Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39747267›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2025

Evaluating the impact of smart city construction on sewage treatment in China from a synergistic perspective.

Xing Zhang, Xiao Yu, Xuedong Hu

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Xing ZhangSchool of Public Administration, Guangdong University of Finance & Economics, Guangzhou, 510320, China. zx87126@163.com.
Xiao YuSchool of Customs and Public Administration, Shanghai Customs College, Shanghai, 201204, China.
Xuedong HuSchool of Public Administration, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510641, China.

Funding

National Social Science Foundation of China 22CZZ024Social Science Foundation of Guangdong province GD23YGL32
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Urbanization exacerbates the prevalence of urban diseases such as water pollution. Smart city construction (SCC), a prevailing global trend in urban development, has the potential to catalyze the symbiotic development of the urban economy, society, and environment. This study utilized a difference-in-differences (DID) model with panel data from 150 prefecture-level cities in China during the period of 2011-2017 to evaluate the impact of SCC on urban sewage treatment. The results revealed a statistically significant increase in the sewage treatment level, which remained robust even after rigorous tests were performed. The mechanism analysis revealed that SCC can improve the level of sewage treatment through increasing the fiscal self-sufficiency rate (FSR) and industrial upgrading (IU). Furthermore, heterogeneity analysis revealed that in cities with a high level of financial development and public environmental attention (PEA), coupled with a low level of environmental attention from higher-level government, the advancement of the sewage treatment level can be more effectively facilitated through SCC. In conclusion, the promotional effect of SCC on the sewage treatment level is influenced by a combination of technological, economic, political, and social factors. Therefore, SCC should prioritize the synergistic integration of technological innovations and non-technological factors.

Indexed as

Difference-in-differencesEnvironmental pollutionHeterogeneitySewage treatmentSymbiotic relationshipUrbanization

Identifiers

PMID39747267
PMCPMC11696237

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.