Economic perspective-based analysis on urban infrastructures carrying capacity — A China study

Urban Infrastructure Economic Capacity (UIEC) is one of the most important capacities of urban infrastructure carrying capacity, which is an essential determinant of sustainable urban development. However, it appears that UIEC is not properly investigated during the urban development process, for which establishing an appropriate method is imperative to examine whether the urban infrastructure has achieved ideal economic capacity. This paper introduces an instrumental approach named UIEC model to investigate urban infrastructure economic capacity. The UIEC model adopts Coupling-Coordination Degree Model, Mean-Variance Analysis Method, Support-Pressure Model, and Super-efficiency Slack-based-measure Window model jointly. By employing the UIEC model, the economic capacity of urban infrastructure carrying capacity is appreciated by investigating the economic carrying efficiency of urban infrastructures. A China study is conducted during 2008–2017 for demonstrating the application of the introduced UIEC model. The research findings suggest that: 1) Economic location and self-governance authority have significant impact on UIEC; 2) the overall economic carrying efficiency of urban infrastructure in surveyed cities is decreasing; 3) there lies in an exponential relationship between economic carrying efficiency of urban infrastructure and GDP value in surveyed cities. High utilization efficiency of urban infrastructures is an essential prerequisite for carrying large volume of urban economic development.