The Spatio-Temporal Pattern of Regional Coordinated Development in the Common Prosperity Demonstration Zone—Evidence from Zhejiang Province

Abstract

Achieving common prosperity is the essential requirement of socialism and promoting regional coordinated development (RCD) is an important path to achieving common prosperity. This study uses data from Zhejiang Province from 2011 to 2020, a demonstration zone of common prosperity, to construct an evaluation model of RCD, assess the regional development level and coordinated development degree, and then analyze the regional differences and spatial correlation pattern of RCD. The following results were obtained: (1) The economic, social, and ecological subsystems of all cities or counties show a continuous or fluctuating rise, and the regional coordinated development level of each study unit also shows a rising trend. This shows that steady regional development is the fundamental material basis for common prosperity. (2) The level of economic and social development shows a pattern of high in the north and low in the south, while the level of ecological development shows a pattern of high in the south and low in the north. The level of RCD evolves from a very uneven spatial distribution to a good level of coordinated development in most cities. It shows that the equalization of development among regions is a realistic manifestation of common prosperity. (3) The level of RCD in Zhejiang Province has greater intra-regional than inter-regional differences, and the differences in RCD in the north are greater than those in the south. The differences between regions have been narrowing. It shows a significant positive spatial correlation, with high-value regions tending to be adjacent to high-value regions and low-value regions tending to be adjacent to low-value regions. In sum, the development of Zhejiang Province in the last decade provides evidence of its role as a demonstration zone for common prosperity. It confirms that coordinated regional development is the fundamental way to achieve common prosperity.