{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,10]],"date-time":"2026-03-10T12:02:33Z","timestamp":1773144153459,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":47,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"23","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,6]],"date-time":"2024-12-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1733443200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Science &amp; Technology Fundamental Resources Investigation Program","award":["2023FY101003"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2023FY101003"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Eliminating poverty, reducing inequality, and achieving balanced development are one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Objectively and accurately measuring regional economic vitality and development equilibrium is a pressing scientific issue that needs to be addressed in order to achieve common prosperity. Nighttime light (NTL) remote sensing data have been proven to be a good proxy variable for socio-economic development, and are widely used due to their advantages of convenient access and wide spatial coverage. Based on multi-source data, this study constructs an Economic Development Index (EDI) that comprehensively reflects regional economic vitality from two aspects, economic quality and development potential, combines the Nighttime Light Development Index (NLDI) as the evaluation indicators to measure the economic vitality and development equilibrium, analyzes the economic vitality and development equilibrium of 300 district and county units in China\u2019s three major urban agglomerations from 2000 to 2020 and their temporal and spatial variation characteristics, and discusses the connotation of EDI and its availability. The results show the following: (1) From 2000 to 2020, the average growth rate of EDI in China\u2019s three major urban agglomerations reached 36.32%, while the average decrease rate of NLDI reached 38.75%; both economic vitality and the development equilibrium have been continuously enhanced. Among them, the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) urban agglomeration experienced the fastest economic growth, while the Guangdong\u2013Hong Kong\u2013Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) exhibited the strongest economic strength. (2) Both economic vitality and the development equilibrium in these three urban agglomerations exhibited distinct spatial agglomeration characteristics, namely center-surrounding distribution, coastal\u2013inland distribution, and radial belt\u2013pole distribution, respectively. (3) Over the past two decades, the economic development of these three urban agglomerations has progressed towards the pattern of regional coordinated development, pole-driven development and urban\u2013rural integrated development. The research results can provide new research perspectives and scientific support for promoting regional balanced development, achieving sustainable development goals, and reducing inequality.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rs16234571","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,6]],"date-time":"2024-12-06T03:44:47Z","timestamp":1733456687000},"page":"4571","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["Analysis of Economic Vitality and Development Equilibrium of China\u2019s Three Major Urban Agglomerations Based on Nighttime Light Data"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0000-4196-7427","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Saimiao","family":"Liu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, China"},{"name":"University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China"}]},{"given":"Wenliang","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, China"},{"name":"University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China"}]},{"given":"Yi","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, China"},{"name":"University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China"}]},{"given":"Shixin","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, China"},{"name":"University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6394-2458","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zhenqing","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, China"},{"name":"University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China"}]},{"given":"Zhuochen","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, China"},{"name":"University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China"}]},{"given":"Yanchao","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, China"},{"name":"University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China"}]},{"given":"Xinran","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, China"},{"name":"University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China"}]},{"given":"Luoyao","family":"Hao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, China"},{"name":"University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China"}]},{"given":"Futao","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, China"},{"name":"University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"34","DOI":"10.1038\/s42949-021-00032-y","article-title":"An Assessment of Urbanization Sustainability in China between 1990 and 2015 Using Land Use Efficiency Indicators","volume":"1","author":"Jiang","year":"2021","journal-title":"Npj Urban Sustain."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"75","DOI":"10.1016\/j.worlddev.2016.12.020","article-title":"Linking Economic Complexity, Institutions, and Income Inequality","volume":"93","author":"Hartmann","year":"2017","journal-title":"World Dev."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"220","DOI":"10.1016\/j.worlddev.2015.05.013","article-title":"Demography, Growth, and Global Income Inequality","volume":"74","author":"Rougoor","year":"2015","journal-title":"World Dev."},{"key":"ref_4","first-page":"261","article-title":"Chinese Balanced Regional Development Strategy from the Perspective of Development Geography","volume":"76","author":"Xiangzheng","year":"2021","journal-title":"Acta Geogr. 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