Can urban sprawl be the cause of environmental deterioration? Based on the provincial panel data in China

Based on the provincial panel data in China for 2001-2017, this article explores the impact of incoordination between land and population urbanization on environmental quality from the perspective of urban sprawl. It can be found that: (1) Most provinces are suffering from the urban sprawl, land finance has made urban sprawl more serious. (2) The results of SDM show that the impact of urban sprawl on the CO2 emissions can be regarded as a N-shaped curve. Both excessively rapid expansion of urban space and excessively rapid growth of urban population can intensify the CO2 emissions. (3) The tests of regional heterogeneity show that in underdeveloped provinces, the effect of urban sprawl on CO2 emissions could also be a N-shaped curve, but it is an inversed U-shaped for the developed provinces. Thus, it can diminish the emissions of CO2 in developed provinces, through strengthening environmental regulations and restraining the excessively rapid growth of the urban population. However, the underdeveloped provinces should actively promote economic development and create more jobs to avoid the loss of labors. These conclusions are also applicable to the tests of regional heterogeneity based on total factor productivity.