Examining the impact of polycentric urban form on air pollution: evidence from China
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Examining the impact of polycentric urban form on air pollution: evidence from China Wang Meichang 1
&
Zhang Bingbing 2
Received: 21 October 2019 / Accepted: 20 July 2020 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Numerous studies on megacities have reported less air pollution in polycentric form urban than monocentric form urban. However, findings from these studies do not imply that increasing air pollution in region or country is accompanied by the expanding megacities. Using satellite night-light data, this study investigates the impact of polycentric urban form at the provincial level on PM2.5 concentrations in China while controlling for variables of urban population size, energy consumption, and the weather. The results reveal that the PM2.5 concentrations are reduced by 1.46% to 2.67%, with a 1% increase in polycentric urban form. The similar impact has also been observed in the South China, but larger in the Central China. Further studies show that the urban form-air pollution relationship mainly influenced by transportation distance and enhanced by rising per capita income. The findings suggest that regional planning and policies favoring polycentric urban patterns should be strengthened to alleviate air pollution. Keywords Urban form . PM2.5 . Satellite data . Transportation distance . Polycentric . China
Introduction In recent years, PM2.5 (Particulate Matter 2.5) has been confirmed to pose a great threat to residential health. During 2008–2015, the annual mean PM2.5 in most urban areas in China is over 40 μg/m3 (World Health Organization, WHO), which is far exceeding WHO’s guideline value of 10.0 μg/m3 (World Health Organization 2016). Outdoor air pollution causes approximately 1 million premature deaths in China (World Health Organization 2018). In view of the grave consequences of an elevated level of PM2.5, scholars have studied the reasons for it and the impact it has on individual health and income. Their investigations demonstrate that the structure of energy consumptions, industrial structures, and clean-up technology all play key roles in air pollution disasters (Lelieveld et al. 2015; Yang et al. 2018; Xie et al. 2018; Zhan Responsible Editor: Eyup Dogan * Wang Meichang [email protected] 1
School of Economics and Management, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
2
Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
et al. 2018). According to the previous research studies, the government has presented a series of air pollution governance recommendations, such as encouraging green commuting for citizens, adding financial subsidies to develop clean technology, and demanding the stricter environmental supervision of firms (Vedrenne et al. 2015; Klausbruckner et al. 2016). Nevertheless, current measures do not just fall short of expectations in alleviating air pollution but also add huge costs to a firm’s operation and highlight the unfairness of development policies for unskilled workers (Jin et al. 2016; Ee et al. 2018). Glaeser (2010; 2018)
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