Plugging in for cities: the impact of power infrastructure on urban agglomeration

This article demonstrates that the construction of power plants spurs urban agglomeration. Cities with large thermal power plants experience reductions in built-up area sizes while seeing increases in population density and building heights. The underlying mechanisms of these observations include variations in electricity supply, economic development, and environmental impact. Notably, gas-fired power plants exhibit superior performance in population agglomeration compared to their large-scale, heavily polluted thermal counterparts. To elucidate the trade-offs individuals make between different power plant attributes, we analyze the spatial distribution of populations around coal-fired power plants within urban areas. Additionally, we conduct a heterogeneity analysis across four dimensions: traffic infrastructure, economic growth, environmental regulation, and geographical factors.