sustainability Article Efficiency Loss and Intensification Potential of Urban Industrial Land Use in Three Major Urban Agglomerations in China Xiangdong Wang 1,2,3,* , Xiaoqiang Shen 1,2 and Tao Pei 3 1 College of Management, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China;
[email protected] 2 Institute for Studies in County Economy Development, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China 3 Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected] Received: 24 December 2019; Accepted: 20 February 2020; Published: 22 February 2020 Abstract: In recent decades, efficiency and intensification have emerged as hot topics within urban industrial land use (UILU) studies in China. However, the measurement and analysis of UILU efficiency and intensification are not accurate and in-depth enough. The study of UILU efficiency loss and intensification potential and their relationship is still lacking, and the application of parametric methods with clearer causal mechanisms is insufficient. This paper argued that the intensification potential of UILU could be defined as the amount of saved land or output growth resulting from reduced efficiency loss of UILU. Accordingly, we constructed quantitative models for measuring and evaluating the intensification potential of UILU, using the stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) method to calculate efficiency loss in three major urban agglomerations (38 cities) in China. Our results revealed a large scale and an expanding trend in the efficiency loss and intensification potential of UILU in three major urban agglomerations in China. From 2003 to 2016, the annual efficiency loss of UILU was 31.56%, the annual land-saving potential was 979.98 km2, and the annual output growth potential was 8775.23 billion Yuan (referring to the constant price for 2003).