Promotion incentives, infrastructure construction, and industrial landscapes in China

•This study investigates the forces driving the industrial landscape in the context of political promotion tournaments.•A novel framework to integrate incentives, and infrastructure construction to explain to reveal the mechanisms.•The short-term promotion incentives affect industrial land development significantly.•The long-term promotion incentives have indirect effects on industrial landscapes by promoting more infrastructure construction. Industrial landscapes are an important component of urban landscapes and have attracted significant attention due to their rapid sprawl. However, few studies have shed light on the impact of institutions on industrial landscapes. This study investigates the forces driving the industrial landscape under China’s unique land use system in the context of political promotion tournaments. Stemming from institutional insights on promotion incentives, this study develops a novel framework to integrate short-term incentives, long-term incentives and infrastructure construction to explain the spatial patterns and to reveal the mechanisms of industrial landscapes in China. Based on land leasing data from 2006 to 2013, this study confirms that short-term promotion incentives affect industrial land development significantly, including competition intensity, age line, and tenure; meanwhile, long-term promotion incentives have indirect effects on industrial landscapes by promoting more infrastructure construction. This study contributes to institutional and structural knowledge to increase the understanding of rapid industrial landscapes, especially industrial land sprawl in China.