A new methodology to measure the urban construction land-use efficiency based on the two-stage DEA model

Rapid urbanisation has created huge social and economic benefits in some developing countries. However, it has also created unsustainable problems such as land waste. The efficiency improvement of urban construction land use (UCLU) is a breakthrough in realising the sustainable development of cities in the future. Given the chain correlation between the construction and production stages of the UCLU, this paper constructed a two-stage DEA model to measure UCLU efficiency. Furthermore, an empirical study of the UCLU efficiency of the cities in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River (UAMYR) in China was carried out. The results show that UCLU efficiency during the construction stage is higher than during the production stage. Besides, the number of cities with effective status during the construction stage presents an inverted U-shaped trend of first rising and then falling, while most of the UCLU efficiency of the cities in the production stage is high. Thus, the imbalance of a two-stage efficiency development will greatly weaken the overall efficiency. More so, the spatial correlation tests of the UCLU efficiency showed that the coordination between cities needs to be further strengthened. Finally, the study provided implications of improving UCLU efficiency in hopes they provide support for policymakers.