Evaluating the Impact of Urban Digital Infrastructure on Land Use Efficiency Based on 279 Cities in China

Abstract

The development and application of urban digital infrastructure can alter land use patterns and facilitate the aggregation of factors such as labor and capital, thereby influencing the land use efficiency in cities. Based on statistical data from 279 cities in China spanning from 2004 to 2019, this study employs fixed-effects and mediation models to analyze the impact of urban digital infrastructure on land use efficiency. The findings reveal that the construction of urban digital infrastructure significantly promotes the enhancement of land use efficiency, with technological innovation levels and industrial structural transformation serving as mediators between urban digital infrastructure and land use efficiency. The impact of urban digital infrastructure on land use efficiency exhibits heterogeneity across different city scales, urban tiers, geographic locations, and policy implementation batches. Its effects are more pronounced in larger-scale cities, higher-tier cities, those located in the central and western regions, and the first two batches of pilot cities. The research findings contribute to providing theoretical references and a decision-making basis for enhancing land use efficiency, advocating for increased investment in urban digital infrastructure construction, encouraging technological innovation levels, and facilitating the upgrading of industrial structural transformation.

Keywords

• urban digital infrastructure
• land use efficiency
• a quasi-natural experiment