Spatial Differences in and Influences upon the Sustainable Development Level of the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration in China

Based on new data from 2006–2015, we used the entropy method and panel data regression to analyze the spatial difference and influences on the level of sustainable development within China’s Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration. The main findings are: (1) During the 2006–2015 period, the sustainable development level of the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration was generally low, with 69% of its cities in a phase of low-level sustainable development; however, notable spatial variation in the levels of urban sustainable development occurred mainly along the “Hu-Ning-He-Hang-Yong development belt”, with a spatial distribution that was “high in the middle and low on all sides”. (2) The industrial structure, export dependence, and land-use efficiency all had positive impacts, whereas economic growth had a negative impact, on the sustainable development level of the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration. (3) For the super large city, export dependence positively impacted the urban sustainable development level; for the large city, both export dependence and land-use efficiency had a positive influence, while the regulation of government had a negative influence on the urban sustainable development level; for the medium-sized city, export dependence and land-use efficiency positively influenced the urban sustainable development level, but economic growth and the regulation by government negatively influenced it.