Scientific Development Research

Achieving common prosperity for all citizens represents an essential requirement of Chinese-style modernization. This study developed a dual-dimensional evaluation framework from "affluence level" (economic capacity) and "sharing degree" (equitable distribution) to quantify common prosperity across nine cities in Chinas Pearl River Delta (PRD) urban agglomeration from 2011 to 2021. Utilizing the entropy-weighted TOPSIS integrated with GIS, we revealed critical spatiotemporal patterns:(1) The level of common prosperity in the PRD had shown a fluctuating upward trend, and there were still certain gaps in the development of each city. The comprehensive index of common prosperity had increased from 0.346 to 0.618, showing the characteristics of three stages: highspeed growth, fluctuating adjustment, and transformation and differentiation. (2) Spatially, the level of common prosperity in the PRD presented a situation where "Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Zhuhai dominate and diverge, while other surrounding areas were backward and compact".

Common prosperity; Spatiotemporal disparities; Entropy-weighted TOPSIS; Pearl River Delta (PRD)