College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
School of urban and Regional Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China; Green, Low-Carbon and Circular Economy Institute of Yancheng, Yancheng Institute of Technology, Yancheng, Jiangsu, 224051, China.
J Environ Manage. 2022 Nov 15;322:116075. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.116075. Epub 2022 Aug 30.
As a momentous policy tool for spatial management, urban administrative boundary expansion (UABE) significantly impacts resource reorganization and development modes. However, the environmental effects of UABE are easily ignored. Whether UABE can also impove the environmental quality in addition to its economic effects remains to be answered. To fill this gap, we took the city-county merger policy (CCMP) in China as quasi-experimental evidence and empirically investigated the impacts of CCMP on air pollution based on the difference-in-difference method. The impact mechanisms were also analyzed from a whole-process perspective. The results demonstrate that, apart from expanding the urban scale, UABE can improve urban air quality as well. Further analysis shows that the positive effect is mainly realized by source control and process management, rather than end-of-pipe treatment. Besides, the impacts of UABE on air pollution exhibit obvious spatial heterogeneous characteristics. We also reported that the environmental effects of UABE are largely dependent on governmental control, rather than market factors. According to the results above, flexible administrative boundary adjustment, strict government regulations, and effective market systems are required to realize the dual goals of environmental improvement and space optimization.
作为空间管理的重要政策工具，城市行政区划扩张（UABE）显著影响资源重组和发展模式。然而，UABE 的环境影响很容易被忽视。UABE 是否除了其经济效应之外，还能改善环境质量，这仍有待回答。为了填补这一空白，我们以中国的撤县设区政策（CCMP）为准实验证据，基于双重差分法实证研究了 CCMP 对空气污染的影响。还从全过程的角度分析了影响机制。结果表明，除了扩大城市规模之外，UABE 还可以改善城市空气质量。进一步的分析表明，积极影响主要是通过源头控制和过程管理来实现的，而不是通过末端治理。此外，UABE 对空气污染的影响表现出明显的空间异质性特征。我们还报告称，UABE 的环境影响在很大程度上取决于政府的控制，而不是市场因素。根据上述结果，需要灵活的行政区划调整、严格的政府监管和有效的市场体系，以实现环境改善和空间优化的双重目标。
