Abstract：

Rapid urbaneconomicgrowth in China has resulted in a number of resource and environmental challenges. Technological innovations are a source of economic growth but act as a double-edged sword in their effects onurban greendevelopment. This study aimed to determine whether technological innovations promote or impede the enhancement of urbaneco-efficiencyin China and also to reveal regional and administrative-level differences in terms of the effects of technological innovations. We selected the number of grantedinvention patents andthe proportion of technology-related revenue in the total revenue of nationalhigh-technologyindustrial developmentzones (NHTIDZs) as indicators torepresent knowledgeinnovation and product innovation, respectively, and used the spatial autoregressive model to examine the effects of the two innovations on urban eco-efficiency. The results showed that technological innovations, which enhanced urban eco-efficiency, had a greater impact on eastern cities than on central and western cities. The higher was the administrative level of a city, the greater were the effects of invention patents on urban eco-efficiency. Moreover, the higher was the administrative level of a city, the smaller was the role that NHTIDZs played in promoting urban eco-efficiency, which represented a case of diminishing marginal utility.

From：

Zhang, J. , Chang, Y. , Zhang, L. , & Li, D. . (2018). Do technological innovations promote urban green development?—a spatial econometric analysis of 105 cities in china.Journal of Cleaner Production, S0959652618303731.