[Impact of New Quality Productive Forces on Land Use Efficiency in the Central Plains Urban Agglomeration]

As a core driver of high-quality economic development， the synergistic relationship between new quality productive forces（NQPF）and land use efficiency（LUE）constitutes a critical issue in regional sustainable development. Utilizing panel data from 29 prefecture-level cities in the Central Plains Urban Agglomeration （2010-2023）， this study integrates the entropy weight TOPSIS method， super-efficiency SBM model， Malmquist index， and fixed-effects model to systematically analyze the spatiotemporal evolution of NQPF and their impact mechanisms on LUE. The results show that： ① The composite index of NQPF in the Central Plains Urban Agglomeration increased from 0.280 to 0.828， exhibiting a "stepwise growth" pattern， with a spatial structure characterized by a "core-secondary-periphery" gradient. Zhengzhou emerged as the core growth pole driving innovation， while peripheral cities such as Handan and Hebi， constrained by resource-dependent economic structures， exhibited NQPF indices below 0.2. ② The mean LUE in the study area improved from 0.917 to 1.031， with cities in Henan Province outperforming those in Hebei， Shanxi， and Anhui provinces. Total factor productivity （TFP） grew at an annual rate of 16.4%， primarily driven by technological progress. ③ NQPF exerted a significantly positive effect on LUE， albeit with notable heterogeneity： Large-scale cities enhanced land-intensive utilization through technological agglomeration and industrial upgrading； cities with limited arable land resources and higher economic development levels effectively leveraged NQPF to improve LUE. In contrast， small-scale cities， arable-rich regions， and economically underdeveloped areas， hindered by technological absorption capacity， path dependence， and resource bottlenecks， failed to establish effective synergistic mechanisms.