Analysis of sustainable transformation development patterns and heterogeneity of Chinese cities based on spatial general equilibrium model

The role of cities in achieving more sustainable regional environmental and economic development has been increasingly recognized, and quantifying the process of city sustainable transformational development has become a hot topic of research. This paper extends the spatial general equilibrium model, moistens environmental capital into production factors, and conducts theoretical research and empirical analysis on the sustainable transformational development patterns (STDP) and heterogeneity of cities. The study shows that the level of industrial agglomeration and environmental productivity interact with each other to influence the level of STDP, and that two types of factors, factor structure and industrial linkage, market size and industrial linkage, influence the heterogeneity of STDP. The analysis of the empirical results of STDP shows that the level of STDP of Chinese cities is low, and there are large differences in regional development; the number of cities with general sustainable transformational development pattern (GSTDP) occupies more than 50% of the number of the total number of cities, the cities with weak sustainable transformational development pattern (WSTDP) are concentrated in central and western regions such as Gansu, Shaanxi, and Ningxia, while the cities with strong sustainable transformational development pattern (SSTDP) form a cluster mainly in the Shandong–Jiangsu–Zhejiang–Fujian–Guangdong border. Further, the heterogeneity analysis of cities with SSTDP, GSTDP, and WSTDP is conducted, respectively, which provides some theoretical basis and empirical support for policy makers to formulate reasonable sustainable transition development regulation strategies.