Regional Differences and Convergence Characteristics of Urban Ecological Efficiency in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, China

Abstract

Abstract A scientific understanding of the regional differences and convergence characteristics of urban ecological efficiency (UEE) is critical in realizing sustainable green regional development. This study investigated regional differences, evolution trends, and the convergence characteristics of UEE based on panel data on urban administrative units in the Yangtze River economic belt (YREB) from 2004 to 2018, using the super efficiency slacks-based measure(SBM)model, spatial econometric models, and spatial convergence models. Our results include three main findings. First, over the past 14 years, the average value of UEE in the YREB has shown a fluctuating downward trend, with a cumulative decrease of 12.9%. From a zoning perspective, UEE changes from high to low from downstream, to midstream, and upstream regions. Second, UEE in the YREB does not exist in the σ convergence, while the annual difference in UEE increased, with there being significant absolute β convergence as a whole. Third, driven by population scale, economic development level, land urbanization rate, transportation development level, industrial structure, and the level of economic opening, there was significant conditional β convergence for UEE in the YREB; however, the convergence rate of each section was significantly different. In future, the government should hasten the construction of an efficient and fast transportation network, selectively introduce foreign funds, and make use of the spillover effect to improve UEE in order to realize sustainable green development in the YREB.