Measuring Resource, Environmental, and Economic Efficiency of China’s Urban Agglomerations Based on Hybrid Directional Distance Function
Publication: Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 145, Issue 3
Abstract
Urban agglomerations are important regional units for China to participate in global competition. They are also the sites at which contradictions between China’s resource utilization, environmental pollution, and economic development are most apparent. This case study uses the hybrid directional distance function method to develop a comprehensive measure to evaluate resource, environmental, and economic efficiency. The results reveal spatial-temporal change characteristics and evolution rules relating to resource, environmental, and economic efficiency in China’s urban agglomerations in 2005 and 2013. The study shows relatively low levels of these three types of efficiency in China’s urban agglomerations. A gradually decreasing trend for all three types of efficiency is evident moving from the eastern to the central and western regions. Differences in resource and economic efficiency among different urban agglomerations have an increasing trend, whereas differences in environmental efficiency among agglomerations have a decreasing trend. All three types of efficiency demonstrate phased evolution features adapted to the developmental phases of urban agglomerations.
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Acknowledgments
The authors thank the editor and anonymous reviewers for their valuable insights and suggestions. This study is supported by the Youth Program of the Humanities and Social Science Research of the Chinese Ministry of Education (Grant No. 16YJC790056), the General Project of Beijing Municipal Education Commission (Grant No. KM201710028015), and the Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41430636).
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Published In
Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 145 • Issue 3 • September 2019
Copyright
©2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 31, 2017
Accepted: Aug 15, 2018
Published online: Jun 26, 2019
Published in print: Sep 1, 2019
Discussion open until: Nov 26, 2019
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