Investigating the non-equilibrium in territorial space utilization benefits of urban agglomerations under new urbanization: A case study of the Pearl River Delta of China

The National Development and Reform Commission’s 14th 5-year Plan for New Urbanization aims to enhance the integrated development of urban agglomerations and promote coordinated growth among large, medium, and small cities to improve the comprehensive development capacity of urban agglomerations. This study examines the systemic coupling and coordination of land use benefits and the concept of balanced territorial space utilization. A comprehensive evaluation index system is constructed, employing the coupling coordination degree model and the land development imbalance index model to assess both the comprehensive benefits of land use and the balance of land development in the nine cities of the Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration in 2019. The findings are as follows: (i) Shenzhen has the largest territorial space development scale, with minor differences indicating balanced development; (ii) the territorial space development scale and urban economic benefits in the Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration are generally in a coordinated development stage. While Guangzhou and Shenzhen exhibit lagging input, the other cities demonstrate lagging output; and (iii) there is an extreme imbalance in territorial space development. Based on these findings, the study recommends the following: (i) maintain coordinated development between territorial space development scale and urban economic benefits by adjusting inputs and outputs across different cities to control land development intensity and enhance the economic output of land; and (ii) for cities facing overdevelopment, prioritize improving urban land supply capacity, control the expansion of construction land, and explore the redevelopment of existing land; for cities facing underdevelopment, provide preferential access to construction land quotas to support efficient land development.