Synergistic Systems of Digitalization and Urbanization in Driving Urban Green Development: A Configurational Analysis of China’s Yellow River Basin
Urban green development has become a crucial approach for balancing ecological conservation and socio-economic development. The digital economy (DE) and new-type urbanization (NTU), as technological and social systems, respectively, are both driving urban green development. In this context, furtheri...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Systems |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-8954/13/6/426 |
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| author | Shizheng Tan Wei Li Xiaoguang Liu Pengfei Li Le Yan Chen Liang |
| author_facet | Shizheng Tan Wei Li Xiaoguang Liu Pengfei Li Le Yan Chen Liang |
| author_sort | Shizheng Tan |
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| description | Urban green development has become a crucial approach for balancing ecological conservation and socio-economic development. The digital economy (DE) and new-type urbanization (NTU), as technological and social systems, respectively, are both driving urban green development. In this context, furthering their synergistic effects could substantially improve urban sustainability outcomes. Grounded in sociotechnical systems theory, this study applied pooled and multi-period fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to analyze urban green development pathways in 79 Yellow River Basin cities (2020–2022). The pooled fsQCA indicates that urban green development is driven by synergistic interaction within the NTU-DE subsystem, especially industrial digitalization–spatial urbanization. The multi-period fsQCA further demonstrates that industrial digitization has always existed as a core condition, which means that it plays a more general role. In addition, the Yellow River Basin exhibits distinct regional variations in urban green development, where the downstream region is dominantly driven by DE and spatial urbanization, the upstream region by industrial digitization, and the midstream region demonstrates diversified pathways. This study enhances understanding of complex system interactions in urban green development and provides policy-relevant insights. For policy implementation, local governments should not only prioritize effective synergies between industrial digitization and spatial urbanization but also develop differentiated strategies for the DE and NTU subsystems based on local conditions. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-2ef480b2f03c4a5b8015b5920824309a |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2079-8954 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Systems |
| spelling | doaj-art-2ef480b2f03c4a5b8015b5920824309a2025-08-20T03:26:56ZengMDPI AGSystems2079-89542025-06-0113642610.3390/systems13060426Synergistic Systems of Digitalization and Urbanization in Driving Urban Green Development: A Configurational Analysis of China’s Yellow River BasinShizheng Tan0Wei Li1Xiaoguang Liu2Pengfei Li3Le Yan4Chen Liang5School of Economics and Management, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, ChinaSchool of Economics and Management, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, ChinaSchool of Economics and Management, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, ChinaSchool of Economics and Management, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, ChinaSchool of Economics and Management, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, ChinaSchool of Economics and Management, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, ChinaUrban green development has become a crucial approach for balancing ecological conservation and socio-economic development. The digital economy (DE) and new-type urbanization (NTU), as technological and social systems, respectively, are both driving urban green development. In this context, furthering their synergistic effects could substantially improve urban sustainability outcomes. Grounded in sociotechnical systems theory, this study applied pooled and multi-period fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to analyze urban green development pathways in 79 Yellow River Basin cities (2020–2022). The pooled fsQCA indicates that urban green development is driven by synergistic interaction within the NTU-DE subsystem, especially industrial digitalization–spatial urbanization. The multi-period fsQCA further demonstrates that industrial digitization has always existed as a core condition, which means that it plays a more general role. In addition, the Yellow River Basin exhibits distinct regional variations in urban green development, where the downstream region is dominantly driven by DE and spatial urbanization, the upstream region by industrial digitization, and the midstream region demonstrates diversified pathways. This study enhances understanding of complex system interactions in urban green development and provides policy-relevant insights. For policy implementation, local governments should not only prioritize effective synergies between industrial digitization and spatial urbanization but also develop differentiated strategies for the DE and NTU subsystems based on local conditions.https://www.mdpi.com/2079-8954/13/6/426digital economynew-type urbanizationurban green developmentsociotechnical systemsdynamic qualitative comparative analysissystem synergies |
| spellingShingle | Shizheng Tan Wei Li Xiaoguang Liu Pengfei Li Le Yan Chen Liang Synergistic Systems of Digitalization and Urbanization in Driving Urban Green Development: A Configurational Analysis of China’s Yellow River Basin Systems digital economy new-type urbanization urban green development sociotechnical systems dynamic qualitative comparative analysis system synergies |
| title | Synergistic Systems of Digitalization and Urbanization in Driving Urban Green Development: A Configurational Analysis of China’s Yellow River Basin |
| title_full | Synergistic Systems of Digitalization and Urbanization in Driving Urban Green Development: A Configurational Analysis of China’s Yellow River Basin |
| title_fullStr | Synergistic Systems of Digitalization and Urbanization in Driving Urban Green Development: A Configurational Analysis of China’s Yellow River Basin |
| title_full_unstemmed | Synergistic Systems of Digitalization and Urbanization in Driving Urban Green Development: A Configurational Analysis of China’s Yellow River Basin |
| title_short | Synergistic Systems of Digitalization and Urbanization in Driving Urban Green Development: A Configurational Analysis of China’s Yellow River Basin |
| title_sort | synergistic systems of digitalization and urbanization in driving urban green development a configurational analysis of china s yellow river basin |
| topic | digital economy new-type urbanization urban green development sociotechnical systems dynamic qualitative comparative analysis system synergies |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-8954/13/6/426 |
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