Improving urban land green use efficiency (ULGUE) is an effective way to increase social, economic, and ecological benefits and achieve regional sustainable development goals. This study takes three batches of low-carbon pilot cities construction as a quasi-natural experiment and investigates the impact of low-carbon pilot construction on ULGUE through the multi-period difference-in-differences method and spatial Dubin difference model (SDM-DID). The results show that (1) from 2006 to 2019, ULGUE in China increased. From the aspect of space, ULGUE in China gradually decreased from west to east, showing an obviously high agglomeration phenomenon in Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei and the Pearl River Delta; (2) after the robustness test, parallel trend test, and endogenous test, it is found that the conclusion that the low-carbon pilot construction can effectively improve ULGUE is still relevant and can indirectly improve ULGUE in the local region through fund allocation, talent gathering, and industrialization; and (3) the national ULGUE has significant positive spatial correlation. The results of the SDM-DID model confirm that the low-carbon pilot policy can produce the significant spatial spillover and drive the common advance of ULGUE in neighboring regions. Therefore, the resources and environmental conditions in each city are supposed to be taken into full consideration theoretically. Furthermore, it is necessary to effectively promote the development of ULGUE by strengthening the linkage of green production factors between different cities, so as to make meaningful contributions to promoting China’s overall green development.

深入剖析城市用地开发强度的时空特征，揭示“人口—经济”承载强度的动态协调关系，是新时期国土空间高质量治理背景下的重要科学命题。论文基于1980—2020年中国多时期土地利用遥感监测数据集，整合DMSP/VIIRS夜间灯光数据及校准后的全球人类住区层(global human settlement layer，GHSL)人口栅格数据，从“人口—经济”视角出发，深入剖析中国城市新增建设用地开发强度的时空演变特征。研究发现：① 改革开放以来，中国城市新增建设用地开发强度在时序上呈现“N”型演进特征，在空间上呈现“东南高、西北低”的分异格局，且新增建设用地开发强度随城市规模增长而提高。② 城市新增建设用地的“人口—经济”协调水平逐年下降，但区域间差异逐渐缩小。在空间格局上，北方地区城市新增建设用地经济承载强度大于人口承载强度，而南方地区则较为均衡，但2000年后也陷入“经济—人口”倒挂的处境。③ 随着行政等级和城市规模等级提升，增量与存量用地开发强度比值呈下降趋势，即大城市的土地利用模式更倾向于“内涵式”更新，而小城市的土地利用仍以“外延式”扩张为主导。结合研究结论，未来应严格控制城市扩张规模，并基于中国不同区域和不同规模城市新增建设用地指标失衡的客观现实，构建动态差异化的调控机制，进一步完善用地绩效考核，促进国土空间可持续利用。