Unlocking Sustainable Urban Land Use Under Digital Transformation: Spatiotemporal Patterns and Implications for Emerging Economies

Rapid global urbanization has exacerbated the conflict between land expansion and ecosystem carrying capacity, making the enhancement of urban land use efficiency (ULUE), a critical pathway for sustainable development. While the digital economy offers a new engine for green transition, its spatiotemporal mechanisms remain underexplored. Taking China, a representative emerging economy, as a case study, this paper investigates the impact of digital transformation on ULUE from 2013 to 2020. By integrating the Super-EBM model with GTWR, we reveal a dynamic evolution where national efficiency improves while regional polarization intensifies. A key finding challenges traditional agglomeration theory, that population density increasingly exerts a negative impact on ULUE, suggesting that congestion costs and ecological pressures are outweighing agglomeration benefits in the digital era. Furthermore, digital infrastructure demonstrates a consistent positive effect by overcoming geographical barriers, whereas environmental regulation exhibits a J-curve effect that is initially constraining but eventually boosts efficiency. These insights provide a roadmap for developing nations to leverage digital tools for balancing economic growth with ecological sustainability, emphasizing the need for spatially differentiated strategies to manage the digital divide and urban congestion.