How Urban Agglomeration Policies Influence the Coordinated Regional Development of Population, Economy, and Environment : Insights from Three Premier Urban Agglomerations in China

How Urban Agglomeration Policies Influence the Coordinated Regional Development of Population, Economy, and Environment : Insights from Three Premier Urban Agglomerations in China | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article How Urban Agglomeration Policies Influence the Coordinated Regional Development of Population, Economy, and Environment : Insights from Three Premier Urban Agglomerations in China Guibao Liang, Yulong Dai, Qiao Xia This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8102096/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Urban agglomeration policy is a critical indicator of China’s shift from urban autonomous development to regional integration. Given China’s relatively late start in agglomeration development, clarifying the policy’s relationship with population-economy-environment coordinated development (CDR-PEE) is essential for high-quality regional growth. This study takes three premier urban agglomerations in China Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, and Chengdu-Chongqing as research objects, adopting a quasi-natural experiment and multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) model for empirical analysis. Results show the policy significantly promotes CDR-PEE, with obvious spatial heterogeneity: its effect varies by geographical positioning and the number of core cities. Mediation analysis identifies technological innovation and industrial structure upgrading as key transmission channels through which the policy drives CDR-PEE. Finally, relevant policy recommendations are proposed to provide insights for optimizing regional coordinated development strategies. Urban agglomeration policy coordinated regional development of population-economy-environment coupling coordination model multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) model Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8102096","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":589052802,"identity":"2045afa2-1841-42cb-ad90-c3db571e21b2","order_by":0,"name":"Guibao Liang","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAsElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACPgYexgcMDAdAbAPitLAx8DAbMCSQqIVNgkQt/GuPVfz8cSexgb15mwRDzR0itEi8S7vZk/AssYHnWJkEw7FnxGg5Y3abIeFwYoNEjpkEY8Nh4rQUg7XIvyFWC3+PGTPEFh6ibeFLluxJe2bcxpNWbJFwjAgt/PxnD374YXNHtp/98MYbH2qI0MIgkQC1DkQkEKEBaM0BopSNglEwCkbBSAYAqIw4DByBl/AAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"Chongqing Technology and Business University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Guibao","middleName":"","lastName":"Liang","suffix":""},{"id":589052803,"identity":"17d67f69-122b-49da-a47b-21164016ba45","order_by":1,"name":"Yulong Dai","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Chongqing Technology and Business University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yulong","middleName":"","lastName":"Dai","suffix":""},{"id":589052804,"identity":"b1674f2d-add7-4f19-b370-df1506818358","order_by":2,"name":"Qiao Xia","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Chongqing Technology and Business University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Qiao","middleName":"","lastName":"Xia","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-11-13 06:23:19","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8102096/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8102096/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":106728580,"identity":"eae71b18-08c2-4b83-9759-3cedefa8e949","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-12 18:43:21","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":696237,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscriptanonymous.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8102096/v1_covered_69f62648-afdb-46ec-ab52-a4daf1edbcc8.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"How Urban Agglomeration Policies Influence the Coordinated Regional Development of Population, Economy, and Environment : Insights from Three Premier Urban Agglomerations in China","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Urban agglomeration policy, coordinated regional development of population-economy-environment, coupling coordination model, multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) model","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8102096/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8102096/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eUrban agglomeration policy is a critical indicator of China\u0026rsquo;s shift from urban autonomous development to regional integration. 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