Research on the driving effect of Eco-economic Zones on urban coordinated development and its effect mechanism

The core goal of Eco-economic Zone planning is to enhance the coordinated development of cities in the basin in terms of main function realization and livelihood development and achieve coordinated and high-quality development in the basin. Using a double-difference approach, this paper uses panel data from 2004 to 2019 for 49 prefecture-level cities in Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei, and Jiangsu provinces to test the proposed theoretical hypotheses and empirically examine the driving effects and mechanisms of the three Eco-economic Zones on the coordinated development of cities along the river basin. The study finds that the three zones significantly enhance the coordinated development of cities along the zones. The dimension of livelihood development is more significant in strengthening cities' coordinated development along the three zones. At the same time, there is substantial regional individual heterogeneity and temporal dynamic heterogeneity in the driving effect of the plan. The Eco-economic Zone Plan is designed to enhance the coordinated development of cities along the Great Lakes Basin through green economic development and ecological environment improvement. The above findings help explore new experiences in the protection, management, and development of the Great Lakes Basin. They have important policy implications for cities in the Eco-economic Zone to develop a “new path” of collaborative ecological and economic development.