Effects of urban forms on CO₂ emissions in China from a multi-perspective analysis

Effectively evaluating the effects of urban forms on CO₂ emissions has become a hot topic in socioeconomic sustainable development; however, few studies have been able to explore the urban form-CO₂ emission relationships from a multi-perspective view. Here, we attempted to analyze the relationships between urban forms and CO₂ emissions in 264 Chinese cities, with explicit consideration of the government policies, urban area size, population size, and economic structure. First, urban forms were calculated using the urban land derived from multiple-source remote sensing data. Second, we collected and processed CO₂ emissions and three control variables. Finally, a correlation analysis was implemented to explore whether and to what extent the spatial patterns of urban forms were associated with CO₂ emissions. The results show that urban form irregularity had a more significant impact on CO₂ emissions in low-carbon pilot cities than in non-pilot cities. The impact of the complexity of urban forms on CO₂ emissions was relatively significant in the small- and large-sized cities than in the medium-sized cities. Moreover, urban form complexity had a significant correlation with CO₂ emissions in all of the cities, the level of which basically increased with the population size. This study provides scientific bases for use in policy-making to prepare effective policies for developing a low-carbon economy with consideration of the associations between urban forms and CO₂ emissions in different scenarios.