Urban Sprawl and Economic Vitality: Evidence from 284 Cities in China

Urbanization is accelerating worldwide, presenting challenges such as traffic congestion, declining public services, and environmental degradation. Cultivating urban vitality has become crucial for sustainable city development. Using panel data from 284 Chinese cities between 2003 and 2020, this study explores the impact of urban sprawl on economic vitality, analyzing its transmission mechanisms, heterogeneity effects, and spatial spillover effects. The results indicate that urban sprawl significantly enhances urban economic vitality, with a one-unit increase in the urban sprawl index leading to a roughly 0.28% rise in economic vitality. Mediation analysis shows that urban sprawl boosts economic vitality by attracting labor inflows, improving human capital quality, and increasing consumer capacity. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the positive effect of urban sprawl on economic vitality is more pronounced in the east and north regions, with significant impacts for both small and large cities, while the effect is not significant for medium-sized cities. Additionally, urban sprawl positively impacts the economic vitality of surrounding cities. This study offers a new perspective for developing countries to optimize regional economic vitality amid ongoing urbanization.