The impact of green industrial parks on urban land green utilization efficiency: evidence from China

Abstract

Against the backdrop of synergistically advancing the “dual carbon” goals and the strategy of intensive green land use, the impact of green place-based policies on urban green land use efficiency has garnered significant scholarly attention. Treating the establishment of National Eco-industrial Demonstration Parks as a quasi-natural experiment, this study employs a multi-period difference-in-differences approach to evaluate the policy’s effects based on panel data from 284 prefecture-level and above cities in China from 2011 to 2023. The results indicate that the establishment of National Eco-industrial Demonstration Parks significantly enhances urban green land use efficiency. This improvement is primarily driven by mechanisms including strengthened environmental regulations, reduced industrial land supply for “Two-High” industries, and the promotion of green innovation alongside green industrial agglomeration. Heterogeneity analyses reveal that the policy effects are more pronounced in the eastern region, non-resource-based cities, and non-old industrial cities, and these positive impacts are amplified by higher levels of new digital infrastructure. Further analysis uncovers that the transition process is accompanied by short-term fiscal pressure and a crowding-out effect on low-skilled labor; however, the development of green finance and the agglomeration of producer services can effectively mitigate these transition costs. This study provides empirical evidence for optimizing green spatial policies and advancing high-quality urban development.