[Spatio-temporal Pattern and Mechanisms of Digital Ecological Civilization Construction in China]

Scientific understanding of the construction level， spatial and temporal patterns， and mechanisms of digital ecological civilization is of great significance for the country to accelerate the construction of a green and intelligent digital ecological civilization （DEC） under the new development pattern. This study， based on panel data from 282 prefecture-level cities in China from 2011 to 2022， employed the Dagum Gini Coefficient， Gaussian kernel density estimation， club convergence test， and the quadratic assignment procedure to analyze the construction level， spatio-temporal pattern， and mechanisms of DEC. The findings reveal： ① Although the comprehensive index of China's DEC construction level and its subsystem indices remained relatively low， they showed a steady upward trend. ② Significant regional differences existed in the construction level of DEC across the nation and within the eight major economic zones. The main source of differences was hyper-variation density， with inter-regional differences playing a secondary role， and intra-regional differences having the minimal effect. ③ While maintaining certain commonalities， the national and eight economic zones' kernel density distribution curves also exhibited obvious regionally differentiated characteristics. During the sample period， the level of DEC construction nationwide and across regions exhibited an upward trend， with widening regional gaps. Except for in the northwest region， polarization phenomena existed nationwide and in other regions. ④ Urban DEC construction remained imbalanced， and cities showed significant spatial differentiation. Across the nation and within the eight major economic zones， high-level city clusters led a gradient development pattern， and other cities continually caught up. ⑤ The basic conditions， construction support， and construction effectiveness of DEC all had significant positive impacts on differences in digital ecological civilization construction， with construction effectiveness having the largest impact coefficient， making it the primary source of differences. Additionally， enhancing the spatial coordination in urban development and st rengthening differentiated financial services helped narrow regional differences in digital ecological civilization construction. Notably， various driving factors exhibited significant heterogeneity across different comprehensive economic zones. This study provides important insights for effectively advancing DEC construction. The government should fully leverage the demonstrative and leading role of high-performing regions， guide different regions to explore differentiated paths for DEC construction based on their unique characteristics， and implement gradient-based policy support according to the development stages of different regions.