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• This paper investigates the spatial interaction of environmental regulation in the Yangtze River Delta. • Examine spatial relationship between environmental regulation and innovation taking into account logistics matrix. • Discover inverted U relationship between formal environmental regulation and innovation. • Discover that the spatial self-selection of environmental regulation is not conducive to innovation development. • Found that environmental regulation affects innovation through spillover effect and industrial structure effect. Currently, China's environmental regulations are unprecedentedly strict. At the same time, China is emphasizing innovation development in the process of industrial upgrading. However, previous literature has not reached a consensus on the relationship between the environmental regulation and innovation. This paper takes the Yangtze River Delta, the most developed region in China, as an example, and uses the spatial econometric model based on the geographic matrix, economic matrix, and comprehensive relevance matrix of logistics enterprises to fully examine the relationship between urban environmental regulation and innovation development under different spatial interaction perspectives. The results show that: the relation between formal environmental regulation and innovation is inverse U-shaped. Spatial self-selection of environmental regulation in the Yangtze River Delta region weakens the enthusiasm of innovation to a certain extent. This paper argues that the main mechanisms through which environmental regulation affects innovation development are spillover effects and industrial structure effects. Finally, the paper proposes corresponding policy recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities have been one of the most important areas of CO 2 emissions. It is increasingly important to research the effect of urbanization on CO 2 emissions, especially in large emerging and developing economies, due to the indispensable need for understanding the effect of urbanization on CO 2 emissions, evaluating carbon reduction tasks and providing the scientific basis for low-carbon urbanization. Utilizing a balanced panel dataset in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), China, during the period of 2000–2010, this paper employed data envelopment analysis (DEA) window analysis and a spatial lag panel Tobit model to investigate the effect of urbanization on CO 2 emissions efficiency (the ratio of the target CO 2 emissions to the actual CO 2 emissions). The results show that the average CO 2 emissions efficiency was 0.959 in 2010, and CO 2 emissions efficiency ranged from 0.816 to 1 and exhibited spatial clustering in the region. The larger potential of CO 2 emissions reduction appeared in Zhenjiang and Yangzhou, indicating that more CO 2 emissions reduction tasks should be allocated to these two cities. Urbanization has negative effects on improving CO 2 emissions efficiency, and there is a U-curve relation between CO 2 emissions efficiency and urbanization, indicating that CO 2 emissions efficiency decreases at the early stage of urbanization, then increases when urbanization reach a high level. There is spatial spillover effect among the prefecture-level cities, suggesting that different prefecture-level governments should coordinate with each other to improve CO 2 emissions efficiency in the whole area. Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita also plays a markedly positive role in improving CO 2 emissions efficiency. This research highlights the effect of urbanization on CO 2 emissions efficiency and the importance of improving CO 2 emissions efficiency in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to explore carbon tax pilot in Yangtze River Delta (YRD) urban agglomerations based on a novel energy-saving and emission-reduction (ESER) system with carbon tax constraints, which has not yet been discussed in present literature. A novel carbon tax attractor is achieved through the discussion of the dynamic behavior of the new system. Based on the genetic algorithm-back propagation neural network, the quantitative coefficients of the actual system are identified. The scenario analysis results show that, under the same tax rate and constraint conditions, the ESER system in YRD urban agglomerations is superior to the average case in China, in which the impacts on economic growth are almost the same. The former’s energy intensity is lower and the shock resistance is stronger. It is found that economic property of YRD urban agglomerations is the main cause for the ESER system of YRD urban agglomerations being superior. In the current YRD urban agglomerations’ ESER system, energy intensity cannot be adjusted to an ideal level by commercialization management and government control; however, it is under effective control of carbon tax incentives. Therefore, strengthening the economic property of YRD urban agglomerations and effective utilization of carbon tax incentives could perfectly control energy intensity, without obvious potential negative impact on economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Evaluation of the ecosystem health of urban clusters will help to establish effective management that promotes sustainable regional development. The procedure for using emergy synthesis and set pair analysis models (EM-SPA) is established in this paper by combining the emergy synthesis''s ability to reflect health status from biophysical perspective and set pair analysis’ ability to describe extensive relationships among different variables. Based on the EM-SPA model, the relative health levels of different urban clusters and related health characteristics can be analyzed. The health states of three typical Chinese urban clusters, Jing-Jin-Tang, Yangtze River Delta, and Pearl River Delta, were investigated using the model. The results show that the health status of the Pearl River Delta was relatively good, while that of the Yangtze River Delta was poor. The specific health characteristics of three urban clusters were further compared. The management guidelines of the different urban clusters are also suggested. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The spatial and temporal characters of tropospheric NO2 column over Yangtze River Delta (YZD) are analyzed using monthly averaged tropospheric NO2 column densities from GOME (1996-2002) and SCIAMACHY (2003-2010) measurements. In addition, with the NO2 column densities data and the land cover maps of YZD, the characters of NO2 concentration over different ecosystem have been analyzed. The results indicated that the tropospheric NO2 column densities in YZD increased distinctly from 1996 to 2010 and it showed distinct regional and seasonal variation characteristics. It has the highest concentration in winter while lowest in summer. It also presents zonal distribution and decreasing along the Yangtze River from eastern to western. Under the influence of the urbanization process, the highest NO2 column densities appeared at cities and metropolis which are located in the Shanghai, Nanjing as well as Hangzhou. Moreover the lowest column densities appeared at the forest areas which are in the south and west of Zhejiang province. The sharp increasing of appeared in water bodies, followed urban area and water bodies. The lowest increasing of NO2 column appeared in grassland. Furthermore, we inferred the ground-level NO2 concentration from the GOME and SCIAMACHY data in this paper. We compared with the dry plus of N deposition which inferred from the remote sensing data and the mass concentration of N dry deposition from the control experiments, they performed significant correlation (P<0.001), and have the high R value (R2=0.86). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Based on Cointegration Analysis and the state space model, this paper empirically analyzes the Yangtze River Delta energy consumption and economic growth based on 1990-2008 data. The results show: According to the cointegration analysis, the Yangtze River Delta economic growth and energy consumption exists long-term equilibrium .the current period of economic growth has been influenced by this period energy consumption and the amount of the previous period of economic growth, and the economic growth have the ability of 29.98% of the autorepair capacity. in all,we can conclude three enlightenment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper investigates the polycentric network organization in Yangtze River Delta in 2001 and 2009 by morphological attribute and functional connection. The result shows that a morphological and functional polycentric network is in development in mega-city regions in Yangtze River Delta. In terms of morphological attribute, the rank-size feature of urban system has a tendency of decreasing. Meanwhile, network connection between cities in the mega-city regions in Yangtze River Delta tends to be frequent. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: An evaluation framework of emergy-based urban ecosystem health indicators was established to measure and describe the urban ecosystem health status in terms of energy and materials metabolism, when combing with the classical urban ecosystem health factors. Set pair analysis was also employed to guarantee and promote the objectivity of the ecosystem health criteria. Set pair analysis defines the approximate degree of a real index set relative to an optimal index set, and this is evaluated to describe the relative health levels of urban ecosystems based on the emergy indicators. Six cities in the Yangtze River Delta urban cluster in China were selected as case studies using 2005 data, and the relative urban ecosystem health levels were evaluated using the emergy indicators and set pair analysis. The evaluation showed that the urban ecosystem health states of Shanghai and Hangzhou are relatively good, while the health states of Wuxi and Suzhou are relatively poor. The health states for the cities based on concrete factors were also analyzed to identify regulatory directions for the improvement of the health status of those cities with relatively poor ecosystem health. This paper presents a meaningful comparison between different urban ecosystems at different indicator levels, and provides a useful framework for urban ecological management with respect to urban ecosystem health status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]