ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Environmental Economics and Management
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2025.1429406
Can the construction of ecological civilization pilot demonstration areas improve urban green total factor productivity? Evidence from China
Provisionally accepted
- 1Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China
- 2Ocean University of China, Qingdao, Shandong Province, China
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Improved urban green total factor productivity contributes to the enhancement of the global ecological environment and the promotion of sustainable development. This paper constructs a multiperiod double-difference model using a quasi-natural experiment and investigates the impact of constructing ecological civilization pilot demonstration areas on urban green total factor productivity based on data from 261 cities in China from 2007 to 2020. The results indicate that building ecological civilization pilot demonstration areas can elevate urban green total factor productivity, particularly in nonresource-based cities and medium-sized to large cities. The mechanism operates through two main channels: Enhancing government environmental concern and promoting the development of high-tech industries in the region. The findings of this study can offer Chinese insights for the global assessment of green city policies.
Keywords: Ecological civilization pilot demonstration areas, Urban green total factor productivity, Multiperiod double-difference model, quasi-natural experiment, Green city policy evaluation
Received: 21 Sep 2024; Accepted: 01 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wu and Fu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Zijian Wu, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China
Lixiang Fu, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266003, Shandong Province, China
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