No abstract

It is becoming increasingly urgent to address the health of the urban environment and the aging population as cities increasingly absorb the majority of the world’s population. Efforts to promote “healthy cities” continue to garner interest as a means of empowering local communities to improve residents’ access to healthcare and encourage them to adopt more preventative practices. Due to the confluence of urbanization and population aging in China, the country’s cities must be designed and constructed to accommodate a wider range of residents and improve the quality of life for residents of all ages. A policy intervention evaluation model for the sustainable city index system is introduced after briefly reviewing the historical progression of sustainable city construction and the policies around the world. Then, six main pilot cities are selected to analyze their unique characteristics and trends across various dimensions. Finally, the dynamic simulation model is used to simulate the operation status of the pilot city system according to different dynamic factors. Two main conclusions are reached. (1) In different areas, the implementation of the sustainable city pilot strategy has had varying degrees of encouraging effects on building projects. (2) Overall, the pilot cities’ observed value is quite near to the control value calculated here. This suggests the synthetic control unit closely resembles the actual pilot city in terms of layout and design. (3) The healthy city pilot policy has a promotion effect on healthy city construction, as measured by its effect size of 0.015. This work can serve as a theoretical reference for promoting healthy city growth and as a guide for the city’s benign operation.

In the current discourse surrounding economic and societal growth, much emphasis has been placed on the role and impact of digitalization. Despite this trend, research exploring the ecological implications of the digital economy remains scarce. To fill this research gap, our study aimed to investigate the correlation between the digital economy and carbon emissions, specifically examining the moderating impact of environmental regulations. For empirical analysis, we utilize the CRITIC methodology to establish a thorough set of indicators that can evaluate the performance of China’s digital economy. According to our empirical results, the digital economy seems to exert a moderating influence on the levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and this negative impact is more pronounced in affluent and densely populated regions of China. The effectiveness of digitalization in reducing pollution can be enhanced by the enforcement of environmental regulations. This paper elucidates the potential mechanisms via which the digital economy affects carbon dioxide emissions, and constructs a framework for the mechanisms via which the digital economy affects the environment by influencing the carbon dioxide emissions, providing a new way for enterprises and governments to participate in environmental protection and expanding the content of research related to the digital economy.