Skip to main content
Log in

Impact of the Built Environment on the Spatial Heterogeneity of Regional Innovation Productivity: Evidence from the Pearl River Delta, China

  • Published:
Chinese Geographical Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

With the global economy increasingly dependent on innovation, urban discourse has shifted to consider what kinds of spatial designs may best nurture innovation. We examined the relationship between the built environment and the spatial heterogeneity of regional innovation productivity (RIP) using the example of China’s Pearl River Delta (PRD). Based on a spatial database of 522 546 patent data from 2017, this study proposed an innovation-based built environment framework with the following five aspects: healthy environment, daily interaction, mixed land use, commuting convenience, and technology atmosphere. Combining negative binomial regression and Geodetector to examine the impact of the built environment on RIP, the results show that the spatial distribution of innovation productivity in the PRD region is extremely uneven. The negative binomial regression results show that the built environment has a significant impact on the spatial differentiation of RIP, and, specifically, that healthy environment, mixed land use, commuting convenience, and technology atmosphere all demonstrate significant positive impacts. Meanwhile, the Geodetector results show that the built environment factor impacts the spatial heterogeneity of RIP to varying degrees, with technology atmosphere demonstrating the greatest impact intensity. We conclude that as regional development discourse shifts focus to the knowledge and innovation economy, the innovation-oriented design and updating of built environments will become extremely important to policymakers.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yang Wang.

Additional information

Foundation item

Under the auspices of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41871150), GDAS’ Project of Science and Technology Development (No. 2021GDASYL-20210103004), National Key Research and Development Program (No. 2019YFB2103-101), Special Construction Project of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Strategic Research Institute (No. 2020GDA-SYL-20200201001), Key Special Project for Introduced Talents Team of Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou) (No. GML2019ZD0301)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wu, K., Wang, Y., Zhang, H. et al. Impact of the Built Environment on the Spatial Heterogeneity of Regional Innovation Productivity: Evidence from the Pearl River Delta, China. Chin. Geogr. Sci. 31, 413–428 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11769-021-1198-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11769-021-1198-4

Keywords

Navigation