Does the innovation community cultivation promote urban green development? Evidence from the urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River

A key strategy for reducing regional pollution transfer and hastening the transition to carbon neutrality is to encourage the urban green development (UGD). However, UGD in urban agglomerations is hampered by policy inconsistencies and economic inequalities between cities. Urban Agglomeration innovation communities (UAIC), which are supposed to improve GDA by reducing policy and economic disparities between cities through collaborative innovation, are emerging as a new policy strategy for countries to speed up the integration of urban agglomerations and to promote regional cooperation and sharing of science and technology. However, empirical studies of UAIC effects on the environment are still lacking. Based on measured the UAIC index and the UGD level of the urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River (TUAMRYR) from 2011 to 2019, this paper used spatial regression model to test the direct effect, spillover effect, and attenuation boundaries of UAIC on UGD, as well as to analyze the various impacts of the four sub-systems of UAIC on UGD, respectively, from the system perspective. The following are the key findings: First, the UAIC and UGD of TUAMRYR have been rising gradually and exhibit a spatial distribution pattern of "center-periphery". Second, for every unit increase in the UAIC index, local UGD can be improved by 0.432 units, and UGD in nearby areas can be encouraged by 0.312 units. Third, 325 km serve as the attenuation barrier for the spatial spillover effect of UAIC on UGD. Finally, UGD can be impacted by independent innovation subsystem, collaborative innovation subsystem, innovation ecological environment subsystem, and innovation performance subsystem, however the impacts they have on UGD vary.