Industrial transformation and upgrading is a key variable for developing countries to become developed countries. In China’s institutional environment, the central government’s decisions regarding the spatial allocation of land resources cause a differentiation in the evolution of industrial structures and formats among regions, generating significant impacts on urban industrial transformation and upgrading (UITU), with important policy implications. Using panel data from 276 prefecture-level cities in China from 2007 to 2019, this study constructs a spatial panel econometric model and a mediating effect model to reveal how land spatial misallocation (LSM) affects UITU. The results show that, LSM is not conducive to UITU, and this adverse effect is greater in cities with a relative land supply shortage than in cities with a relative land supply surplus. Further research finds that the LSM caused by the relative land supply shortage affects the UITU mainly through intermediate mechanisms that crowd out the investments and financing for real industries and inhibit residents’ demand and innovation, and the LSM caused by the relative land supply surplus affects the UITU mainly through intermediate mechanisms that enhance the survival of low-end industries and disrupt the institutional environment. From these findings, this study not only puts forward specific policy recommendations for optimizing the allocation of land resources in China to promote UITU, but also discusses the implications for related research and practice in other countries.

Increasing total factor productivity is the key to promoting high-quality economic development. This paper starts with land supply as an institutional source factor and discusses the impact of the regional differentiation of land supply on total factor productivity in China. Based on the panel data of 273 cities in China from 2003 to 2017, this paper measures total factor productivity (TFP) using the DEA-Malmquist index, decomposes it into technical progress (TE), pure technical efficiency (PE) and scale efficiency (SE), and analyzes the effect of the regional differentiation of land supply on TFP using the spatial Durbin model and mediating model. This study finds the following: (1) At the national level, the tilting of land supply to the central and western regions leads to a contradiction between land supply and demand, which hinders TFP by suppressing TE, PE and SE. (2) At the regional level, the reduction in land supply in the eastern region expands the technological substitution rate, induces the substitution effect of enterprise innovation, and thus promotes TE, but inhibits PE and SE under the resource constraint and congestion effect, which hinders the improvement of TFP. The estimates for the central and western regions are generally consistent with the national results; again, as land supply increases, this hinders TFP by suppressing TE, PE and SE. (3) In terms of the mechanism of influence, the decrease in land supply in the eastern region promotes TE and TFP by promoting urban innovation and inhibiting SE through productive services agglomeration; the increase in land supply in the central and western regions hinders TE and TFP by inhibiting urban innovation, and hinders SE through manufacturing agglomeration. The conclusion of this paper has great significance for deepening the structural reform of land supply and promoting high-quality economic development.

In the context of increasing resource and environmental constraints, measurement and determinants of green utilization efficiency of urban land (GUEUL) is currently the subject of a rapidly expanding literature. Previous research concerning determinants of GUEUL focuses primarily on effects of socio-economic conditions on GUEUL, and little attention has been devoted to impacts of spatial structure and urban development patterns. This research explores impacts of polycentric development on GUEUL of urban agglomeration (UA), using data for major UAs in China covering the period 2005–2019. GUEUL and the extent of polycentricity is measured by employing an improved directional slack-based measure (SBM) model and the rank-size distribution-based approach, respectively. The linkage between polycentric development and GUEUL is explored by estimating models of determinants of GUEUL, and the nonlinear characteristics of the relationship are investigated by employing the panel threshold model approach. The results suggest that polycentric development positively impacts GUEUL of UAs, and such effect rises with economic development levels. In addition, degree of agglomeration, economic development level and intensity of government investment in science and technology is found to be positively related to GUEUL. The empirical results have significant implications for improving GUEUL through formulating and implementing regional and urban policies.

The leisure service function is an important component of the derivative function and non-market function of cultivated land. Therefore, exploring the strength of the cultivated land leisure service function with the help of spatial information technology is significant in guiding the proper utilization and protection of cultivated land resources. This paper constructed an evaluation system based on the three dimensions of ecological landscape, social activities, and economic performance, explored the spatial difference of the cultivated land leisure service function in Yuanyang County, the major grain-producing area along the Yellow River through spatial weighted overlay, classified the hot spots of leisure services and presented suggestions for improvement. Results show the following: (1) the landscape resources in the northern part are relatively monotonous, while those in the southern part are rich and evenly distributed. Spatial accessibility presents a distribution of “one core with multiple subcores”. The distribution of leisure service supply capacity is characterized by “multiple cores and multiple circles.” (2) The hot spots of the cultivated land leisure service function are the Urban Agricultural Central Area and the Ecological Agriculture Core Area in the middle of the county, and the Suburban Agritourism Development Area, the Yellow River Agritourism Transitional Area, and the Leisure Agriculture Connection Area on the periphery of the county. (3) The agricultural landscape should be fully protected and utilized in the Urban Agricultural Central Area. The spatial accessibility and regional reputation of the Ecological Agriculture Core Area need to be improved. The landscape diversity and landscape quality should be improved in the Suburban Agritourism Development Area. The Yellow River Agritourism Transitional Area needs to overcome the loss of tourists. The Leisure Agriculture Connection Area should increase the number of leisure and tourism facilities.