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.

In recent years, “resilience” has gradually become a hot topic in urban research and policy practice at home and abroad. However, the study finds that there are objections to the construction model of urban resilience, and under the dual framework of “state-society”, they either tend to build a resilient order led by social self-organization, or emphasize the importance of good government governance, and some scholars propose that the construction of urban resilience needs to respect social and political differences. In order to better promote the construction of urban resilience in China at the current stage, based on comparative institutional analysis theory, through the comparison of multiple cases of representative cities around the world, it is found that the construction of urban resilience shows different characteristics under different institutional conditions, and the relationship between government and society is the core. China’s “national integration” urban resilience model is an inevitable result that adapts to our national conditions and institutional environment, but it also needs to absorb the useful experience of other countries’ urban resilience construction to build resilient cities with Chinese characteristics.

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 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.

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.

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.

The transformation and use of existing national railway resources to develop suburban railway is an effective means to solve the problem of over-concentration of population and functions in megacities, leading the optimization of urban spatial layout, and promoting the construction of the “1-hour commuting circle”. Taking the construction of Beijing commuter circle as an example, this paper puts forward the framework model of suburban railway leading the construction of “1-hour commuting circle” in megacities from four aspects: spatial layout, traffic support, function guidance and mechanism guarantee. This paper proposes to construct a new spatial structure of “rail commuting corridor + self-supporting urban circle” to form a “center-periphery” circle layout with reasonable gradient. It will make up for the short board of suburban railway commuting and support the fast commuting demand of commuting demand; promote high-end service functions landing in the commuting circle to avoid simplistic industrial function undertaking; and explore the reform of the appropriate separation of economic zones and administrative regions, solving the core issues of “how to manage, build, divide, and develop” in the commuting circle.

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.

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 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.

Since the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei become a national strategy in 2014, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has fully developed the advantages of education, science and technology, and talents, and has made remarkable progress and achievements in promoting the development of new quality productive forces. The core elements of new quality productive forces have accelerated agglomeration. The strategic industries and future industries have accelerated development. The green base of high-quality development has been further consolidated. A good environment has been built up for the development of new quality productive forces. In the future, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region should take the advantages of the integration of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation to explore the new ways and patterns of developing new quality productive forces as follows. According to the national needs and local capabilities, a national pilot area and demonstration area for the new quality productive forces should be created. Several world-class advanced manufacturing clusters should be jointly built by optimizing the strategic layout of new quality productive forces based on urban agglomerations and three metropolitan areas. A highland for the development of green productivity should be jointly built by accelerating industrial transformation and upgrading. New production relations should be explored as quickly as possible which are compatible with new quality productive forces by comprehensively deepening the reform of key areas. First demonstration and strong support should be provided in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region for the whole country to accelerate the development of new quality productive forces and to promote Chinese-style modernization.

The "15th Five-Year Plan" period represents a crucial stage for the deep integration of China’s new urbanization and digitalization. Cities are facing challenges such as negative population growth and the decline of land finance. Traditional governance paradigms, due to technological fragmentation, institutional barriers, and value imbalances, struggle to adapt to new demands. Based on holistic governance theory, this study constructs a "Value-Actor-Institution-Technology" analytical framework. It reveals the logic of multi-actor collaboration, institutional restructuring, and technological integration underpinned by public value: Values anchor public interest, Actors shift to multi-party co-governance, Institutions tackle cross-domain coordination challenges, and Technology enables pan-domain penetration through data-driven approaches. Building on this, the study further proposes paradigm innovation pathways for city-wide digital transformation during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, along with differentiated adaptation models based on city types. This provides theoretical support and practical pathways for building modern People-oriented Cities, propelling cities towards in-depth advancement in holistic digital-intelligent governance.

In response to the policy trends and practical needs of mega-cities in preventing and mitigating disaster risks, this study employs John Holland’s Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) theory to investigate the generative mechanisms and governance practices of disaster resilience in mega-cities. Using a three-stage framework of self-construction, self-evaluation, and self-optimization, it analyzes how adaptive agents within cities develop disaster response mechanisms. Research reveals that mega-cities constitute complex systems formed by massive aggregations of urban adaptive agents, with their disaster resilience arising from the continuous optimization and emergent properties of micro-level agents' disaster response rules. Current governance models face challenges including amplified risk multiplier effects, macro-planning overlooking grassroots agency, and an overemphasis on "hard resilience" at the expense of "soft resilience". Thus, accelerating a shift toward adaptive agent-centered governance is essential to enhance comprehensive disaster resilience efficacy in mega-cities. Specific recommendations include: accelerating conceptual shifts to activate the proactive roles of micro-level agents, accelerating institutional innovation to establish dynamically evolving governance frameworks, and accelerating technological transformation to build multi-tiered, multi-agent collaborative systems.

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.

This paper uses data from 158 shrinking cities in China from 2010 to 2023 to explore the fit between the two and their causal mechanisms. Research has shown that: The overall adaptability relationship is poor, and the adaptation level is mainly characterized by extreme and relatively poor adaptation. The ranking of regional levels from high to low is in the central, eastern, northeastern, and western regions. In terms of temporal changes, except for the central region, all other regions show a downward trend. In terms of spatial distribution, it has strong agglomeration characteristics and is highly unsuitable for dense distribution in Northeast, North, Northwest, Southwest, and Shandong Hunan provinces, while more suitable cities are mainly distributed in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The types of adaptation can be divided into four categories: tapping potential development, intensive expansion, inefficient expansion, and extensive expansion. In terms of causes, due to the influence of natural resources and location endowment, economic foundation and industrial structure, management system and policy factors, urban shrinkage generates high fiscal expenditure rigidity and maintenance pressure, low investment return rate, and weak fiscal revenue caused by declining domestic demand, resulting in an imbalance between local fiscal revenue and expenditure, and the failure to form a good matching relationship between local government debt and economic development in shrinking cities.

With the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region entering its second decade, there is a growing urgency for theoretical frameworks on regional development that suit China’s national realities and the unique characteristics of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. This paper uses bibliometric methods to analyze the evolutionary characteristics of research on the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region based on over 3,600 academic papers published in Chinese core journals from 2014 to 2024. Findings show that topics such as collaborative governance, spatial construction, and industrial synergy have drawn significant attention, aligning with national strategies. Research themes demonstrate distinct stage characteristics, evolving from collaborative governance and urban agglomeration development to innovation synergy and spatial structure optimization, and further integrating emerging trends like carbon neutrality and the digital economy. Phased analysis shows that the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has undergone four stages: top-level design, implementation promotion, critical breakthroughs, and a new journey toward Chinese-style modernization. Each stage has deepened research to provide theoretical support for strategic advancement. Future research should focus on key challenges such as building a world-class urban agglomeration and integrating industrial and innovation chains.

After ten years of implementing the Coordinated Development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region Strategy, significant progress has been made in relieving Beijing of functions non-essential to its role as China’s capital, upgrading the regional industrial structure, improving transportation integration, building of ecological construction and environmental protection, and budling the two wings of the Beijing Municipal Administrative Center and Xiong’an New Area. However, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region are still facing new challenges, such as a decreasing share in the national economy, the widening disparities within the region, and the need to optimize the regional spatial structure. Looking ahead to the new decade, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region should implement new policies in line with President Xi Jinping’s latest demands. The goal is to make the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region a pioneer and demonstration area for Chinese-style modernization. The region should strive to build a world-class urban agglomeration with the capital as its core that is economically developed, spatially optimized, closely connected, in harmony with people and nature, and with a sense of common prosperity.

This study takes the population flow of municipal and county districts as the analytical perspective, aiming to explore the pattern evolutionary characteristics functional mechanism and urbanization effects of population flow, which across three dimensions: population inflow, population outflow, and internal population flow, within municipal and county districts in China from 2000 to 2020. The results show three conclusion: Firstly, in the municipal and county districts, the inflow of population exhibits clustering effects and a trend towards dispersion, while the outflow remains stable with spatially balanced distribution characteristics, and simultaneously internal population flow showing significant regional differences. Secondly, natural geographical conditions are the basic factors that form the uneven pattern of population flow in China, with economic growth and employment opportunities as the core driving forces to promote population flow. Social factors exert multiple influences on population flow, and the municipal districts of the provincial capital has a prominent attraction to population flow. Thirdly, the enhancement of urbanization levels which come of the contribution of population flow within municipal and county districts has reached a stage of high significance for national equilibrium. Internal population flow is the core driving force for improving the level of urbanization in municipal and county districts.

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.

Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coordinated development strategy has been implemented for ten years, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei in easing the non-capital functions, “two wings” construction and transportation, ecology, industry and other key areas have achieved important results. Entering a new stage, while recognizing the achievements and boosting confidence, it is also necessary to face up to the problems and take on new responsibilities and new roles. General Secretary Xi Jinping’s proposal of “modernized metropolitan area” is a leap in the understanding of the rules of development of cities and urban agglomerations, which is an important guidance for further deepening the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei. At present, we should take the construction of modernized capital metropolitan area as a breakthrough, focus on the key, difficult and painful problems in the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, carry out explorations, improve the conditions, achieve breakthroughs, and accumulate experiences, so as to effectively promote the strategy of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coordinated development in a practical way.

The metaverse has opened up a new direction for urban governance, and Chinese cities in the key period of digital transformation urgently need to draw on foreign experiences. Based on policy feedback theory, this study takes Seoul, the first city in the world to enter the metaverse, as a case study to comprehensively analyze the construction logic and action strategies of metaverse city governance in Seoul. The study finds that the history of digital governance deeply influences the construction motivation, subject, content, and path elements of metaverse city governance in Seoul, forming a practice framework characterized by service development-oriented, multi-party co-construction, all-domain embedding, scientific planning, and support for local practices. Based on this, this study proposes policy implications for China’s metaverse city governance from the perspectives of the leadership of the Communist Party, people-centeredness, service development, and diverse co-construction, aiming to provide decision-making references for the future urban governance of China.

In the era of digital economy, enterprises are facing more fierce competition, and digital transformation has become an important choice for them to adapt to the development requirements of the times. Using the data of listed companies from 2012 to 2020 as a sample, this paper examines the impact of digital transformation on high-quality development and its heterogeneity among cities. The research results show that digital transformation can help improve the development quality of enterprises. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the positive effects of digital transformation are more pronounced in cities with higher levels of digital infrastructure and human capital, as well as in cities with stronger intellectual property protection. The intermediary mechanism test shows that innovation ability plays an important role in the process of digital enabling high quality. The above conclusions mean that digital transformation is expected to become an important driving force supporting the high-quality development of China’s economy under the new development pattern. In the future, more investment should be made in hardware and software such as institutional environment and digital infrastructure to lay a solid foundation for the development of 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.

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.

Based on the theories of urban resilience and digital economy, the authors construct the mechanism model of digital economy influencing urban resilience. Using panel data from 2011-2020 of 107 cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the authors empirically test the relationship between digital economy and urban resilience. The results show that the digital economy has a positive impact on urban resilience; In the process of digital economy affecting urban resilience, the advanced industrial structure and industrial innovation ability play an intermediary role; The digital economy has a positive spatial spillover effect on urban resilience. This research extends the application of urban resilience theory and digital economy theory from the relationship between digital economy and urban resilience, reveals the influence mechanism of digital economy on the urban resilience, and provides a theoretical basis for promoting the urban resilience through development of digital economy at the urban level.

Based on China’s political governance system and land system, this paper systematically analyzed the internal logic of the impact of land resource misallocation on carbon emission efficiency, calculated the carbon emission efficiency of 273 cities in China by using Super-SBM model, and then empirically analyzed the impact of land resource misallocation on urban carbon emission efficiency and its mechanism by using panel Tobit model and fixed effects model. The results show that land resource misallocation inhibits the improvement of urban carbon emission efficiency, and this negative effect is more pronounced in central and western cities, small and medium-sized cities and resource-dependent cities. Mechanism tests reveal that inhibiting upgrading of industrial structure, distorting fiscal expenditure structure, hindering social responsibility and impeding green innovation of enterprise are four important transmission channels. Further analyses indicate that local governments’ economic growth target and financial pressure reinforce the inhibitory effect of land resource misallocation on urban carbon emission efficiency, while the green performance assessment mechanism weakens the negative impact.

Based on CLDS2016 and multilevel logit modeling, through the development of a situation-connection-participation analytical framework, findings reveal that community heterogeneity predominantly manifests in social rather than physical spaces. The higher levels of disadvantage concentration and hukou segregation within communities appear to facilitate increased participation opportunities, challenging Western assumptions that socioeconomic segregation inevitably results in political exclusion. Conversely, intra-community status heterogeneity and residential mobility exhibit inhibitory effects on participation. The study identifies neighboring connections as a significant mediating factor in the relationship between community heterogeneity and participation. Based on the above findings, policy recommendations are made to activate the potential of immigrants in disadvantaged communities to participate in governance, enhancing neighbor's social connection in mixed community, and speeding up the process of housing supports for rural-urban immigrants.

The present study examines the impact of dual pilot policies on the green development of the urban economy, focusing specifically on the integration of innovative cities and low-carbon cities within the same urban context. To assess this impact, the asymptotic Difference-in-Difference model is employed to conduct an empirical analysis. The findings reveal that the dual pilot policies have a synergistic effect, facilitating the promotion of green development in the urban economy when compared to single pilot policies. Mechanism tests indicate that these dual pilot policies primarily drive green development through two main channels: green technology innovation and industrial structural transformation. Heterogeneity analysis further demonstrates that the effectiveness of the dual pilot policies in promoting green development varies across cities with different geographical locations, sizes, and resource endowments. Moreover, the research findings indicate that these policies can generate spillover effects, positively influencing the green development of neighboring cities. Notably, the dual pilot policies not only enhance the overall level of green development in the urban economy but also effectively contribute to pollution reduction, carbon abatement, and energy efficiency improvement, all without compromising economic growth. Consequently, the study’s results offer valuable insights and inspiration for optimizing the pilot policy structure and facilitating the transformation of China’s green economic development.

Using the data from China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey in 2018, this paper analyzes the impact of the community age-friendly environment on the life satisfaction of the elderly, and further explores its pathways. The results show that the more community activity places/facilities, the more community elderly care services and the better the community atmosphere for respecting and caring for the elderly, the elderly’s life satisfaction scores are significantly higher. The community age-friendly environment has a direct effect on the life satisfaction of the elderly. At the same time, social adjustment had a significant mediating effect on the impact of community age-friendly environment on the life satisfaction of the elderly, and the indirect effect accounted for 12.25% of the total effect. This study provides useful inspiration for us to actively respond to the aging population, the construction of age-friendly communities and the improvement of the subjective well-being of the elderly in China.

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.

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.

This paper takes the digital transformation of cities as the research breakthrough point, uses the panel data of China city to quantitatively analyze the synergistic emission reduction effect of CO2 and air pollutants, and analyzes the digital expansion mechanism in the coordinated emission reduction activities. The results show that, the synergistic emission reduction effect of carbon dioxide and air pollutants is widespread at the city level, and there are great differences between cities. Urban digital transformation is helpful to expand the scale of collaborative emission reduction, among which the dimensions of data and information infrastructure construction and industrial integration are the key to help collaborative emission reduction. Urban digital transformation is an important expansion mechanism of air pollutant emission reduction caused by carbon emission reduction. Furthermore, urban digital transformation can induce structural effects and technical effects, and promote coordinated emission reduction through source prevention and control and end treatment. However, the scale effect of urban digital transformation is not significant, and the process control channels of coordinated emission reduction are not smooth. The synergistic emission reduction effect of urban digital transformation has typical heterogeneity of external environment and internal characteristics.

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.

Urban agglomeration is the main space for structural adjustment and high-quality development of the manufacturing industry. Based on the 2011-2021 data of the three major urban agglomerations of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, this paper uses a combination of theory and empirical methods to explore the impact of the digital economy on the upgrading of the industrial structure of the manufacturing industry in the three major urban agglomerations from the city level. The research finds that the digital economy has a significant impact on the upgrading of the manufacturing industry structure in the three major urban agglomerations. Compared with the three major urban agglomerations, the impact of digital economy on the upgrading of manufacturing industrial structure in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and Yangtze River Delta urban agglomerations is greater than its rationalization impact, while the Greater Bay Area urban agglomerations are the opposite. The digital economy has a nonlinear influence on the upgrading of the manufacturing industry structure in the three major urban agglomerations. Labor skill structure is the mechanism factor that digital economy promotes the upgrading of manufacturing industry structure. There are differences in the degree of impact of the three major urban agglomerations on the upgrading of the industrial structure of the manufacturing industry in the dimensions of digital infrastructure level, digital application level, digital industrialization level and digital development environment. Therefore, all localities should base on their own characteristics and advantages, improve the internal coordination and communication mechanism of urban agglomerations, strengthen the upstream and downstream coordination of the manufacturing industry chain, improve the digital technology personnel training system, and promote the digital economy to enable the high-quality development of manufacturing.

The development direction of future city should shift from an environment-centered sustainable city to humanity-oriented LOHAS city, with the integration of “industry-city-people” serving as the necessary pathway toward LOHAS city. This study constructs a LOHAS city index, which emphasizes bottleneck constraints, along three dimensions: industrial promotion, population attraction, and the pursuit of comfort. The index is applied to evaluate the current status of LOHAS city construction in 252 domestic cities. The evaluation results reveal that significant disparities exist in LOHAS city construction levels, with approximately 70% of cities experiencing various bottleneck constraints. Based on the evaluation results, the 252 cities are categorized into five types: industry-urban integration, public service, emerging industry, lifestyle consumption, and lagging industry-urban integration. Furthermore, the lagging industry-urban integration type is subdivided into six subcategories: nascent industry-urban integration, public service deficiency, industrial development deficiency, commercial and industrial deficiency, combined industrial and public service deficiency, and industry-city-people deficiency. This study finds that economic development, population mobility, and the LOHAS city construction level interact with each other, and both the LOHAS city construction level and economic development jointly contribute to enhancing urban population attractiveness.

Based on the micro-level data of China patent application from 2011 to 2021 and the level data of 212 developing cities, the balanced panel data is constructed to examine the impact of digital infrastructure on the economic catch-up of developing cities, and to explore the transmission mechanism between them from the perspective of intercity innovation collaboration. The study finds that the construction of digital infrastructure not only helps developing cities narrow the relative economic gap with developed cities but also promotes the improvement of total factor productivity in developing cities. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that catch-up scenarios such as economic levels and geographical locations all affect the effects of digital infrastructure on economic catch-up. The mechanism analysis shows that intercity innovation collaboration is an important channel for the impact of digital infrastructure on the economic catch-up of developing cities. Further, the intercity innovation collaboration transmission path has both the features of inclusive development and quality improvement. In terms of cooperative city, whether a developed or a developing city, innovation collaboration can promote the economic catch-up. In terms of the type of innovation, it is mainly the substantive innovation collaboration rather than the strategic innovation collaboration that promotes the economic catch-up.

This paper first constructs a comprehensive evaluation system for the construction of new infrastructure, and then uses a three-stage DEA model to measure the efficiency of new infrastructure construction from 2008 to 2021. In addition, based on the differences in urban scale, we discuss the impact of the efficiency of new infrastructure construction on common prosperity. We find that firstly, the overall efficiency of new infrastructure construction shows a trend of first decreasing and then increasing, showing an imbalance, that is, mega and super-large cities show a rapid upward trend, while large cities, medium-sized cities, and small cities show varying degrees of downward trend. Secondly, intra-group disparities are the main source of non-equilibrium, with the contribution rate of intra-group disparities in mega cities slowly decreasing, while large, medium-sized, and small cities are showing a rapid expansion trend. In addition, the efficiency of new infrastructure construction is conducive to achieving common prosperity, but its performance in urban scale varies. It only shows an overall prosperity effect for mega and super-large cities, a shared prosperity effect for large and medium-sized cities, and has no impact on small cities. Finally, the optimal urban population size for the common prosperity effect of the efficiency of new infrastructure construction is 1.671-3.757 million. This study provides references for promoting the rational layout of new infrastructure in urban construction systems.

Promoting the development of cross-boundary commuter circle is the main way to speed up the construction of modern metropolitan area with megacities as the core. Taking the commuter circle around Beijing as an example, this paper analyzes the main obstacles existing in the development of cross-boundary commuter circle. The paper concludes that the development of cross-boundary commuting circle should explore the new management system, fiscal and tax sharing mechanism, decentralization mechanism, unified development mechanism and market-oriented operation mechanism under the moderate separation of economic zone and administrative region. The paper proposes to focus on the “five turns” of collaborative efforts. It includes shifting from “megacity reduction development” to “metropolitan area integration development”, from “administrative district economy” to “economic zone economy”, from “subway-led” to “suburban railway-led”, from “single-station development” of rail transit to “whole-area TOD comprehensive development”, from “heavy industry, heavy residence” to “heavy life and heavy service”. Solve the practical problems and institutional barriers that restrict the development of cross-border commuter circles, and expand the new development space of major capitals.

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.