High-tech companies serve as a key engine driving urban economic development. By leading industrial upgrades, facilitating technology spillovers, and enhancing the flow of factors of production, they significantly shape a city's metabolic efficiency and development pattern. However, the way industrial functions drive urban metabolic efficiency is complex and scale-dependent. Clarifying the mechanisms and measurement approaches across different spatial scales has therefore become a central issue in accurately improving urban metabolic efficiency. Based on panel data from 31 provinces, 287 prefecture-level cities, and 2,632 counties in China from 2010 to 2025, this paper empirically examines the scale effects of industrial structure optimization on urban metabolic efficiency. The study finds that industrial structure upgrading significantly promotes urban metabolic efficiency, with its driving mechanisms showing structural differences across spatial scales. At the macro level, service-oriented industrial structure demonstrates higher metabolic efficiency, whereas traditional industrial and low-end commerce regions generally face challenges such as prominent metabolic pressure and low resource utilization efficiency. At the meso level, industrial spatial agglomeration serves as a critical pathway for improving metabolic efficiency, while at the micro level, land use intensity and population structure are the dominant factors influencing regional metabolic performance. Therefore, a multi-scale collaborative policy framework should be established. This system would involve coordinated efforts at three levels: macro-level provincial industrial planning, meso-level industrial agglomeration within urban clusters and metropolitan areas, and micro-level intensive land use and public service optimization at the county scale. By linking macro guidance, meso agglomeration, and micro-optimization, urban metabolic efficiency can be enhanced in a systematic and integrated manner.
 

Urban Metabolic Efficiency; Industrial Structure Optimization; Scale Effect