Zhaoqing | Shanwei - Huizhou | Shaoguan - Guangzhou | Shaoguan - Huizhou | Yangjiang - Jiangmen | Yunfu - Foshan | Yunfu - Jiangmen | Yunfu - Zhaoqing |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
β | −0.4813 *** | −0.5823 *** | −0.6888 *** | −0.4679 *** | −0.4217 *** | −0.6817 *** | −0.4103 *** | −0.4140 *** | −0.7400 *** | −0.4610 *** | −0.5166 *** |
BORDER | 0.3615 *** | 0.7231 *** | 0.8541 *** | −0.0189 | −0.2894 *** | 0.4847 *** | 0.3990 *** | 0.0157 | 0.6135 *** | 0.1406 *** | −0.0315 ** |
MARGIN | −0.1301 * | −0.5800 * | −0.6546 *** | −0.1731 ** | 0.0834 | −0.3664 | −0.4505 | −0.2235 | −1.6419 *** | −0.0870 | 0.1711 ** |
R-square | 0.2112 | 0.3235 | 0.2971 | 0.2187 | 0.2059 | 0.3165 | 0.1768 | 0.1717 | 0.4408 | 0.2091 | 0.2678 |
No. of Samples | 14,706 | 6903 | 30,876 | 18,145 | 8128 | 37,401 | 16,653 | 8385 | 4465 | 10,440 | 14,028 |
PRD | East Guangdong | West Guangdong | North Guangdong | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Net Inflow intra Province | Net Inflow inter Province | Net Inflow intra Province | Net Inflow inter Province | Net Inflow intra Province | Net Inflow inter Province | Net Inflow intra Province | Net Inflow inter Province | |
2013 | 53,750 | 191,742 | −2474 | −4633 | −9492 | −6918 | −26,098 | 5582 |
2014 | 99,486 | 178,122 | −1127 | 13,494 | −13,675 | 526 | −19,831 | −5119 |
2015 | 96,136 | 148,684 | −31,749 | −9002 | −24,925 | −28,861 | −30,993 | −39,536 |
2016 | 162,208 | 250,798 | −115,659 | −49,332 | −39,285 | −6599 | −56,949 | −510 |
2017 | 293,122 | 456,893 | −87,934 | −7474 | −71,538 | −14,723 | −95,627 | −944 |
2018 | 395,932 | 638,148 | −139,745 | −9013 | −85,815 | −9899 | −142,763 | 3076 |
2019 | 380,660 | 606,958 | −120,277 | −6784 | −90,394 | −9997 | −129,074 | 3408 |
2020 | 335,650 | 542,869 | −108,930 | −9029 | −70,120 | −7423 | −114,888 | 10,356 |
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Zhong, J.; Li, X. Regional Economic Integration Around a Large Urban Agglomeration: A Case Study of Regions Around the Pearl River Delta from the Perspective of Nighttime Light. Land 2025, 14, 1645. https://doi.org/10.3390/land14081645
Zhong J, Li X. Regional Economic Integration Around a Large Urban Agglomeration: A Case Study of Regions Around the Pearl River Delta from the Perspective of Nighttime Light. Land. 2025; 14(8):1645. https://doi.org/10.3390/land14081645
Chicago/Turabian StyleZhong, Jiawei, and Xun Li. 2025. "Regional Economic Integration Around a Large Urban Agglomeration: A Case Study of Regions Around the Pearl River Delta from the Perspective of Nighttime Light" Land 14, no. 8: 1645. https://doi.org/10.3390/land14081645
APA StyleZhong, J., & Li, X. (2025). Regional Economic Integration Around a Large Urban Agglomeration: A Case Study of Regions Around the Pearl River Delta from the Perspective of Nighttime Light. Land, 14(8), 1645. https://doi.org/10.3390/land14081645