Evolution of the spatiotemporal pattern of urban industrial land use efficiency in China

Abstract

Along with the globally increasing concern for environmental sustainability, improving urban industrial land use efficiency (UILUE) is critically important for China's development trajectory. However, the existent studies on UILUE in China are mainly conducted at the provincial level, which significantly undermines their value for tailoring practical policy formulations for lower-level governments. To fill this gap, this paper aims to investigate the spatial and temporal pattern of UILUE in China at the prefectural level, examining the underpinning influential factors for the period 2000-2014. Employing the means of spatial autocorrelation and regression, it is found that UILUE in China has improved significantly over the past decade in general but is also accompanied by significant spatial variations. UILUE is positively related to the agglomeration of industries, labour, capital, and technology, in which technology has fundamental effects upon the other factors. It is suggested to policy makers that government policy interventions should be placed predominantly upon technology regulation, i.e., setting admittance criterion for foreign direct investment (FDI), and industrial investment. For future studies, consistent efforts ought to be exerted to examine UILUE at and even under the prefectural level to achieve better understanding among academics and policy practitioners.