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This paper uses the data of Chinese cities and A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2022 and utilizes the implementation of Broadband China as a quasi-natural experiment to assess the impact of digital infrastructure construction, as exemplified by Broadband China, on enterprise carbon emissions. By applying the difference-in-differences method, the findings indicate that developing digital infrastructure can help reduce carbon emissions in enterprises. This reduction is achieved primarily by improving the efficiency of energy utilization in urban areas and enhancing corporate green technological innovation. Additionally, the impact of digital infrastructure on lowering carbon emissions varies by corporation and region.

As an important industrial organizational form in the era of the digital economy, digital industry agglomeration exerts a profound impact on urban ecological resilience. Using panel data of 281 prefecture-level cities in China from 2011 to 2021, this study measures the level of digital industry agglomeration by means of the location entropy method, and constructs an urban ecological resilience evaluation system based on the “Pressure-State-Response (PSR)” model. It systematically examines the impact effects and action mechanisms of digital industry agglomeration on urban ecological resilience. The results show that: (1) The spatio-temporal evolution of the two presents a gradient pattern of “eastern leadership and central-western catch-up”, and their spatial correlation deepens over time, with the synergy maturity in the eastern region being significantly higher than that in the central and western regions. (2) Digital industry agglomeration significantly promotes the improvement in urban ecological resilience, and this conclusion remains valid after endogeneity treatment and robustness tests. (3) The promotional effect is more prominent in central cities, coastal cities, and key environmental protection cities, whose advantages stem from digital infrastructure and innovation endowments, industrial synergy and an open environment, and the adaptability of green technologies under strict environmental regulations, respectively. (4) Digital industry agglomeration empowers ecological resilience by driving green innovation and improving the efficiency of land resource allocation, while the construction of digital infrastructure plays a positive regulatory role.

The pivotal role of digital infrastructure as hardware support for fostering economic efficiency in the digital economy is widely acknowledged. However, it begs the question, can the development of digital infrastructure also advance social equity, particularly concerning horizontal equity, as exemplified by the quality of non-farm employment among rural laborers, which serves as a barometer for the fairness and inclusivity of the social opportunity landscape? This article delves into the ramifications of digital infrastructure development on the quality of non-farm employment for rural laborers. Initially, it conducts a theoretical exploration of the impact and mechanisms of digital infrastructure construction on non-farm employment quality within rural labor sectors, drawing upon the Todaro model framework and existing scholarly discourse. Subsequently, by integrating data on digital infrastructure construction at the prefecture-level city level with four periods of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) data spanning 2014 to 2020, employing various endogenous treatment methods including two-way fixed effects, sensitivity analysis, and instrumental variable techniques, it empirically tests and analyzes the internal mechanisms. The findings reveal that digital infrastructure construction plays a beneficial role in enhancing the quality of non-farm employment for rural laborers, encompassing both subjective perceptions and objective circumstances of non-farm work. Notably, it is observed that digital infrastructure construction significantly fosters improvements in the quality of informal employment among rural laborers, with notable disparities across gender and skill levels. This discovery exerts a positive influence on advancing the sustainable development of the labor market. Specifically, female rural laborers necessitate higher skill proficiency and educational attainment to attain commensurate benefits as their male counterparts. Moreover, caution is warranted regarding the potential for digital infrastructure construction to exacerbate existing power differentials and widen socioeconomic disparities through the perpetuation of the digital divide.

This study used three batches of “broadband China” strategies (BCS) implemented from 2014 to 2016 as quasi-natural experiments (QE) to distinguish the level of urban digital infrastructure construction (DIC). Using 231 prefecture-level cities in China from 2011 to 2019 as research samples, a progressive differences-in-differences (DID) model was used to empirically test the relationship characteristics between DIC and urban carbon emission (CE) total and intensity. The results show that (1) DIC has a significant negative correlation with total carbon emissions (TCE) and carbon emission intensity (CI), which is conducive to the “dual control” of urban CE, which is still valid after the five robustness tests. (2) The mechanism test shows that the DIC is conducive to improving the level of formal environmental regulation (FER) and informal environmental regulation (IER) and strengthening the synergy between formal and informal environmental regulation (ER), so as to achieve “dual control” of carbon emissions, of which the synergy is the most significant, followed by FER. (3) In heterogeneity research findings, only the third batch of pilot projects can achieve “dual control” of CE, which has the advantage of latecomers. The “dual control” effect of carbon emissions in DIC is more significant in cities with higher levels of marketization and eastern cities. Therefore, DIC plays the role of “icing on the cake,” not “providing charcoal in the snow.”

Research on carbon emission reduction in China has focused on carbon market policies, technological innovation, and industrial institutional adjustment, but few studies have been concerned with the effects of the rapid development of China’s digital economy on carbon emission reduction. China’s vigorous development of digital infrastructure has led to the establishment of the Broadband China strategy as a quasi-natural experiment. A difference-in-differences model with data from 2006 to 2023 about 283 prefecture-level cities was applied to investigate the effects of China’s digital infrastructure construction on carbon emission reduction. The conclusions are as follows. First, digital infrastructure construction in these cities had significant reduction effects on carbon emissions and intensity. This conclusion was proven after a series of robustness tests such as parallel trends, the exclusion of central cities, and the replacement of explanatory variables. Second, a mediating effect test showed that green technology innovation investment and industrial structure upgrading are important mechanisms for digital infrastructure construction’s carbon emission reduction effects. Third, these effects have obvious heterogeneity and are stronger in the eastern region than in the central and western ones. Moreover, the effects are stronger with the expansion of urban scale, the improvement of urban economic development level, and the environmental regulation intensity. These conclusions have important relevance to China’s Digital Economy and “Dual Carbon” Policies.

Digital twin (DT) technology has garnered increasing attention across various sectors, particularly in the construction and road infrastructure domains. To fully realize its potential and systematically apply it in practice, adherence to a formalized approach is necessary. However, numerous DT-related standards and models currently exist, creating uncertainty in the selection of appropriate frameworks. Moreover, no widely accepted standard or reference model has yet been developed in the field of road infrastructure management. Therefore, this study examined the current standards and models employed in the adoption and implementation of DTs in road infrastructure management, focusing on their dimensions (layers) and functional components. A bottom-up approach was adopted by comprehensively reviewing the existing literature on road networks, bridges, tunnels, and other civil infrastructures and urban DTs. Ultimately, a DT framework was developed, comprising five core layers with their respective components and functionalities, to facilitate network-level integrated road infrastructure management. Moreover, the proposed framework’s implementation scenario enhances its applicability in the field. Overall, this study provides valuable insights for researchers and practitioners involved in DT implementation in infrastructure management and supports future standardization efforts in this domain.

We live in an environment of ever-growing demand for transport networks, which also have ageing infrastructure. However, it is not feasible to replace all the infrastructural assets that have surpassed their service lives. The commonly established alternative is increasing their durability by means of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM)-based maintenance and serviceability. Amongst the multitude of approaches to SHM, the Digital Twin model is gaining increasing attention. This model is a digital reconstruction (the Digital Twin) of a real-life asset (the Physical Twin) that, in contrast to other digital models, is frequently and automatically updated using data sampled by a sensor network deployed on the latter. This tool can provide infrastructure managers with functionalities to monitor and optimize their asset stock and to make informed and data-based decisions, in the context of day-to-day operative conditions and after extreme events. These data not only include sensor data, but also include regularly revalidated structural reliability indices formulated on the grounds of the frequently updated Digital Twin model. The technology can be even pushed as far as performing structural behavioral predictions and automatically compensating for them. The present exploratory review covers the key Digital Twin aspects—its usefulness, modus operandi, application, etc.—and proves the suitability of Distributed Sensing as its network sensor component.

This paper discusses the effect of network infrastructure on environmental pollution reduction and the realization mechanism behind it. Based on the panel data of 285 cities in China from 2005 to 2019, this study regards the “Broadband China” pilot policy as a quasi-natural experiment to clarify the pollution emission reduction effect of network infrastructure construction through differences-in-differences method and other methods. The research results show the following: (1) The Broadband China pilot policy has reduced environmental pollution, that is, the construction of network infrastructure has the effect of environmental pollution reduction. The conclusion is still established after a series of robustness tests such as parallel trend test, placebo test, and instrumental variable method. Through the heterogeneity test, it is found that the pollution reduction effect of network infrastructure construction is more obvious in non-resource-based cities, first and second tier cities, and cities in the eastern region (2). The construction of network infrastructure plays a restraining role on local environmental pollution. Due to the insufficient level of regional linkage and the siphon effect of pilot cities, the spatial spillover characteristics of the pollution reduction effect are not obvious (3). The mechanism of action shows that green innovation is an important mediating effect mechanism for network infrastructure construction to reduce environmental pollution. Cities in regions with high degree of marketization and environmental regulation can strengthen the effect of network infrastructure construction on environmental pollution reduction. The research conclusions are conducive to accelerating the development of the digital economy represented by the construction of network infrastructure and provide a useful reference for promoting the level of environmental pollution reduction and achieving high-quality development.

This study analyzes the effect of digital rural construction on farmers’ income growth and the underlying mechanism using a 2SLS instrumental variable approach based on the county digital village index developed by Peking University and AliResearch, as well as micro-survey data of farmers in China. After fully correcting for endogeneity and verifying the robustness of the models, we found that digital rural construction has a significant positive impact on farmers’ total household income, wage income, and property income, while also inhibiting the growth of net agricultural income. Furthermore, we found that digital rural construction increases farmers’ income mainly by promoting non-agricultural employment and asset transformation. In terms of heterogeneity analysis, digital rural construction has a greater effect on increasing farmers’ income with high physical and human capital, but it is not beneficial to farmers with moderate social capital. It also has a greater effect on increasing farmers’ income in villages with better infrastructure. In addition, digital rural construction more significantly increases farmers’ income in the eastern, central, and southern regions of China compared with the western and northern regions. These findings provide new empirical evidence of the effect of digital rural construction on farmers’ income growth in China and other developing countries.