Examining the Overall and Heterogeneous Impacts of Urban Spatial Structure on Carbon Emissions: A Case Study of Guangdong Province, China

Abstract

The variation in the urban spatial structure (USS) has profound impacts on carbon emissions. Studying the relationship between the two can provide guidance for carbon neutrality strategies and the construction of low-carbon cities in China. However, there is currently a lack of comparative research on the different regions within a province. In this paper, the spatiotemporal evolution of the USS and carbon emissions, at five-year intervals from 2000 to 2020, is investigated in 21 prefecture-level cities in Guangdong Province, China, and the overall relationship of the USS to carbon emissions and their spatiotemporal variations are analyzed by using a two-way fixed-effects model and a geographically and temporally weighted regression model, respectively. The results show that, first, over the past twenty years, the scale of cities has continued to expand, with increasing continuity and aggregation in the built-up areas, while the complexity and fragmentation of their shapes have gradually decreased. Second, the gap in carbon emissions between the Pearl River Delta and other regions in Guangdong shows a trend of first decreasing and then increasing, with high values concentrated in the Pearl River Delta region and the city of Shantou in the east. Third, compared to socio-economic factors, the USS has a more direct and pronounced impact on carbon emissions. Urban expansion and the increased complexity of land patches promote carbon emissions, whereas improving urban spatial continuity and compactness can reduce carbon emissions. Fourth, the dominant spatial structure indicators of carbon emissions differ among the regions of eastern, western, and northern Guangdong and the Pearl River Delta. This study proposes spatial optimization strategies for the low-carbon development of cities in Guangdong Province, providing a new perspective for integrating urban layout and emission reduction policies.