The Impact of Development Zones on China’s Urbanization from the Perspectives of the Population, Land, and the Economy

The sustainable development of urbanization is a necessary condition for China to realize modernization. Considering the importance of urbanization to China’s future development and the advantages of development zones in promoting urbanization, it is necessary to quantify the impact of establishing development zones on urbanization development. Using the difference in difference (DID) model, this study takes the panel data of 235 cities in China from 1990 to 2017 to evaluate the policy effects of setting up development zones on urbanization from the perspectives of the population, land, and the economy. The results show that the development zone policy in the overall panel exerts a significant negative impact on land urbanization and a significant positive impact on economic urbanization but exerts no significant impact on population urbanization. The regression results of sub-regions show significant regional differences in the impact of development zones on urbanization. In the eastern region, the development zone policy has promoted the intensive use of urban construction land. For the central and western regions with weak development foundations, development zones play an important role in attracting the population and upgrading industries while reducing the intensive use of construction land. This study provides urban-level empirical evidence for evaluating the urbanization effects of development zone policies and puts forward policy recommendations for development zone construction to promote high-quality urbanization in China.