Search Results (240)

Analyzing the spatiotemporal evolution and drivers of multifunctional territorial spatial utilization efficiency (TSE) is essential for guiding the sustainable use of territorial space. This study develops an evaluation system integrating urban, agricultural, and ecological spatial utilization, and investigates the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) from 2000 to 2023 using kernel density estimation and the XGBoost–SHAP model. The main findings are as follows: (1) TSE in the YRD exhibits a sustained upward trajectory and a distinct east–west gradient. At the sub-dimensional scale, urban spatial utilization efficiency is clustered in southeastern core cities, agricultural spatial utilization efficiency is concentrated in the central transition zone, and ecological spatial utilization efficiency is highest in the northern areas. (2) The overall regional disparity in multifunctional TSE shows a fluctuating yet declining trend, indicating a gradual reduction in spatial inequality. The inter-provincial imbalance in development is identified as the primary cause of spatial differentiation in the YRD. (3) Topography, economic density, and population density are the leading determinants of TSE, while their interactions with socioeconomic variables generate nonlinear effects on efficiency improvement. These conclusions provide empirical support for spatial planning and efficiency-oriented territorial governance in the YRD. Full article

Against the backdrop of China’s “dual carbon” strategy and regional integration, enhancing green innovation efficiency (GIE) has become a core issue for the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration (YRDUA) in achieving sustainable and high-quality development. This study employs the Super EBM model to measure the GIE of 41 cities in the YRDUA from 2012 to 2022 and further integrates a modified gravity model with social network analysis to uncover the structural complexity and spatial directionality of its spatial association network. In addition, the Exponential Random Graph Model (ERGM) is applied to explore the formation mechanisms of the green innovation efficiency network. Results show the following: (1) GIE presents a fluctuating upward trend, with the mean rising from 0.747 in 2012 to 0.906 in 2022 and disparities gradually narrowing, but provincial gradients persist, implying potential “Matthew effect” risks. (2) Network density continues to increase, with S-density rising from 0.0061 in 2012 to 0.0335 in 2022; supporting and basic connections serve as key drivers of network complexity, whereas the significant decline of edge connections may weaken the network’s extensibility. (3) Node connections display preference and attachment, causing polarization; transitivity and triadic cooperation rise markedly, increasing by 41.89% and 40.86%, respectively, reflecting strong self-organization. (4) Reciprocity and agglomeration drive network formation, and economic and technological differences promote it, while disparities in innovation input and government roles vary across periods. Geographic distance hinders formation, though its effect is weakening. These findings enhance the methodological approaches to sustainability research and provide insights for optimizing regional cooperation and advancing green integration in the YRDUA. Full article

Urban inefficient land redevelopment (UILR) is crucial for sustainable urban development, yet its progress is driven by the interplay of multiple factors. To systematically uncover the driving mechanisms and dynamic patterns of these factors, an integrated analytical approach combining Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and Fuzzy Cognitive Map (FCM) is developed in this study. Based on 222 valid survey responses from professionals across eight cities in China’s Yangtze River Delta region, five key factors are identified within the “drivers–pressure–enablers” conceptual framework: economic incentives, environmental objectives, social needs, policy guidance, and implementation conditions. SEM is first employed to examine static causal relationships, and the quantified pathway effects are subsequently incorporated into an FCM model to simulate the long-term evolution. The results reveal the following: (i) All five factors exert significant direct effects, with economic incentives, environmental objectives, and policy guidance also demonstrating notable indirect effects. (ii) The factors exhibit distinct temporal characteristics: policy guidance acts as a “fast variable” enabling short-term breakthroughs; economic incentives serve as a “strong variable” driving medium-term progress; and social needs function as a “slow variable” with long-term benefits. (iii) Policy guidance is essential, as its absence leads to persistently low effectiveness, while its synergy with implementation conditions can achieve satisfactory performance even without economic incentives. The combined SEM–FCM approach validates static hypotheses and simulates dynamic scenarios, offering a new perspective for analyzing complex driving mechanisms of UILR and providing practical insights for targeted redevelopment strategy design. Full article

Understanding the spatial dynamics of China’s marine economic geography is essential for sustainable coastal development and marine spatial governance. This study examines the spatial distribution patterns and influencing factors of spatial differentiation in China’s marine economy from 2013 to 2023, utilizing AI techniques to facilitate multi-source data fusion and employing a Random Forest analytical method. The research was integrated with AI-based web-scraping, automated data-cleaning procedures, multi-source data preprocessing, Min–Max normalization, and Random Forest regression to accomplish multi-source data fusion and factor-importance analysis. Kernel density estimation, global Moran’s I, Getis-Ord Gi* statistics, and buffer zone analysis were employed to characterize spatial heterogeneity across coastal, island, and maritime economic zones, while Spearman’s correlation was used to quantify the relationships of influencing factors. Results indicate that China’s marine economy exhibits a pronounced “south–hot–north–cold and east–strong–west–weak” spatial gradient, with high-value clusters concentrated in the Bohai Rim, Yangtze River Delta, and Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area. The coastal zone economy accounts for over 65% of the national marine GDP and acts as the dominant driver of spatial agglomeration. Policy implications suggest strengthening cross-regional industrial cooperation and optimizing spatial planning to enhance marine economic resilience and sustainability. Full article

Focusing on traditional dwellings in China’s Yangtze River Delta, this study integrates physical environment measurement and computer simulation to quantify the influence of spatial morphological parameters on the daylighting environment and analyze its temporal dynamic adaptation throughout the year. Moreover, by exploring the dynamic interaction between the daylighting environment and the dwellers’ behavior patterns, it elucidates how traditional spaces, through light, guide and support a specific lifestyle, and how this interaction, combined with regional aesthetic concepts and cultural traditions, fosters a unique culture of light. Based on the findings, the following conclusions can be drawn: (1) spatially, traditional dwellings adopt a synergetic daylighting mechanism, which is collectively determined by the morphological parameters of the south sky-well, the deployment of north crab eye sky-wells, and the coordination of orientation, depth, and window type; (2) temporally, traditional dwellings exhibit a dynamic daylighting regulation mechanism realized by the reasonable design and combination of spatial and interface components, and they precisely balance the light and thermal needs in different seasons; (3) the temporal daylighting regulation guides the dwellers to form a behavior sequence that is synchronized with natural rhythms, thereby shaping human behavior and local culture in the regions; (4) the daylighting environment in traditional dwellings satisfies the demand for practical functions, embodying the organic integration between technical rationality and humanistic spirit. In summary, from the perspectives of spatial layout, seasonal adaptation, behavior guidance, and cultural expression, this research clarifies the characteristics, formation mechanism, and implicit relationship with local culture of the daylighting environment in traditional dwellings in the Yangtze River Delta. It provides a new perspective for understanding the ecological adaptability of regional traditional architecture and offers valuable insights and references for the development of green architecture nowadays. Full article

The urban–rural relationships in China are experiencing a dual structure period, balancing an urban–rural development period and coordinated urban–rural development period, and urban–rural integrated development has become the current strategy. Urban–rural integrated development has become an important measure to address the unbalanced development between urban and rural areas. Despite proactive explorations by governments at various levels to promote integrated urban–rural development, the anticipated outcomes remain difficult to achieve due to multiple constraints, such as inefficient flow of production factors and unequal provision of basic public services between urban and rural areas. There is an urgent need to re-examine how to advance deeper urban–rural integration from the perspective of collaborative governance. Taking the Yangtze River Delta region as a case study, this research reviews related policy documents, official texts, and development plans regarding urban–rural integrated development, social (urban–rural community) collaborative governance, and urban development at the central and regional levels in recent years. Meanwhile, this study interviews experts in the field of public administration and government officials, and visits the experimental area and demonstration area of integrated development in the Yangtze River Delta region. Through grounded theory method and multi-level coding, concepts, initial categories, main categories are clear, and six core categories in total are identified: policy planning capability, public participation, participation of non-governmental organization, openness of government information, supervision and evaluation, and implementation capacity. This bottom-up construction of the theoretical framework serves as an extension and enrichment of collaborative governance theory. Based on the six core elements identified through the research, the Yangtze River Delta region may implement targeted policy adjustments across these dimensions to enhance the effectiveness of collaborative governance, and it may provide referential insights for urban–rural development practices in other regions. Full article

In China’s rapidly urbanizing coastal areas, inclusive green development (IGD) has become an important way to achieve a reduction in economic development disparities, environmental sustainability, and social equity. This study investigates the spatiotemporal dynamics and structural drivers of IGD across 54 coastal cities within three marine economic zones (MEZs) using a hybrid analytical framework that integrates evaluation techniques, inequality decomposition, spatial factor detection, and spatial econometrics. The result shows that a distinctive “four-pillar” spatial structure has emerged, centered on the Shandong Peninsula, Yangtze River Delta (YRD), West Coast of the Taiwan Strait, and Pearl River Delta (PRD). Spatial autocorrelation has intensified since 2020, indicating the cumulative effect of China’s post-2020 regional integration policies and digital infrastructure investments, which accelerated resource flows between cities. Spatial econometric analysis further reveals that economic development and equitable public service provision are the most influential drivers, while public investment in R&D and digital transformation exhibit significant cross-city spillover effects. The findings highlight the importance of regionally adaptive and digitally integrated strategies to promote inclusive and sustainable urban development in coastal economies. Therefore, efforts should be intensified to strengthen the role of core cities as diffusion engines for neighboring areas, with a strategic focus on regional digital transformation and R&D investment, to advance inclusive and sustainable development in coastal economies. Full article

Enhancing corporate green innovation has become a critical question in the context of sustainable development. Prior studies have predominantly examined the macro-level effects of regional integration while largely overlooking its micro-level impacts on enterprises. This study aims to examine the institutional effect of regional integration on corporate green innovation. Taking the Yangtze River Delta integration as a quasi-natural experiment, we utilize panel data from A-share listed companies between 2003 and 2022 and apply a multi-period difference-in-differences method. The empirical results reveal that regional integration significantly enhances corporate green innovation, with a more pronounced effect for non-state-owned firms, large firms, and those located in non-corridor cities. Mechanism analyses further reveal that regional integration promotes corporate green innovation by alleviating financing constraints and attracting foreign direct investment. By identifying regional integration as a critical driver of corporate green innovation, this study broadens the research perspective on corporate green innovation and provides policy implications for promoting sustainability through coordinated regional development strategies. Full article

Enhancing green development efficiency (GDE) is of great significance in achieving regional green transition. Against the backdrop of rapid advancements in digital technology, digital–real economy integration (DRI) opens a new avenue for enhancing GDE. This research develops a theoretical analytical framework to analyze the influence of DRI on GDE. It employs panel data from 41 cities in China’s Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration (YRDUA) spanning from 2011 to 2023 to develop a series of econometric models that empirically examine the impact of DRI on GDE and its underlying mechanisms. Research has demonstrated that the degree of DRI varies by region across the YRDUA, with a pattern of decreasing from east to west. Empirical results confirm that DRI development significantly boosts GDE in the YRDUA. Mechanism tests reveal that DRI indirectly enhances GDE through industrial structure optimization, green technological progress, and resource allocation efficiency. Moderation effects indicate that industrial collaborative agglomeration (ICA) significantly amplifies DRI’s positive impact on GDE. Further analysis indicates that the positive impact of DRI on GDE is only significant in low-carbon pilot cities and non-resource-based cities. Moreover, ICA exhibits a single-threshold effect: when regional ICA exceeds 2.0048, DRI’s impact on GDE demonstrates diminishing marginal returns. These findings not only give a realistic roadmap for accomplishing regional green transformation but also offer empirical evidence for policymakers to make scientific policies, adapt to local conditions, and appropriately promote ICA. This approach fully leverages the benefits of DRI, thereby advancing the economy toward sustainable development. Full article

China’s sinuous coastline is increasingly threatened by land subsidence driven by complex geological conditions and intensive human activity. Using year-round Sentinel-1A acquisitions for 2023 and SBAS-InSAR processing, we generated the first millimetre-resolution subsidence velocity field covering the 50 km coastal buffer of mainland China. We elucidated subsidence patterns and their drivers and quantified the associated socio-economic risks by integrating 1 km GDP and population data. Our analysis shows that ~55.77% of the coastal zone is subsiding, exposing 97.42 million residents and CNY 16.41 billion of GDP. Four hotspots—Laizhou Bay, northern Jiangsu, the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) and the Pearl River Delta (PRD)—exhibit the most pronounced deformation. Over-extraction of groundwater is identified as the primary driver. The 15 m resolution subsidence product provides an up-to-date, high-precision dataset that effectively supports sustainable development research in coastal hazard prevention, territorial spatial planning, and sea-level rise studies. Full article

The exploration of the ecosystem service value of rural tourism destinations and their driving factors is regarded as an important approach for promoting the high-quality development of rural tourism and achieving rural revitalization. At present, both industry and academia lack quantitative analyses and integrated optimization approaches for small-scale landscape elements within the context of rural tourism destinations. An examination of rural ecosystem service values from a small-scale perspective can assist rural areas in precisely enhancing ecological functions, advancing rural landscape construction, and fostering high-quality rural development. Six sample sites within rural tourism areas in the Yangtze River Delta region were selected, and the functional value method, willingness-to-pay method, and binary logistic regression model were comprehensively applied to assess ecosystem service values and their influencing factors. The results indicate that: (1) Significant differences exist in ecosystem service values across small-scale rural landscapes, primarily attributable to variations in cultural service values, which constitute the dominant component of the overall value. (2) Cultural service values are manifested in tourists’ willingness to pay, which is closely associated with the configuration types of rural small-scale landscapes. (3) Tourists’ willingness to pay is primarily influenced by their cognition of cultural services and by psychological perception factors. According to the regression results, perceived importance of cultural service protection, concerns regarding damage, levels of tourist satisfaction, and willingness to revisit exert significant negative effects on willingness to pay. (4) High-demand tourism motives exhibit only a weak correlation with willingness to pay. (5) Low-demand motivations significantly suppress willingness to pay. The conclusions serve as a reference for the quantification of small-scale rural landscape values and the examination of mechanisms underlying their multiple influencing factors, as well as for the optimization of rural landscape planning, design, and sustainable management practices. Full article

Water, energy, and food (WEF) constitute the core strategic resources essential for regional sustainable development, and the governance of the WEF system holds critical significance for the Central Area of the Yangtze River Delta (caYRD)—one of China’s most economically dynamic regions. In this area, however, the potential risks associated with insufficient WEF synergy capacity have become increasingly prominent amid continuous population growth and rapid urbanization. Against this backdrop, this study aimed to evaluate the WEF synergy capacity of 27 prefecture-level cities (PLCs) in the caYRD over the period 2005–2023 using the Projection Pursuit Model (PPM), based on an evaluation framework encompassing 12 indicators. Our results revealed that (1) the WEF system exhibits significant spatiotemporal heterogeneity, which is evident not only in the water resource, energy resource, and food resource subsystems but also in the overall WEF synergy capacity. In the water subsystem, Wenzhou and Ma’anshan achieved the highest and lowest PPM evaluation scores, respectively; in the energy subsystem, Zhoushan and Shanghai recorded the highest and lowest scores, respectively; and in the food subsystem, Yancheng and Zhoushan ranked first and last in terms of PPM scores, respectively. (2) For the integrated WEF synergy capacity evaluation, Yancheng obtained the highest score, whereas Shanghai ranked the lowest; additionally, Chuzhou exhibited the largest fluctuation range in scores, while Taizhou (Jiangsu) exhibited the smallest fluctuation range. (3) Subsequently, based on the PPM evaluation values of WEF synergy capacity, the 27 PLCs were clustered into three groups: the High WEF synergy capacity value cluster, which includes Yancheng and Chuzhou; the Low WEF synergy capacity value cluster, which consists of Shanghai and Suzhou; and the Mid-level WEF synergy capacity value cluster, which comprises the remaining 22 PLCs and is further subdivided into three sub-clusters. The cluster results of WEF synergy capacity imply that special attention to the consumption control of WEF resources is required for different PLCs. The variations in WEF synergy capacity and its spatial distribution patterns provide critical insights for formulating region-specific strategies to optimize the WEF system, which is of great significance for supporting sustainable development decision-making in the caYRD. Full article

Amid the deep integration of China’s “dual-carbon” goals with regional coordinated development strategies, this study develops a multidimensional analytical framework of regional integration based on panel data from 41 prefecture-level cities in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration from 2009 to 2023. The framework encompasses five dimensions: urban–rural integration, innovation coordination, infrastructure connectivity, ecological co-governance, and public service sharing. Using structural equation modeling (SEM), the study empirically investigates the mechanisms and pathways through which regional integration shapes low-carbon development. The results indicate that different dimensions exert differentiated impacts: urban–rural integration and infrastructure connectivity significantly promote low-carbon development, whereas public service sharing has an adverse effect due to a phenomenon known as “carbon lock-in”. By contrast, the impact of innovation coordination and ecological co-governance is not statistically significant. Moreover, substantial regional heterogeneity exists: Jiangsu Province demonstrates the leading performance in the manifest development level; Zhejiang Province shows strong systemic capacity level, but limited conversion into manifest outcomes. At the same time, most cities in Anhui Province lag in both aspects. Coordination analysis further identifies four typical development patterns: dual-high, system-driven, performance-dominant, and dual-low. Drawing on these findings, this study proposes policy recommendations across four dimensions—regional coordination, low-carbon pathway optimization, targeted empowerment, and collaborative governance—to facilitate the green and low-carbon transition of the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration. Full article

The interactive coupling mechanism between ecosystem service value (ESV) and urbanization has emerged as a critical research focus in ecological security and sustainable development. This study quantifies the ESV of prefecture-level cities by leveraging remote sensing data and socioeconomic statistics from the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region spanning 2006—2020. It constructs a multidimensional evaluation index system for urbanization. We systematically assess both systems’ spatiotemporal evolution and interactions by employing entropy weighting, comprehensive indexing, and coupling coordination models. Furthermore, Geo-detectors and Geographical and Temporal Weighted Regression (GTWR) models are applied to identify driving factors influencing their coordinated development. Key findings include (1) the total amount of ESV in the YRD exhibits a fluctuating decline, primarily due to a steady increase in urbanization levels; (2) the coordination degree between ESV and urbanization demonstrates phased growth, transitioning to a “basic coordination” stage post-2009; (3) spatially, coordination patterns follow a “core–periphery” hierarchy, marked by radial diffusion and gradient disparities, with most cities being of the ESV-guidance type; (4) GTWR analysis reveals spatiotemporal heterogeneity in driving factors, ranked by intensity as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) > Economic density (ECON) > Degree of openness (OPEN) > Scientific and technological level (TECH) > Industrial structure upgrading index (ISUI) > Government investment efforts (GOV). This study advances methodological frameworks for analyzing ecosystem–urbanization interactions in metropolitan regions, while offering empirical support for ecological planning, dynamic redline adjustments, and territorial spatial optimization in the YRD, particularly within the Ecological Green Integrated Development Demonstration Zone. Full article

As regional integration accelerates globally, green development has emerged as a pivotal imperative for reconciling economic growth with environmental sustainability. This study employs a Difference-in-Differences framework incorporating city and year fixed effects to examine the impact of regional integration on green development efficiency in China’s Yangtze River Delta. The empirical findings reveal that regional integration significantly undermines green development efficiency, a conclusion corroborated by rigorous robustness checks including parallel trends and placebo tests. Mechanism analysis demonstrates that trade openness and digital economy development function as partial mediating channels that modestly attenuate the direct adverse effect of regional integration, whereas the decline in secondary industry agglomeration amplifies the negative impact. Notably, innovation capability has yet to fully unlock its potential for green transformation, it intensifies the negative effects of regional integration across all three mediating mechanisms. Building on these findings, this study proposes policy recommendations including strengthening multi-level green governance frameworks, integrating ecological compensation and carbon trading systems, advancing low-carbon trade structures, promoting the synergistic development of digitalization and green transformation, facilitating the green transition of secondary industries, and reinforcing green technology innovation. These insights provide empirical evidence and policy references for achieving coherence between regional integration and sustainable development objectives. Full article