A road to sustainable development of Chinese cities: A perception of improving urban management efficiency based on two-level production factors

Abstract

It is an inevitable requirement of regional governance and sustainable development to improve urban management efficiency (UME). Different from the previous studies, this paper gives it a new meaning based on the production factors theories. Then the paper analyzes the response of UME to the primary production factors (PPFs) characterized by the traditional production factors theory (land, labor, and capital), and the expanded production factors (EPFs) reflected by the modern production factors theory (energy and ecology). By analyzing UME in China's 334 cities on global and local scales, this paper found four characteristics of UME: (1) the striking spatial differences; (2) the strong correlation between management models; (3) the evident development emphasis; and (4) the weak matching linkage. Finally, we put forward the countermeasures of spatial governance, including strengthening the agglomeration effect, promoting diversified development models on different scales, and accelerating resource coordination and sharing.