A Clustering Framework to Reveal the Structural Effect Mechanisms of Natural and Social Factors on PM 2.5 Concentrations in China

Wentao Yang (), Zhanjun He, Huikun Huang and Jincai Huang
Additional contact information
Zhanjun He: School of Geography and Information Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
Huikun Huang: School of Geosciences and Info-Physics, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410083, China
Jincai Huang: Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Spatial Smart Sensing and Service, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 3, 1-15

Abstract: Understanding the mechanisms of various factors that affect PM 2.5 can assist in the development of scientific measures to improve air quality. Nevertheless, existing research has concentrated on exploring local effect mechanisms, while structural effect mechanisms at regional or national scales have scarcely been analysed. Consequently, this study presents an analytical framework for elucidating the structural effect mechanisms of associated factors on PM 2.5 . Geographically and temporally weighted regression was used to explore the local effect mechanisms. This was followed by spatial clustering analysis to reveal these mechanisms by detecting their aggregation patterns. In the analysis, datasets for annual mean PM 2.5 and socio-economic factors in China from 1999 to 2016 were employed. Urban population, gross industrial output, and sulphur dioxide emissions were identified as factors affecting changes in PM 2.5 concentrations. These three factors had both negative and positive effects, while the gross industrial output had the largest coefficient variation degree. Three geographically related factors exhibited different impacts on PM 2.5 concentrations in most of mainland China. These factors were the urban population roughly west of the Heihe-Tengchong line, gross industrial output primarily in southwestern China, and sulphur dioxide emissions primarily in southern China.

Keywords: air pollution; structural effect mechanisms; spatiotemporal variations; spatiotemporal regression models; spatial clustering analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/3/1428/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/3/1428/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:3:p:1428-:d:489661

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().