Can Industrial Structure Upgrading Restrain Industrial Land Expansion? Evidence from China.

China has made great achievements in industrial development and is transforming into a powerful manufacturing country. Meanwhile, the industrial land scale is also expanding. However, whether industrial structure upgrading achieves the purpose of restraining industrial land expansion remains unanswered. By calculating the industrial land structure index (ILSI) and industrial land expansion scale (ILES), this study analyzed their temporal and spatial distribution characteristics at both regional and city levels from 2007 to 2020 in China. Results show that industrial land expansion presents a different trend in the four regions, the ILES in the eastern region is the largest, and the speed of industrial land expansion has declined since 2013, but it has gradually increased since 2016. The ILSI of the eastern and central regions is higher than that of the western and northeastern regions. Furthermore, a spatial Durbin model (SDM) has been established to estimate the spatial effect of industrial structure upgrading on industrial land expansion from 2007 to 2020. Notably, industrial structure upgrading has not slowed industrial land expansion. The eastern and western regions require a greater amount of industrial land while upgrading the industrial structure. The improvement of the infrastructure level and international trade level has promoted industrial land expansion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]