Does the Construction and Operation of High-Speed Rail Improve Urban Land Use Efficiency? Evidence from China

Abstract

The construction and operation of high-speed rail (HSR) has become an important policy for China to achieve efficiency and fairness and promote high-quality economic growth. HSR promotes the flow of production factors such as labor and capital and affects economic growth, and may further affect urban land use efficiency (ULUE). To explore the impact of HSR on ULUE, this paper uses panel data of 284 cities in China from 2005 to 2018, and constructs Propensity Score Matching-Differences in Differences model to evaluate the effect of HSR on ULUE. The result of entire China demonstrates that the HSR could significantly improves the ULUE. Meanwhile, this paper also considers the heterogeneity of results caused by geographic location, urban levels and scales. It demonstrates that the HSR has a significantly positive effect on ULUE of Eastern, Central China, and large-sized cities. However, in Western China, in medium-sized, and small-sized cities, the impact of HSR on ULUE is not significant. This paper concludes that construction and operation of HSR should be linked to urban development planning and land use planning. Meanwhile, the cities with different geographical locations and scales should take advantage of HSR to improve ULUE and promote urban coordinated development.

Performance evaluation, environmental regulation, and urban land green use efficiency: Evidence from China

“…Hypothesis 1 is verified. This is consistent with the findings of Zhang et al, He and An, Liu et al 72–74 (for methods and findings refer to Appendix ). Based on the regression results in column (7) of Table 4, we can see that the regression coefficient of environmental regulation on ULGUE is 6.408, indicating that environmental regulation increased by 1% can improve ULGUE by 6.408%.…”

Dynamic Evolution and the Mechanism behind the Coupling Coordination Relationship between Industrial Integration and Urban Land-Use Efficiency: A Case Study of the Yangtze River Economic Zone in China

“…Furthermore, urban infrastructure, especially transport infrastructure in urban fringe areas, will be notably improved. Additionally, traffic accessibility can significantly reduce the commuting cost in cities and improve the output efficiency of urban land use by enhancing labor productivity [46]. On the other hand, the inelastic nature of land supply and the need for food security and environmental protection hinder the limitless expansion of industrial land.…”

High-Speed Rail and Urban Growth Disparity: Evidence from China

“…Although the impact of HSR has been studied extensively, previous works have largely focused on comparing the spatial configurations in HSR networks, airline networks, or inter-city coach networks [15,16] or have discussed the effects of HSR on housing and land prices [17,18]; access, connectivity, and centrality [19,20]; aviation [21]; urban growth [22]; land-use efficiency [23,24]; regional equity [25]; city size [26]; knowledge spillover [27]; innovation performance [28]; CO2 emissions [29]; entrepreneurship [30]; ecological environment pressure [31]; and regional economic sustainability [32]. Existing studies have ignored the effects of HSR on the growth disparity within and across cities.…”