Towards sustainable development: can industrial collaborative agglomeration become an accelerator for green and...

In the context of accelerating the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development, this study explored the mechanisms through which the collaborative agglomeration of manufacturing and productive services affected the green and low-carbon transformation of resource-based cities in China, based on Marshallian externalities. Using fixed effects and mediation effect models, this study analyzed the effects of industrial collaborative agglomeration on the green and low-carbon transformation of 114 resource-based cities in China from 2003 to 2021, as well as the regional differences therein. The results indicated that industrial collaborative agglomeration significantly promoted the green and low-carbon transformation of resource-based cities. The labor pooling effect, intermediate product sharing effect, and knowledge and technology spillover effect, as key pathways of industrial collaborative agglomeration, also contributed to this transformation. Heterogeneity analysis revealed that the positive effect of industrial collaborative agglomeration on the green and low-carbon transformation of resource-based cities was more pronounced after the implementation of the "12th Five-Year Plan for National Strategic Emerging Industries," particularly in the western regions and mature resource-based cities. These findings provided valuable insights for further promoting the green and low-carbon transformation of resource-based cities.