A Study On The Impact Of Economic Development And Urbanization On Air Pollution

China has witnessed rapid economic development and urbanization in the past few decades and the natural environment is increasingly interacting with people.Meanwhile,the government has always being emphasizing on issues relating to environmental protection.Air pollution is strongly related to people’s life and has caused a lot of health and economic losses in recent years.Therefore,it is important to explore the causes of serious air pollution and understand the link of air pollution,economic development and urbanization.This paper systematically analyzes the impact of economic development and urbanization on air pollution based on a path of "basic theory and literature review → spatial and temporal investigation of air pollution → spatial effects of economic development and urbanization on air pollution and their mechanisms →comparative analysis of urban agglomerations".This paper uses data at the provincial and city scale from 2000 to 2019 to firstly analyze the spatio-temporal characteristics of air pollution at two scales,and then examine the spatial clustering of air pollution,and use three spatial weight matrices to conduct a spatial regression of the factors influencing air pollution,verify the existence of the environmental Kuznets curve at the provincial level and analyse the spatial effects,and finally,four typical urban agglomerations were selected to explore the factors influencing air pollution in different regions.The conclusions were as following:(1)From 2000 to 2019,air pollution in 31 provinces and cities across China experienced a process from deterioration to improvement;pollution was more serious in the eastern and central regions compared to the western and northeastern regions;pollution was particularly serious in Tianjin,Henan and Shandong,while air quality was better in the Tibet and Yunnan.Among the four urban agglomerations,the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region got the most serious air pollution.(2)There are significant spatial clusters of air pollution nationwide,with high-high clusters mainly in Henan,Shandong and Tianjin,and low-low clusters in Tibet,Qinghai and Yunnan.(3)Air pollution and economic development follow an’inverted U’ environmental Kuznets curve,with spillover effects also positive and then negative;increasing urbanisation rates raise air pollution and gradually increasing urbanisation levels have negative externalities;the ’pollution sanctuary’ hypothesis holds true for provincial scale.In addition,the proportion of secondary industry output,road area per capita and the increase in population density have a negative impact on air quality.(4)Economic development affects air pollution through scale,structure and technology effects;urbanization affects air quality mainly through population concentration,lifestyle,and spatial expansion.(5)Economic development and air pollution in the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta fit "U-shaped",while the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and Chengdu-Chongqing urban agglomerations show an "inverted U-shaped" Kuznets curve relationship.The level of urbanization in the four major urban agglomerations has a significant negative impact on air pollution.Based on the above findings,three policy suggestions are drawn up to improve air quality,including:(1)making the most of the three positive effects of economic development;(2)appropriately controlling the level of population concentration,promoting ecofriendly lifestyles,and carrying out urban spatial expansion in an orderly and reasonable manner;(3)" Choose the right medicine for the symptom" in each region coupled with joint prevention and control,improving the local prevention and regional collaboration in air pollution management.