ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Environmental Economics and Management
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2025.1627397
This article is part of the Research TopicMoving Towards Sustainable Development: Exploring the Impact of Land-Use Policies on Land Green Utilization EfficiencyView all 12 articles
How can digital finance release the ecological value of land intensification: The insight of urban ecological resilience
Provisionally accepted
- 1School of Economics and Management, University of Architecture and Technology Huaqing College, Xi‘an, China
- 2School of Economic, Minzu University of China, Beijing, China
- 3Yellow River Institute of Hydraulic Research, Zhengzhou, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
As a substantial developmental framework aimed at tackling environmental challenges, the development of intensive use of urban land (IUUL) has yet to actualize its ecological efficacy fully.Improving the spatial distribution of factor resources can play a pivotal role in unlocking the ecological potential of IUUL, with a special emphasis on the effective allocation of financial resources. The emergence of digital finance (DF), such as Alipay and Pocket Banking, has notably enhanced the efficiency of financial resource allocation. Nonetheless, empirical data concerning the ability of DF to enhance the ecological significance of IUUL are scarce, and the mechanisms driving these processes remain obscure. This research utilizes panel data from 282 prefecture-level cities spanning 2011-2020 to explore the potential of DF in enhancing the ecological value of IUUL through the lens of urban ecological resilience (UER). The results suggest that DF has the potential to significantly enhance the positive impacts of IUUL on UER significantly, thereby further unlocking the ecological value of IUUL. Mechanisms analysis reveals the potential of DF to unlock the ecological value of IUUL by fostering regional green innovation (GI), rationalizing industrial structure (RIS), and overall upgrading of industrial structure (OUIS). Moreover, the heterogeneity analysis suggests that the effect is more prominent in economically advanced eastern regions, regions with more comprehensive infrastructure, and regions with more favorable innovation environments. This paper highlights the potential of DF to enhance UER through IUUL, offering empirical evidence for the profound fusion of the digital economy and the real economy to drive green transformation. It also charts a course for the real economy's green transformation and the sustainable development of the economy.
Keywords: digital finance, urban ecological resilience, Intensive use of urban land, Land intensification, Ecological value, green transformation
Received: 12 May 2025; Accepted: 17 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Liu, Hu and Li. 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: Jiawei Li, Yellow River Institute of Hydraulic Research, Zhengzhou, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.