Spatial heterogeneity of economic development and industrial pollution in urban China

• Published in: Stochastic environmental research and risk assessment Vol. 28; no. 4; pp. 767 - 781
• Main Authors: He, Canfei, Huang, Zhiji, Ye, Xinyue
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.05.2014; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aquatic Pollution; Chemistry and Earth Sciences; China; Computational Intelligence; Computer Science; Density; Division; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Ecological risk assessment; Economic development; Emission; Environment; Environmental impact; Environmental Kuznets curve; Environmental protection; Heterogeneity; Industrial emissions; Industrial pollution; Land use; Math. Appl. in Environmental Science; Original Paper; Physics; Pollution; Pollution abatement; Probability Theory and Stochastic Processes; Statistics for Engineering; Sulfur dioxide; Sustainable development; Urbanization; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; China; China, People's Rep; Urban China; Division; Density; Industrial pollution; Distance
• ISSN: 1436-3240; 1436-3259
• DOI: 10.1007/s00477-013-0736-8

The relationship between economic development and environmental pollution has been widely studied in the context of the environmental Kuznets curve. This study applies the three-dimension framework of density, division, and distance proposed by the World Bank to identify the spatial heterogeneity of development and pollution in urban China. An inverted U relationship is detected between density and industrial SO 2 emission, while a cubic relationship is found between density and industrial SO 2 /soot emission intensity. The statistical significance of division indicates that the pollution haven hypothesis holds in the western region and cities in the periphery. The environmental implication of distance is that the industrial pollution is largely concentrated in the national and regional cores.