Measuring the spatial and temporal disparities in China’s regional economic development and identifying the underlying influencing factors are crucial for the precise implementation of regional coordinated development policies. Utilizing methods such as inequality index, Kernel density estimation, Markov transition probability matrix, and geographical variance decomposition, this study measures the economic development disparities across spatial units including prefecture-level cities, provincial regions, and seven major regions in China from 1997 to 2021. Furthermore, the research uses the spatial econometric models to analyze the mechanisms influencing regional economic development disparities. The study finds that economic development inequity in spatial units, including prefecture-level cities, provincial regions, and the seven major regions, show a trend of first rising and then declining. Kernel density graphs indicate that the economic development levels across spatial units are continuously increasing, but the evolution trends of the seven major regions are more complex and diverse compared to those of prefecture-level cities and provincial regions. There are significant changes in the rank order of per capita real GDP among prefecture-level cities and provincial regions, highlighting a competitive effect. The change in the proportion of geographical variance shows that the economic development inequality between prefecture-level cities is gradually exceeding the economic development inequality between provincial regions. The results of the spatial econometric model suggest that market economic reforms, fiscal decentralization, and the level of openness to the world are the key factors to influence regional economic development disparities. The conclusions of this study provide valuable insights for formulating precise regional development policies and narrowing regional economic development disparities.

To explore the latest advancements in urban resilience research, we propose a process-oriented conceptual framework and employ the PRISMA standardized systematic review method to analyze research themes and publication trends in leading international urban studies journals. Recent studies on urban resilience have primarily focused on four key urban subsystems: governance, material and energy flows, infrastructure and morphology, and socio-economic dynamics. Emerging research emphasizes diverse governance networks, urban metabolic cycles, sustainable infrastructure, and human-centered approaches. Looking ahead, future research should prioritize standardizing and locally adapting resilience assessment frameworks, integrating innovative data and methodologies, addressing the needs of vulnerable regions and marginalized groups, and aligning resilience-building efforts with the Sustainable Development Goals. Promoting global collaborative governance is also essential to advancing equitable, inclusive, and sustainable resilient cities.

Based on the panel data of 279 cities in China from 2011-2021, this paper empirically examines the impact of data elements on regional coordinated development, and discusses the transmission mechanism of data elements on regional coordinated development from two aspects: bridging the resource gap between cities and improving the level of digital inclusive finance. The research results indicate that data elements can significantly reduce regional economic development disparities and promote coordinated economic development. As far as the impact mechanism is concerned, data elements cannot promote coordinated development by reducing the gap in urban land resource endowment. However, they can reduce the regional economic development gap by reducing the gap in real estate prices, population resource endowment, financial resource endowment, and improving the level of digital inclusive finance in cities, thus achieving regional coordinated development. In addition, the results of heterogeneity analysis indicate that data elements have the most significant promoting effect on the coordinated economic development of the central and more developed regions. The research results can provide policy inspiration for further improving the mechanism of data elements, cultivating new drivers of economic development, and accelerating the realization of common prosperity.

On the basis of comprehensively analyzing of international literature and journals related to urban frontier research, we screened the literature with urban as the theme in the SSCI issued literature library included in WOS from January 2018 to March 2024, used Citespace to realize the literature visualization and analysis, and further extracted the theme from top journals for review. The results show that: the visualization results clarify the research hotspots such as smart city and urban resilience, and the popular research methods such as machine learning, and show the current status of urban cutting-edge research from the chronological and country-specific dimensions; the review of literature in the top journals realizes the generalization and integration of the popular urban themes, which are summarized as the theoretical model of the urban economy, transportation,energy and urban operation, agglomeration and innovation, urban renewal and planning, greening and environmental ecology, attributes and city name cards,impact of sudden public health emergencies on cities and urban resilience, digital technology and smart cities, and further subdivided into each category. The results of the evaluation show that the international frontier urban research has been rapidly updated and expanded, the degree of integration between urban disciplines and other disciplines has been increasing, and the quantitative analysis has realized the improvement of comprehensiveness and technology, and the qualitative analysis has realized the improvement of rigor and comprehensiveness.Existing research presents characteristics such as the use of “new” approaches for “old” themes, the use of “integrated” approaches for “individual” themes, and the use of “ingenious” approaches for “innovative” themes.Based on the conclusions of the study, suggestions and prospects are put forward in terms of the selection of traditional urban topics, research methods and frontier exploration.

Under the pressure of multiple sources of shocks and perturbations, both domestic and international, promoting the resilient evolution of the innovation system is a critical step in responding to environmental changes. Employing the ideology of systemic evolution, this study dissects the multidimensional characteristics of innovation system resilience, elucidates the evolutionary process of the innovation system from the perspective of resilience, and analyzes the influence mechanism of digital infrastructure construction on the manufacturing innovation system resilience. Meanwhile, an empirical verification is conducted based on the matched data between urban levels in China and manufacturing listed companies from 2011 to 2021. The results show that diversity, network, dynamics, and evolution are the four-dimensional characteristics of the resilience of the innovation system. The evolutionary process of the innovation system follows the sequence “resisting shocks-absorbing turbulence-recovering functions- innovating paths”. There is a positive influence of digital infrastructure construction on the resilience of the manufacturing innovation system, and the positive effect is more pronounced in urban agglomeration cities than in non-urban agglomeration cities, and is also more evident in high-technology manufacturing than in low-technology manufacturing. The main transmission path is through fueling digital transformation and diluting the efficiency of resource allocation.

Based on the panel data of 41 cities in the Yangtze River Delta from 2011 to 2020, using two-way fixed effects regression analysis, this paper empirically examined the impact and mechanism of the digital economy on the economic gap between central and peripheral cities. The results show that in the Yangtze River Delta region, the development of digital economy is conducive to narrowing the economic gap between central and peripheral cities. In this process, improving factor mismatch is an important path of action.The study shows that, overall, in the Yangtze River Delta, the development of the digital economy is conducive to narrowing the economic gap between central and peripheral cities. In this process, improving factor mismatch is an important path of action. The heterogeneity analysis results show that compared to cities with lower levels of industrial structure upgrading and human capital, the positive effect of digital economy on cities with higher levels of industrial structure upgrading and human capital is more significant. At the same time, the effect of digital economy on the pilot cities of “Broadband China” is significantly stronger than that of non-pilot cities. In addition, the results of the extended study show that the impact of digital economy on the economic gap between central and peripheral cities exhibits a significant inverted “U” shape. Further calculation of the inflection point shows that in the Yangtze River Delta, there are still some cities on the left side of the curve, with a lower level of digital economy development, which fails to positively reduce the economic gap between central and peripheral cities.Based on this, this study provides policy recommendations to strengthen the construction of digital infrastructure, continuously optimize the allocation mechanism of the factor market, actively promote the upgrading of industrial structure and improve the level of human capital.

This study utilizes data from the 2018 China Longitudinal Ageing Social Survey to evaluate the current situation of these renovations by considering regional and group differences, specifically focusing on environmental renovations and device configurations. Drawing on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) framework proposed by the World Health Organization, this study investigates the effects of home-based aging-adaptation renovations on older adults’ life satisfaction, with a particular emphasis putting on exploring the mediating effects of emotion, cognition, and social functions in these relationships. Additionally, the study examines whether there are urban-rural differences in terms of these mediating effects. The results indicate that home-based aging-adaptation renovations have significantly positive impacts on older adults’ life satisfaction. Emotion, cognition, and social functions play multiple mediating roles in these relationships, after controlling for the effect of activity function. Moreover, urban-rural differences are observed in terms of these mediating effects. Considering the positive effects of home-based aging-adaptation on older adults’ functional abilities, it is crucial to target the effective supply of basic elderly care services towards older adults with functional limitations. Importantly, an integrated functional assessment that encompasses activity, emotion, cognition, and social functions should serve as the foundation for delivering basic elderly care services.

The incentive structure of local governments can impact the adjustment patterns of basic public service expenditures by influencing attention allocation and motivation differentiation. From the perspective of governmental behavior logic and based on the theoretical framework of “incentive-attention-motivation-behavior,” this paper empirically studies the impact and mechanisms of population aging on the scale and structure of basic public service expenditures. The results indicate that population aging has a significant effect on both the scale and structure of basic public service expenditures, showing dual characteristics of “economic and fiscal type” and “public service type.” In response to aging, fiscal and tax incentives bias the adjustment of basic public service expenditures toward the “economic and fiscal type,” focusing on short-term effects. Promotion incentives give higher weight to “public service type” motivations, but these also tend to focus on short-term and visible outcomes. Further analysis reveals that higher levels of aging and attention promote the “economic and fiscal type” motivations towards enhancing long-term human capital, while “public service type” motivations evolve to meet the needs of youth housing, fertility, and elderly care. This results in the contraction of the scale of basic public service expenditures. Therefore, the article suggests refining local government assessment standards, coordinating the advancement of fiscal and tax system reforms, continuously optimizing the structure of basic public service expenditures, and fully tapping into the potential of the silver economy. Through effective institutional supply, it aims to break the “aging before preparedness” pattern, ensuring adequate and efficient provision of basic public services and promoting high-quality development in an aging society.

Based on the conceptual connotation of interaction, reciprocity and purpose of value co-creation, the study demonstrates that its driving role is manifested in shaping value vision, promoting citizen participation and enriching practice paths, and then constructs a theoretical framework of “value-organization-technology”. The construction of digital government driven by value co-creation manifests the value mission of improving administrative efficiency, accurately matching needs, and enhancing social equity, transforming the internal, relational, and external environments of governmental organizations, and playing a role through the mechanisms of technological empowerment, technological empowerment, and technological empowerment of wisdom. Based on some Chinese practical cases, this study summarizes the intelligent, interactive, autonomous and collective practice models of digital government construction to achieve value co-creation, with a view to providing theoretical reference and action plans for the discussion of related issues.

On the basis of constructing a theoretical framework that data factor marketization empowers the development of regional new-quality productivity, and quasi-natural experiments based on the establishment of a data public trading platform, panel data of 284 prefecture-level cities are selected from 2011-2021, and its mechanism of action and regulation is analyzed based on the dual machine learning method. The results show that the construction of data factor marketization effectively empowers the development of regional new quality productivity. In terms of heterogeneity, data factor marketization significantly promotes the development of new-quality productivity in high science and education levels and first- and second-tier cities, while it has no significant driving effect in low science and education levels and cities below the third tier. In terms of the mechanism of action, data factor marketization drives the level of new quality productivity through the mechanisms of guiding market integration, optimizing factor allocation, and reconstructing innovation paradigms. In terms of the regulating mechanism, data factor marketization stimulates the data factor multiplier effect through channels such as industrial upgrading and transformation, digital talent gathering and foreign capital utilization level. Policy recommendations are then put forward to fully release the value of data factors and provide strong support for accelerating the formation of new quality productivity.

Urban real estate market differentiation requires vigilance against the risk of volatility propagation. Research methodology: Based on the network analysis perspective, we quantify the “ripple” effect of house price, report the characteristics of the network structure, and conduct empirical research on the effect of the old neighborhood renovation policy. The study finds that: urban house price trend guidance and volatility propagation modes are different, and there are significant differences in the mechanism paths and cluster distribution of the two; urban house price trend changes are characterized by economic and geographic clusters, with first-tier urban agglomerations playing a leading role in the overall situation; the house price volatility “ripple” network is segregated in terms of city levels, while there is close inter-regional connection, with the second-tier cities playing a leading role in the overall situation. The second-tier cities' house price fluctuation spreads the intermediary and net spillover influence significantly, the central and eastern regions are the net spillover region of the “ripple”, and the two-way cycle of house price fluctuation in the northeast and western regions is worth paying attention to. The renovation of old neighborhoods has an inhibiting effect on the risk of fluctuating house price spillover, and urban renewal at this stage helps consolidate the “firewall” of house price fluctuation propagation and strengthens the resilience of real estate market development.

Based on the perspective of policy upgrading, this paper uses difference in difference model and triple differences model to analyze the impact of upgrading from national pilot policy on information for the people to “Internet+ Government Services” pilot policy on urban digital transformation by using the panel data of 284 cities in China from 2011 to 2019. The study finds that the former pilot policy can effectively promote the urban digital transformation in terms of government governance and people’s lives, but it does not have a significant effect on the digital economic industries, whereas the development of the above three important dimensions is realized after the policy upgrading. Heterogeneity tests show that the pre- and post-policy upgrade contribute to a sustained policy effect for peripheral cities and cities with medium-level public services, driving the urban digital transformation. The moderating effect indicates that resource allocation efficiency and opening up to the outside world have positive moderating effects on urban digital transformation both before and after the policy upgrading.

Public welfare venture capital is an innovative means to cultivate social organizations and an important part of realizing the modernization of government governance. This paper constructs a “Resource-Organization-Environment (ROE)” analysis framework and uses qualitative comparative analysis method to explore the influencing factors and driving models of urban venture capital for public welfare. The study found that the linkage and coupling of technical support, capital investment, operation platform, communication and learning, policy support and social collaboration formed 7 conditions to promote venture capital for the public, reflected in 4 types of venture capital driving models for the public. That is, Resource-Organization two-dimensional driving model, Organization-Environment two-dimensional driving model, Resource-Organization-Environment three-dimensional joint driving model and Resource-Environment two-dimensional driving model. Among them, capital investment is the core condition of multiple condition configuration. The research conclusions are helpful to clarify the influencing factors and driving models of venture philanthropy, provide references for understanding the driving models of differentiated venture philanthropy in cities, and promote the overall development of venture philanthropy.

The study delves into the impact of urban digital transformation on enhancing government service effectiveness. It integrates digital ecosystems and dynamic capabilities theories to analyze data from 32 cities between 2018 and 2021. Utilizing dynamic qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), the findings reveal that the improvement of government service effectiveness is intricately linked to the synergistic interactions between technology, institutions, organizations, and the external environment. The research identifies that effective government services depend on strategies tailored to regional specifics. In the eastern regions, an emphasis on advancing technological innovation and policy experimentation is crucial, while in the central and western regions, a focus on strengthening institutional development and resource integration is recommended. Additionally, the study underscores the importance of a dual-driven approach, combining institutions and technology, for the modernization of government services. It also proposes strategies to enhance participatory democracy and activate digital intelligence potential in the western regions, providing valuable theoretical and practical insights for the digital transformation of cities and the optimization of government services.

Based on the perspective of the economic cycle of “production, distribution, circulation and consumption”, this paper expounds the impact of the opening of the China-Europe Railway Express (CRE) on the new development pattern of “dual circulation”, constructs an LS model of two countries and three regions with asymmetric initial endowment, and analyzes the effect of the coordinated development of the regional economy with the effective linkage between the opening of CRE and the “dual circulation”. It is found that the opening of CRE can significantly empower the coordinated development of the regional economy, and the effect of the opening of the regional economic coordinated development of CRE is more significant in the central and western regions, the regions of assembly center of CRE, and the cities with small economic scale. The results of the mechanism test show that CRE promotes the coordinated development of the regional economy by promoting domestic and international dual circulation. Further analysis shows that transportation cost optimization, multimodal transport development and sustainable development are conducive to promoting the high-quality development of CRE, thereby strengthening the enabling role of CRE in the coordinated development of the regional economy. This paper provides a new perspective for the study of the economic potential of CRE, and provides a reference for promoting coordinated development between regions under the new development pattern.

The low spatial performance of urban fringe caused by insufficient locational endowments has become a major limiting factor in the high-quality development of cities in the transition period. This article constructs a grid-based econometric model of spatial performance and locational conditions in urban fringe, identifies the impact of transportation, government affairs, and ecological locational factors on spatial performance through multi-scale geographically weighted regression, and conducts empirical research in four districts around Tianjin. The study found that: the spatial performance distribution of Tianjin urban fringe presents a “ring & multi-peak” distribution structure, with both discontinuous and transitional attributes, showing strong discontinuity in the near suburbs and strong transitional characteristics in the far suburbs; the insufficient economic output of suburban industrial parks and the lagging public service supply in rural areas are the main causes of low performance in Tianjin urban fringe; transportation locational factors have the strongest positive impact on the spatial performance of Tianjin urban fringe, followed by government affairs, while ecological locational factors exhibit a weak negative effect. The spatial heterogeneity influenced by location factors is highly significant, so it is necessary to formulate and optimize policies based on local conditions.

Using the 41 sub-districts in the main urban area of Nanjing as the basic spatial units and leveraging big data such as mobile phone signaling, POI, and road networks from 2023, this study constructs an index system and measurement method under the “demand-supply” framework. The coupling coordination model and Boston Matrix method are employed to evaluate the relationship between residents’ nighttime travel and the distribution of nighttime economic service facilities. The research indicates that there is a significant difference in the comprehensive utilization value of nighttime economic service facilities, with their distribution following an inverted “J” shape and spatially presenting a pattern of “decreasing from the center to the periphery” combined with “higher in the west and lower in the east.” The comprehensive supply value of nighttime economic service facilities has a smaller range and follows a “left-skewed normal” distribution, spatially exhibiting a pattern of “three centers and multiple cores, with high-density agglomeration areas formed around scattered cores.” The streets after coupling evaluation can be classified into four categories: high-level balanced areas, supply-lagged unbalanced areas, low-level mutually detrimental areas, and demand-lagged unbalanced areas. Based on the research findings, it is suggested to promote the overall prosperity and sustainable development of the nighttime economy through differentiated measures from both global and sub-regional perspectives.

The two most important spatial agglomeration patterns of producer services are specialized agglomeration and diversified agglomeration. This paper theoretically discusses the mechanism of different agglomeration patterns affecting local green economic growth and spatial spillover effect. Based on the data of 208 cities at prefecture level or above in 18 urban agglomerations from 2003 to 2019, the panel fixed effect model and spatial econometric model were established for empirical test. The results show that:Firstly, the green economic growth effect is the largest when specialized agglomeration and diversified agglomeration coexist, but it is moderated by city size. Secondly, compared with specialized agglomeration, diversified aggtomeration of producer services has a greater effect on local green economic growth, and only diversified aggtomeration has a positive but insignificant spatial spillover effect. Thirdly, the effective pattern of collaborative division of labor has not yet been formed within urban agglomerations, such as diversified central cities and specialized peripheral cities. Therefore, the planning and division of productive service functions within urban agglomerations should be strengthened. The above research provides theoretical reference and practical experience for the selection of urban producer services development model and urban green transformation development.

Due to the unique geographic characteristics of administrative border areas, these regions often serve as both economic underdeveloped zones and hotspots for environmental pollution. The digital economy offers new opportunities to balance regional development and achieve the “dual carbon” goals. Focusing on administrative border areas as the research object, this study utilizes data from 284 Chinese cities and relevant border counties, employing a two-way fixed effects model to examine the “efficiency improvement” and “carbon reduction” effects of the digital economy. The findings reveal that the digital economy can synergistically achieve the dual objectives of “carbon reduction and efficiency improvement” in administrative border areas, with the alleviation of market segmentation and administrative barriers being key mechanisms. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that this effect of the digital economy is related to city size and the level of industrial digitization. Specifically, this effect is only observed in super and mega cities in China, while large,medium and small cities have not yet realized it. Moreover, cities with a higher proportion of industrial digitization exhibit more significant effects. These results provide policy implications for further improving digital infrastructure in administrative border areas, establishing integrated pollution monitoring platforms, and accelerating the empowerment of the digital economy in these regions.

This paper takes the six inner districts of Tianjin from 2000 to 2020 as the empirical object, and combines multiple analytical methods such as factor ecological analysis, spatial statistics and clustering, correlation regression, semi-structured interviews, etc., to qualitatively and quantitatively reveal the structural coupling and functional coupling phenomena between the social spatial evolution and urban regeneration actions. Furthermore, this paper summarizes the mediating catalytic role of urban regeneration in the coupling process, and its social spatial impact achieved through micro-paths such as housing supply iteration, spatial quality improvement, functional value replacement, and social network reorganization. In general, this study is committed to improving the interactive response theory of urban social space and material space, and providing theoretical support for the spatial governance practice of “people-oriented and precise policy implementation” in China’s New Era.

In order to better guide the low-carbon development of different types of shrinking cities and supplement the existing carbon emission research gaps. The entropy method, GTWR model and other methods are utilized to explore the role of the shrinkage characterization factors of different types of shrinking cities in influencing the carbon emissions from land use and the differences in the influences, the main conclusions obtained are as follows. First,the diversion of built-up land is the main source of carbon emissions from land use in shrinking cities, and the reduction of forest land and grassland increases the pressure of carbon emissions. Secondly, carbon emissions of different types of shrinking cities show different patterns, among which resource-dependent and comprehensive cities declined after reaching the peak in 2010 and re-entered the growth state in 2015; carbon emissions of siphoning and location-constrained cities show a continuous growth trend. Finally, the significant shrinkage characterization factors of cities are also the main driving factors affecting urban carbon emissions, and the shrinkage phenomenon has changed from population to multi-dimensional contraction with the development of time, while the influence of the driving factor of carbon emissions in shrinking cities has shifted from the population dimension to the economic and investment dimensions.

This paper develops an evaluation framework for urban-rural integration dynamics from two subsystems of both internal and external dynamics. Employing the BP neural network model, the research assesses urban-rural integration dynamics across 132 districts and counties in the Chengdu-Chongqing region. Based on the analysis, four distinct types of county urban-rural integration are identified: urban-rural oneness type, city-led rural type, rural-promoted city type, and contraction-reconstruction type, corresponding differentiated development paths are proposed for each type.The results reveal that, despite a higher level of urban-rural integration in the western Chengdu-Chongqing region, this advantage is not pronounced relative to the national context. Except for districts and counties adjacent to the Chengdu-Chongqing Metropolitan Area and along the Chengdu-Chongqing Central Axis intercity transportation corridor, the majority of districts and counties exhibit insufficient internal and external dynamics, with the contraction-reconstruction type being predominant. For urban-rural oneness counties, it is recommended to implement a strategy that emphasizes “functional complementarity and parity in living standards” to foster mutual development between urban and rural areas. For city-led rural counties, leveraging the “scale effect of urban areas to drive rural external development” is advised, focusing on “substituting industry for agriculture and facilitating urban-driven rural advancement.” The rural-promoted city counties should pursue a strategy of “agricultural upgrading and agriculture-driven industrial development” to stimulate urban enterprise growths through the agricultural value chain expansion. For contraction-reconstruction counties, the “optimal and sustainable development” approach is proposed to explore orderly rural reconstruction and ecological value transformation.

As a typical representative of new quality productivity, blockchain is promoting the quality and efficiency of senior care services by means of technological empowerment. From the perspective of new productivity, we construct an analytical framework for blockchain empowerment, and based on the smart pension practice in Y city, we use case study method to reveal the scenarios and paths of blockchain empowering the optimization of the supply structure of urban pension services. The study finds that blockchain can shape new types of workers, create new types of labor materials, and create new types of labor objects, and promote the structural adjustment of subjects in the direction of “cooperation”, the reshaping of power structure in the direction of “sharing”, and the discourse system in the direction of “negotiation”. To promote “cooperation” tendency of subject structure adjustment, “sharing” tendency of power structure reshaping and “negotiation” tendency of discourse system improvement, and then realize the overall optimization of the urban elderly service supply structure. In the face of risks such as the lack of supervision during and after the incident, the “marginalization” of elderly users, and the lack of welfare and public welfare for the elderly, we should build a regulatory mechanism for the application of blockchain technology, improve the applicability of the technology, and strengthen the value leadership, so as to realize the in-depth integration of blockchain technology and the supply structure of the urban senior care service.

As regional integration deepens, the county-level urbanization in inter-provincial border areas has entered a new phase characterized by “cross-border” growth. From the perspective of the flow space theory, the analysis of the relevant data of 22 counties at the Anhui-Jiangsu provincial border using the fsQCA method reveals that the urbanization of these border counties is driven by four pathways: endogenous and exogenous types dominated by cross-provincial resource allocation, as well as endogenous and exogenous types dominated by intra-provincial resource allocation. The driving effects of these pathways on county-level urbanization in border areas are generally stronger than those of individual variables. The tendency for resource allocation in county-level urbanization in border areas is mainly influenced by the degree of provincial economic development and the administrative affiliation with neighboring central cities. The differentiated linkage matching relationships of administrative space linkage, market space interaction, and population space flow have resulted in the differentiation of the driving forces of county-level urbanization. It is therefore necessary to further accelerate the process of regional integration in inter-provincial border areas, and simultaneously, to formulate development strategies for county-level urbanization that are tailored to the characteristics of different types of border areas, thereby ensuring the high-quality development of county-level urbanization in these border areas.

Upgrading the industrial structure is a key factor empowering high-quality development of cities and constructing a new development pattern. The new quality productivity is an important force to promote the upgrading of industrial structure at present.Based on annual reports of local governments in seven major urban agglomerations from 2011 to 2021. The analysis employs text analysis and a two-way fixed effects model. The findings reveal that local government attention to new quality productive forces significantly promotes the upgrading of urban industrial structure. This effect is more pronounced in super-large and above cities, as well as in eastern and central urban agglomerations. Mechanism analysis indicates that local government attention to new quality productive forces promotes the upgrading of urban industrial structure by increasing the stock of human capital and fixed asset investment in cities. The study provides policy implications for adjusting local government governance orientation, implementing effective industrial upgrading policies, and promoting the upgrading of urban industrial structure and the development of new quality productive forces in China.

Based on China’s panel data of Type II large cities, medium cities and small cities with a resident population of less than 3 million in 2012, 2014-2018, a Logit model is constructed to analyze the impact of new urbanization on the settlement intention of rural laborers.Results show that the impact of new urbanization on the settlement intention of rural laborers is positive and significant. The test of occupational and generational heterogeneity also shows that new urbanization significantly increases the settlement intention of rural laborers with stable occupations to stay in cities of various scale, with business and new-generation rural laborers are more likely to reside permanently in medium-sized cities and type II large cities, while unstable occupations and old-generation rural laborers preferring small cities. The heterogeneity test of education level and skill differentiation responds to the roots of the above occupational and generational differences. The internal path test shows that improvement of economic in the process of new urbanization significantly increases the settlement intention of rural laborers in type II large cities, small and medium-sized cities, but the effect of public services and ecological construction varies according to the scale of the city and individual characteristics, especially the effect of ecological construction on the settlement intention of rural laborers in small cities has a “U” shape characteristic.Based on the research conclusion, this paper puts forward some policy suggestions to improve the willingness of rural laborers to live permanently from the aspects of accurately identifying the needs of various types of labor, accelerating the ecological construction in the process of new urbanization, and actively grasping the development opportunities of digital technology and digital economy.

Against the backdrop of the restructuring of the global economic landscape, the promotion of blue economy co-operation has become an important force in promoting regional integration and development. Blue economy cooperation between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Greater Bay Area and ASEAN countries has great potential and broad prospects. The thesis adopts gravity model and social network analysis to reveal the spatial correlation of blue economy cooperation between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Greater Bay Area and ASEAN countries and its network structure, to analyse the marine industries with potential for cooperation and the pressure of transformation of the blue economy, and to explore the trend and path of cooperation between the Greater Bay Area and ASEAN in the field of blue economy. The study finds that the overall density of the blue economy network in the co-operation area is low, and more than two-thirds of the blue economy links still have large development potential; Thailand, Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macao and Indonesia are at the core of the blue economy network in the co-operation area, and are the ‘leaders’ in blue economy development in the co-operation area, while Vietnam, Singapore, the Philippines and Cambodia are at the centre of the co-operation network, The Philippines and Cambodia are at the periphery of the co-operation network and are the ‘followers’ of the regional blue economy co-operation; the network strength of the nodes in the co-operation area varies greatly, indicating that the blue economy co-operation in the region is in an unbalanced state, and the degree of integration needs to be strengthened; at the same time, the results of cohesive subgroup analysis show that perfecting the co-operation mechanism and building a co-operation Meanwhile, the results of cohesive subgroup analysis show that improving the cooperation mechanism and building a cooperation platform play an important role in promoting the blue economy cooperation between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Greater Bay Area and ASEAN countries. Based on the above findings, the paper proposes policy recommendations to further develop the central role of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and promote the construction of the Greater Bay Area-ASEAN Blue Economy Partnership.

The paper analyzes the impact mechanism of disparities in energy efficiency among cities in China on economic green development from the perspective of government behavior based on the theory of new structural economics.Using the recentered influence function to measure urban energy efficiency disparities,an empirical study is conducted with panel data from 274 prefecture-level cities in China from 2006 to 2020. The results show that urban energy efficiency disparities incentivize local governments to undertake industrial and energy structural transformation, implement environmental regulations, control energy intensity, and engage in technological innovation, thereby promoting economic green development. The promoting effect and mechanism of energy efficiency disparities on economic green development vary deponding on factors such as time, region, the degree of government dominance, intensity of local government competition, level of marketization, and the degree of government-market coordination. Accordingly, we propose that we should leverage regional energy efficiency disparities to stimulate energy technology breakthroughs and technology transfer, promote the energy technology revolution through government-market coordination precisely, improve the mechanism of regional energy efficiency disparities to promote economic green development comprehensively.

Based on the resource-based theory, a research framework is constructed, utilizing panel data from 30 key cities in China spanning from 2019 to 2021 as the research samples. The dynamic Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) method is employed to delve into the configuration path and dynamic evolution of the impact of local resource elements on digital government construction performance. The findings reveal that a single resource element is not a necessary condition for achieving high digital government construction performance across different time periods. The resource configurations that yield high digital government construction performance can be categorized into three types: “comprehensive resource linkage,” “response capability-driven,” and “innovation capability-led.” Furthermore, the driving mechanism behind the performance of local digital government construction is transitioning from “comprehensive resource linkage” and “response capability-driven” to “innovation capability-led,” highlighting the growing significance of innovation capabilities fostered by the coordinated allocation of innovative resource elements in digital government construction. In view of this, it is imperative to dynamically grasp the coupling relationships among resource elements, adapt to local conditions and temporal changes, and strategically select resource combination paths to facilitate the sustainable advancement of digital government construction.

This paper takes the economic synchronicity of “city pairs” as an entry point, and integrates a panel dataset spanning from 2008 to 2021, encompassing prefecture-level cities, micro-enterprises, and migrant populations. We employ a Difference-in-Differences (DID) model to analyze the impact of urban agglomerations on economic synchronicity and explore its underlying mechanisms based on theoretical analysis. The paper reveals that urban agglomerations exhibit a positive effect on urban economic synchronicity, and the conclusion remains robust after a series of robustness tests. Mechanism analysis indicates that urban agglomerations primarily enhance economic synchronicity by synchronization of innovation,convergence of factor allocation, and expansion of virtual agglomeration. In further analysis, we take endogeneity issues into account, and revalidate the findings using population mobility data.

The level of basic public services that mobile elderly population can enjoy depends on the degree of openness of the local government to them.Based on the residence permit system and its related elderly preferential policies, a basic public service supply openness index system and measurement model for the mobile elderly population are constructed. Taking Nanjing City as the sample area, the openness of basic public service supply for the mobile elderly population is measured.The results show that the supply of basic public services in the local area is not fully open to the floating elderly population, and the overall openness is not high, and there is still a distance from service equalization; There are significant differences in the openness of basic public service supply among different categories. For example, the openness of basic cultural and sports service supply is 1, which belongs to complete openness, while the openness of basic elderly care service supply is only 0.246, which is extremely low and not friendly to the residence of mobile elderly population in cities; The utilization rate of various basic public services by the floating elderly population is relatively low, which is not only limited by external institutional policies, but also by subjective cognitive limitations.Local governments should expand the scope of service openness and reduce service constraints in a targeted manner based on the characteristics and needs of the mobile elderly population. They should pay attention to and gradually open up basic public service projects with exclusive characteristics, and focus on strengthening service promotion and improving service awareness to ensure the service security of the mobile elderly population.

Based on the carbon emission inventory of Chinese cities, this paper uses the visualization method to describe the temporal and spatial characteristics of the carbon emission intensity (CEI) in resource-based cities. Additionally, this paper employs the Bi-Dimensional Decomposition of the Variation Coefficient and QAP methods to comprehensively investigate the bi-dimensional structure and driving factors of regional differences in CEI. The results show that: Firstly, the CEI of resource-based cities significantly declined, exhibiting a “cumulative effect” of CEI reduction. Among them, the CEI of declining cities ranks first,but its reduction is significantly higher than that of other cities. The CEI of growing, mature and regenerating cities decreases in turn. Secondly, the CEI of resource-based cities exhibited significant spatial heterogeneity, which evolved dynamically over time. From the regional perspective, intra-regional differences were the main source of spatial differences in CEI of resource-based cities. From the carbon source perspective, the spatial differences of industrial CEI were the main driving force behind the overall differences and changing trends. From the bi-dimensional structure of regions and carbon sources, intra-regional differences of industrial CEI in growing and mature cities have gradually become the most significant contributor to overall differences. Finally, the positive effects of differences in industrial structure, environmental regulation, financial development, and land urbanization on CEI differences decreased sequentially. Moreover, the contribution and impact of each driving factor on CEI differences exhibited regional heterogeneity.

Based on a systematic assessment of changes in external circumstances and their impact on Beijing, this article analyzes the key issues faced by Beijing in several key areas during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, including economic growth, technological innovation, population structure, and the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. The article proposes strategies to enhance the diversity of economic growth drivers, improve the agglomeration capacity of resources in the plain areas and their contribution to overall economic growth, establish innovation alliances led by technology-driven enterprises, shift from population size regulation to the adjustment of population structure and distribution, deepen the integration of innovation and industrial chains in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and accelerate the development of new quality productive forces with the “Innovation Triangle” of Beijing-Tianjin-Xiong'an as the core.

Regarding the policy of innovative development demonstration cities for marine economy as a quasi-natural experiment, a difference-in-differences model is established to investigate the impact of innovative development policy on the marine economic resilience of coastal cities using panel data of 38 coastal prefecture level and above cities in China from 2006 to 2022. The empirical analysis shows that the policy of innovative development demonstration cities for marine economy has significantly improved the marine economic resilience of coastal cities. This conclusion still holds true after conducting a series of robustness tests such as parallel trend test, placebo test, truncated regression, PSM-DID test, and sample change. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the policy effects are more pronounced in the northern marine economic circle, large city group, and high human capital group. Mechanism analysis shows that investment in technological innovation and the development of the digital economy can strengthen the enhancing effect of the policy of innovative development demonstration cities for marine economy on the marine economic resilience of coastal cities. Based on the above conclusions, countermeasures and suggestions are proposed to accelerate the formation of marine new quality productive forces through innovative development and continuously consolidate the marine economic resilience of coastal cities.

This paper develops an analytical framework based on the collaborative governance theory, consisting of “collaborative prerequisite-collaborative process-collaborative result.” Taking the W community in Shenzhen as the case, the paper analyzes the collaborative supply mechanisms of community home-based elderly care in mega-cities. The study shows that the collaborative prerequisites include shared interest among multi-stakeholders, the external environment created by administrative and resource support, and the intrinsic endowment shaped by social capital and trust. The studied community has formed top-down and bottom-up collaborative processes through government empowerment, enablement and cultivation by social organization, and appropriate incentive structure for the volunteers. The collaborative supply has aggregated forces, effectively promoting the construction of multi-level elderly care system and the cultivation of social capital in the community. However, there are still some problems in collaborative supply’s efficiency, stability, and sustainability. By focusing on the issue of elderly care in mega-cities, this paper enriches the application scenarios of collaborative governance theory and provides new insight in innovating elderly care and addressing urban aging challenges.

World class urban agglomerations are the highest spatial form of urbanization in the context of globalization, with high control and influence over the world economy and politics. They have become the main force for major powers to cultivate core global competitiveness and lead future global development and social change. This article defines the concept of world-class urban agglomerations based on the global urban system, conducts conceptual analysis and comparison with related similar concepts, and provides definition criteria based on existing research results. A theoretical framework for China’s world-class urban agglomerations was proposed from the perspective of integrating flow space and spatial analysis. Based on the definition criteria, an international comparison was made between the three major urban agglomerations in China’s Yangtze River Delta, Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area, and Beijing Tianjin Hebei region and the five world-class urban agglomerations in the world from both spatial and flow space perspectives. Relevant characteristic facts were sorted out, and relevant issues and challenges were clarified. On this basis, several discussions were conducted on the construction path of China’s world-class urban agglomerations.

The transformation of specialized markets is one of the governance challenges that must be addressed in urban regeneration. Based on the objectives of urban regeneration, this paper introduces the theory of adaptive governance to construct a theoretical framework for the adaptive transformation path of specialized markets. It purposes that the transformation of specialized markets adheres to a “goal-assessment-selection-implementation” process, which includes four basic models: upgrade, relocate, close and regulate, as well as three practical dimensions: geographical position, physical environment and operational model. It analyzes the phased evolutionary pattern of “decline-regulate-upgrade/relocate/close”, and points out that the transformation mechanism of specialized markets is an effective collaboration among multiple stakeholders. Taking two specialized markets in Guangzhou’s old town as case studies, it analyzes their adaptive transformation path and mechanism against the backdrop of urban regeneration, confirming the rationality of the theoretical framework, and discovers that positive interactions among different stakeholders have promoted the differentiated processes of upgrading or relocation.

Urban virtual agglomeration of digital industry is a new form of spatial organization of digital industry. This paper evaluates the current status of virtual agglomeration of digital industries in 284 cities from 2011 to 2021 using multi-source data such as digital enterprise big data, Baidu index, and online business transaction index, and examines the regional differences, dynamic evolution, and convergence of virtual agglomeration of digital industries with the help of Dagum’s Gini coefficient, kernel density estimation, the coefficient of variation method, and the spatial Durbin model. The study found that:First, the level of virtual agglomeration of digital industries in the country shows a steady increase in the development trend. Specifically,the concentration level is the highest in the eastern region,and decreases in the central and western regions. Second, in terms of regional differences, the intra-regional differences in the East and West are higher than the intra-regional differences in the Central and Northeast, and the inter-regional differences between the East and the Northeast are the largest, while those between the West and the Northeast are the smallest. The inter-regional differences are the main source of the overall differences in the virtual agglomeration of digital industries. Thirdly, the spatial polarisation of the virtual agglomeration of digital industries in the country and the four major regions is not prominent, and the distribution curve is shifted to the right, with a right-dragging tail. Fourthly, the country, the east, the west, and the northeast as a whole have the characteristic of α-convergence, and the central region does not have the characteristic of α-convergence, and the absolute spatial β-convergence and the spatial conditional β-convergence are both manifested in the country and the four major regions, and the convergence of β-convergence is not significant in the four major regions, and after considering the spatial conditional β-convergence is accelerated after considering spatial conditional β-convergence.

Drawing upon panel data spanning 2006-2020 from 271 cities across China, this study employs difference-in-differences and synthetic difference-in-differences methodologies to investigate the impact of the comprehensive innovation reform pilot zone policy on urban innovation capabilities and its underlying mechanisms. The findings reveal that the implementation of this policy has significantly enhanced the innovation capabilities of cities within the pilot zones, with the policy effects intensifying as the zones continue to develop and mature. Further, the mechanism analysis underscores that the policy boosts urban innovation capabilities through four primary channels: leveraging government guidance, fostering policy agglomeration, attracting talent concentration, and optimizing the innovation ecosystem. The heterogeneity analysis highlights that the innovative effects of the comprehensive innovation reform pilot zone policy are most pronounced in regions such as Shanghai, Wuhan, Xi’an, Anhui, and Sichuan, as well as in industries including manufacturing, construction, information transmission, software, and information technology services, and residential services, repairs, and other services. Additionally, the study observes a “U-shaped” effect in terms of policy impact across cities with varying levels of innovation capabilities, suggesting a nuanced interplay between policy interventions and pre-existing innovation capacities.

The construction of the China Spatial Planning Observation Network (CSPON) requires enhanced monitoring of flow spaces to accurately identify the evolution trends of territorial spatial patterns and spatial relationships. To this end, this study takes the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) as an example to explore evaluation methods for urban agglomeration innovation development planning from the perspective of flow spaces. Based on the structure of the innovation network, we found that the innovative planning objectives have been basically achieved. However, the anticipated close innovation linkage between Guangzhou, Zhuhai, and Macao did not materialize as expected. Instead, innovation cooperation between Macao, Hong Kong, and Shenzhen has significantly strengthened, collectively forming the “Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Macao-Dongguan” innovation cluster. Through Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) analysis of the spatiotemporal evolution process of the innovation flow network in the GBA from 2016 to 2019, we found that market regulation and planning intervention respectively explained 68.9% and 21.2% of the evolutionary characteristics of the innovation flow network. The analysis results indicate that planning implementation can only partially influence regional innovation development but plays an important role in achieving regional coordination. Additionally, we observed that the influence of planning on the innovation network strengthens over time.