Does producer services agglomeration improve urban green development performance of the Yangtze River Economic Belt in China?

[Display omitted] •Urban green development performance (UGDP) experiences first decline and then increase, with 2015 as the turning point.•Specialized agglomeration has a significant positive impact on local UGDP, but no significant spillover effect on surrounding areas.•The impact of diversified agglomeration is significantly negative on local UGDP, and spillover effect on surrounding areas is not significant.•The impact and spatial effects producer services agglomeration modes on UGDP are heterogeneous for different regions and industries. How the producer services agglomeration affects the urban green development performance is important for the future urban green development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt in China. We investigate the impacts of producer services specialized agglomeration and diversified agglomeration on urban green development performance in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2009 to 2018. Empirical results show that: (1) Urban green development performance experiences first decline and then increase, with 2015 as the turning point. (2) The impact of specialized agglomeration on urban green development performance is significantly positive, and the impact of diversified agglomeration is opposite. (3) From the perspective of regional differences, the specialized agglomeration of Yangtze River Delta urban clusters in the downstream improves the urban green development performance, while the diversified agglomeration inhibits the urban green development performance; The influence of the two agglomeration modes of Chengdu-Chongqing urban clusters and Yunnan-Guizhou urban clusters in the upstream is opposite to that in the downstream; In the midstream, the impact of diversified agglomeration of Wuhan urban clusters on urban green development performance is significantly positive, while the impact of specialized agglomeration of Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan and Poyang Lake urban clusters on urban green development performance is significantly negative. (4) The agglomeration of different types of industries has different effects on urban green development performance. Compared with low-end industrial agglomeration, high-end industrial agglomeration is effective in promoting urban green development performance. Policy makers should choose differentiated urban green development strategies, according to the characteristics of producer services agglomeration in different regions.