The Impact of Urbanization on Environmental Quality in Ecologically Fragile Areas: Evidence from Hengduan Mountain, Southwest China

Jue Wang () and Rui Wang
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Jue Wang: Business School, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China
Rui Wang: Business School, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China

Land, 2024, vol. 13, issue 4, 1-18

Abstract: The impact of urbanization on the environmental quality of ecologically fragile areas has long been ambiguous. With a focus on the human–environment interaction in 95 counties of Hengduan Mountain, an ecologically fragile region in southwestern China, in this study, we clarify the impact and mechanism of urbanization on environmental quality through the environmental regulation effect, using econometric models and county-level panel data from 2010 to 2019. The results of this study show that: (1) urbanization and environmental regulation have increased over this 10-year period within the study area and regional differences in environmental quality have decreased; (2) urbanization significantly contributes to environmental quality, with heterogenous effects on different environmental elements—increasing the proportion of wetlands and green areas per capita but suppressing vegetation coverage and production efficiency; and (3) environmental regulation is an important mechanism for urbanization to improve environmental quality; however, there are negative externalities on neighboring areas. The results of this study show that urbanization and environmental quality are not always mutually exclusive, thus providing a reference for the development of pro-environmental urbanization to improve sustainable development in ecologically fragile areas.

Keywords: urbanization; environmental quality; environmental regulation effect; regression analysis; spatial economic models; Hengduan Mountain; multi-source remote sensing data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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