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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Land Use Dynamics
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2025.1582896
This article is part of the Research TopicMoving Towards Sustainable Development: Exploring the Impact of Land-Use Policies on Land Green Utilization EfficiencyView all 8 articles
Land Use Policy and Green Utilization Efficiency in Border Cities: Evidence from Northeastern China's Carbon Reduction Practice
Provisionally accepted- Mudanjiang Normal University, Mudanjiang, China
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Efficient land resource utilization is increasingly important for regional development as global attention focuses on sustainable development in border regions. This study develops an innovative ‘border location-functional differentiation-efficiency coupling’ theoretical framework. Using this foundation, we employ regression-based path analysis and spatial analytical methods to evaluate the relationship between land use policies and green utilization efficiency across fourteen northeastern China border cities from 2010 to 2020. Our research reveals significant spatial heterogeneity inland use patterns. Industrial cities show lower land green utilization efficiency (8.14-12.48 tons CO2/10,000 yuan). In contrast, port cities maintain higher utilization efficiency (average 1.54 tons CO2/10,000 yuan). Land use policies oriented toward industrial transformation and ecological protection significantly enhance land green utilization efficiency. Energy intensity (- 6452.09, p < 0.05) and industrial structure (-4664.92, p < 0.01) are key inhibiting factors. Different types of cities present differentiated policy responses. Industrial cities promote technological upgrades through digital transformation. Ecological cities emphasize protection-oriented smart development. These findings enrich theoretical research on land use efficiency in border regions. They also provide a scientific basis for formulating differentiated land use policies. This has important practical significance for promoting ecological civilization construction and high-quality development in China’s northern border regions.
Keywords: Land-use policy, green utilization efficiency, Border cities, Carbon reduction, Spatial heterogeneity, sustainable development, Policy Effects, Northeastern China
Received: 25 Feb 2025; Accepted: 10 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Fan and Zhao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Lili Zhao, Mudanjiang Normal University, Mudanjiang, China
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