Spatial Spillover Effects and Regional Agglomeration of Urban Air Pollution in China
Posted: 25 Jun 2019 Last revised: 26 Jun 2019
Date Written: January 20, 2019
Abstract
With the development of urban economy, the population concentration and the increase of population density, PM2.5, sulfide, nitrogen oxides and other pollutants are largely discharged in the city, which endangers the health of urban residents. This problem is common in some developing countries such as India and China. In China, due to the acceleration of urbanization and the rapid development of urban economy, a large area of fog and haze in the subregion is particularly prominent, which has attracted worldwide attention. Analyzing the regular pattern of development and change of this phenomenon and its formation mechanism will be useful for controlling and reducing air pollution among cities. Based on the hourly AQI data of 367 cities in China for the whole year of 2017, this paper firstly analyses the influence of each city on the air pollution of the surrounding cities in different ranges with the radius of 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 kilometers. Second, taking 367 cities as the points, the relationship of air pollution spillovers among cities is the edge, and the strength of spillovers is the weight of the edge among cities. Then, the spatial spillover complex network model of urban air pollution in China is constructed. Third, the community analysis method of complex network is used to analyze the regional agglomeration characteristics of urban air pollution spillover in China and the changes of agglomeration characteristics in different seasons. Fourth, combined with the characteristics of economic and social development of urban agglomerations in different regions, the main causes of large-scale air pollution in different regions are analyzed, and suggestions for joint treatment are put forward. In this study, the spillover effect of urban air pollution in China is analyzed by using complex networks, and the agglomeration law and characteristics of large-scale air pollution are revealed and analyzed in depth, which will provide measures and methods for the joint management of reducing air pollution among cities.
Keywords: urban air pollution; spatial spillover effects; regional agglomeration; complex network
JEL Classification: Q01, Q53
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