Land Resource Allocation and Urban Innovation: A Research Based on Industrial Land Structure

Abstract

The new development concept points out that innovation is the first driving force for development, and land resource allocation is an important means for the government to promote innovation and guide the development of high-tech industries. With the depletion of the “land-based development model”, the traditional extensive land resource supply model cannot support high-quality economic development. Under the premise that the total amount of land resources is limited, the land supply structure is urgently transformed to an intensive one. However, due to the limitations of data, the existing analysis is mainly from the perspective of the total amount of land transfer, the lack of more detailed study of the transfer structure.

To investigate the structural impact of intensive industrial land supply on urban innovation, this study analyzes land transaction data by industry alongside the number of patent authorizations at the prefecture-level city level spanning from 2007 to 2019. The results show that, first, increasing the proportion of high-tech manufacturing land sold by local governments can significantly improve the level of urban innovation. Second, as the main body of urban innovation, while the intensification of industrial land supply structures stimulates the entry of innovative enterprises into the region, it has minimal impact on the R&D investment of existing enterprises, suggesting a presence of expansion but not intensification effects. Third, the price of high-tech manufacturing land plays a pivotal role in guiding land use intensification, facilitating innovation promotion through structural transformation, indicating a complementary relationship between quantity and price allocation.

Compared to previous literature, this article expands on the following two aspects: First, it introduces a more detailed analysis of land transfer structures by categorizing industrial land based on technology, enabling a targeted understanding of transfer dynamics and exploring the impact of intensive land transfers on urban innovation. This enriches research on the economic ramifications of land allocation. Second, by intertwining the technical structure of industrial land allocation with manufacturing technology development and regional innovation levels, the article endeavors to chart a path towards high-quality economic development via land resource allocation. Specifically, it aims to foster technological progress in the manufacturing industry, thereby enhancing regional innovation levels and productivity to achieve high-quality economic development.

The insights gained from this analysis provide both direction and empirical foundations for the structural transformation of local government land transfers. It is imperative for all local governments to transition from extensive to intensive land supply models, aligning land use with innovation-driven strategies to elevate the technological innovation levels of manufacturing enterprises. By leveraging land reform to promote economic transformation, local governments can catalyze the realization of high-quality economic development.