Impacts of Urban Form on CO2 Emissions in Cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt: An Analysis Based on the Spatial Econometrics Model

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions have caused severe climate warming across the world. It is urgent to take effective measures to reduce this warming effect. Urban form (UF) has attracted increasing attention from scholars, decision makers and urban planners in recent years due to its effective role in achieving CO2 reduction. This paper investigates the impacts of urban form on CO2 emissions in cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) from multiple perspectives based on sustainable development principle, in which environmental, economic and social urban form dimensions are defined and the spatial econometrics model is adopted. The main findings include: (1) Urban complexity, urban sprawling, urban compactness and population density play an essential role in increasing CO2 emissions in the sample cities in YREB. (2) Urban centrality and the proportion of tertiary production can decrease CO2 emissions in the sample cities in YREB. (3) The indirect effect of urban form variables LSI, TA, AI and the proportion of secondary production in increasing CO2 emissions in its neighboring cities should not be ignored in the sample cities in YREB. This paper contributes to literature development in the fields of understanding the impacts of urban form on CO2 emission. The empirical results of this study can provide policy references for reducing CO2 emission in cities in the sample cities in YREB.