Heterogeneous Effects of Urban Sprawl on Economic Development: Empirical Evidence from China

Abstract

Identifying the effects of urban sprawl on urban development is of strategic importance. This study takes 285 prefecture-level and above cities in China as research samples and empirically analyzes the heterogeneous impact of urban sprawl on economic development from 2009 to 2018. Results indicate the threshold effect of urban sprawl on economic development. That is, moderate urban sprawl has a significantly positive influence on economic development, whereas excessive urban sprawl has a significantly negative impact on economic development. The empirical analysis also identifies heterogeneities in the effects of urban sprawl on economic development. Compared with the sprawls of small- and medium-sized cities, those of large cities have a greater negative impact on economic development. Compared with the sprawls of cities dominated by the tertiary industry, those of cities dominated by the secondary industry have a greater negative impact on economic development. Findings of this study have important policy implications for scientific urban expansion, reasonable urban spatial layout, and sustainable urban economic development.

The impact of urban sprawl on green total factor productivity: A spatial econometric analysis in China

“…The direct effect of urban sprawl on GTFP is negative at the 5% significance level in the central, western and northeastern regions. The reason is that the central areas of most cities within these regions are still in the agglomeration phase and urban sprawl is not conducive to the development of agglomeration economies (Zhang et al, 2022), thus having a dampening effect on GTFP. The direct effect of urban sprawl on GTFP is significantly positive in the eastern region.…”

“…Urban sprawl is a significant problem in urban development because it occurs when the rate of land development surpasses the rate of population growth. This can result in a low-density, mono-regional, and self-sufficient urban form (Tian et al, 2017;Zhang et al, 2022). Urban sprawl is a common phenomenon in both developed and developing countries (Wang et al, 2020).…”

Urban Sprawl and Haze Pollution: Based on Raster Data of Haze PM2.5 Concentrations in 283 Cities in Mainland China

“…The expansion of built-up area has a significant positive effect on urban haze pollution, but unlike population size, the secondary indicator of built-up area does not have a significant effect on haze pollution, indicating that the impact of urban area expansion on haze pollution is mainly monotonic and increasing. Possible reasons are that, on the one hand, the expansion of built-up areas will generate a large number of pollution sources, and also crowd the surrounding agricultural land, wetlands and woodlands, etc., breaking the ecological balance and reducing the ability of the environment to recover itself, on the other hand, the urbanization of people in China obviously lags behind the urbanization of land, and the continuous expansion of built-up areas further increases the problem of incompatible development between the two, indirectly aggravating haze pollution (Li et al, 2021;Zhang et al, 2022).…”

“…Consequently, we introduce a quadratic term of urbanization to explore it. In addition, the Chinses urbanization is characterized by lagging population urbanization, over-urbanization of land, and an incoordination between population and land in urbanization (Zhang et al, 2022). And this incoordination would even affect the relationship of urbanization and pollution.…”

Measurement of Sprawl Effect Based on Urban Growth Trends and Prediction in Kedungkandang District, Malang City

“…Urban sprawl, in detail is defined as the product of uncontrolled growth in the suburbs of the city center caused by development that is not part of planned area, resulting in the spread of built up area to the suburbs compared to grouping together in the city center [9]. Urban sprawl often occurs because of a dynamic, when the high growth of built-up land is not matched by high population growth, so it becomes a major concern in urban development [10]. According to Noor & Rosni (2013) and Huang, Huang and Liu (2019), urban sprawl has become one of the impacts of uncontrolled urban growth and resulted in various social, economic, and environmental problems [11] [12].…”