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When studying the coupling coordination relationship between agricultural eco-efficiency and urbanization, it is crucial to consider food security, especially in a populous country like China. This paper focuses on 31 provinces in China as the research units, covering the time period from 2000 to 2020. Based on the concept of agricultural eco-efficiency, an evaluation index system was developed to include undesirable outputs (carbon emissions), and agricultural eco-efficiency scores were calculated using the SBM–DEA model. An urbanization evaluation index system, covering six dimensions and twelve indexes, was constructed. A comprehensive index of urbanization is measured using the entropy method. On this basis, a coupling coordination model was applied to quantify the relationship between agricultural eco-efficiency and urbanization at the provincial scale in China. The results showed that the agricultural eco-efficiency of all provincial units in China exhibited an overall trend of improvement. Average efficiency followed a spatial pattern of majority grain-consuming areas > grain production–consumption balance areas > majority grain-producing areas. The level of coupling between agricultural eco-efficiency and urbanization is generally low. Currently, no regions have reached the stage of synergy or high-level coupling. Most regions are currently in an antagonistic stage with a coupling degree of 0.3 < C ≤ 0.5. The classification of coupling coordination levels changed from four levels of "severe imbalance", "moderate imbalance", "mild imbalance", and "primary coordination" to "moderate imbalance", "mild imbalance", "primary coordination", and "intermediate coordination". The level of "severe imbalance" disappeared, the level of "intermediate coordination" appeared, and the level of "mild imbalance" became the largest scale level. From the perspective of food security, the proportion of grain production in the categories of "primary coordination" and "intermediate coordination" was less than 10%, and these provinces never achieved self-sufficiency in food production. The proportion of grain production at the "mild imbalance" level reached 62.4%, while the per capita grain production at the "moderate imbalance" level reached 846.7 kg. Provinces with lower levels of coupling coordination have stronger food security capabilities. It can be observed that the weaker the coupling coordination between agricultural eco-efficiency and urbanization, the higher the food self-sufficiency. Based on the research results above, we discussed strategies to enhance agricultural eco-efficiency in majority grain-producing regions by focusing on technological progress and technical efficiency. Additionally, we analyzed approaches to achieve grain self-sufficiency in regions characterized by a high level of coordination between agricultural eco-efficiency and urbanization, considering both production and trade dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green and low-carbon use of urban land (GLUUL) and high-quality economic development (HED) are two closely linked and mutually reinforcing systems, and their coordinated development is of great theoretical and practical significance to the realization of green and sustainable urban development. Based on theoretical analysis, this paper used data from 2005 to 2020 to measure GLUUL efficiency and HED level and their coupling coordination degree (CCD) successively of 282 cities in China, and then analyzed in-depth the main factors affecting CCD and its spatial–temporal heterogeneity using the GTWR model. This study found that (1) GLUUL efficiency and HED levels are increasing with different trends, and the development is unbalanced. High-value cities in the two systems show a staggered distribution pattern. (2) The CCD of the two was dominated by primary and intermediate coordination types, and the overall became increasingly coordinated, with the "intermediate coordination—advanced development" type having the highest representation. (3) There is a gradual convergence of CCD spatial differences, showing an overall spatial distribution pattern that is "high in the northwest and southeast, low in the central area". (4) The influence degree and direction of different factors on CCD are distinguishing. The positive impact of industrial structure upgrading (Isu) is obviously greater than other factors, which has the strongest effect on the industrial corridor along the Yangtze River and the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region. The findings can offer insightful recommendations for promoting sustainable development in China and similar developing countries and regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the coupling coordination status between rural industrial integration (RII) and new urbanization (NU) is critical for the Chinese government to optimize policies that promote the synergetic and sustainable development of RII and NU. Based on constructing evaluation index systems, this paper uses the entropy value method, coupling coordination degree model, exploratory spatial analysis method, gravity center model, and geographical detector model to reveal the characteristics of the spatial–temporal differentiation of the coupling coordination and its driving factors in China. The results show that: (1) The regional differences in the coupling coordination degree between RII and NU are obvious, and the coupling coordination degree of China's three economic regions are all in an increasing trend, but the mean values in the central and western regions are always below the national average. (2) The coupling coordination degree has significant spatial agglomeration characteristics, but the regional differences are gradually decreasing. The whole country is still dominated by the low–low agglomeration, and the provinces with the high–high agglomeration are mainly located in the eastern region. (3) The gravity center of the coupling coordination degree has moved in both the east–west and north–south directions from 2011 to 2021, but the movement trend in the north–south direction is more obvious. (4) The economic development level, industrial structure, transportation conditions, government support capacity, financial support level, and agricultural mechanization level are important factors driving the spatial–temporal variation, and their interactions will enhance the differentiation. The results can provide a theoretical basis and decision-making reference for relevant government departments in China to promote the sustainable development of RII and NU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use multifunctionality research is important for the efficient use of land resources and the resolution of land use conflicts. With the use of methods such as the technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) model, coupling coordination model, and geographical detector, the land use multifunctionality level, spatiotemporal coupling, and influencing factors in the Sichuan Province of China from 2000 to 2020 were systematically analyzed in this paper. It was revealed that, from 2000 to 2020, the comprehensive land use functionality in Sichuan Province was continuously improved with increasing economic, social, and ecological functionality levels. The comprehensive land use functionality in each city (prefecture) exhibited a positive development trend. The coupling coordination degree of the land use multifunctionality in Sichuan Province has been continuously improved, undergoing an evolutionary process from the brink of disarray to barely coordinated, then to primary coordination, and finally to medium coordination. The spatial differentiation of land use multifunctionality coupling coordination among cities (prefectures) was notable, showing center–periphery spatial distribution characteristics. The average slope and employed population density exhibited the highest explanatory power for the spatial differences in land use multifunctionality coupling coordination. The interaction between any two factors exerted a greater impact than any single factor on the spatial differentiation of land use multifunctionality coupling coordination. Based on the regional development characteristics, region-specific strategies should be adopted to enhance the land use multifunctionality level in Sichuan Province. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus on the concept of upgrading in the study of global production networks has expanded from economic upgrading to encompass social and environmental upgrading. However, rare research pays attention to the complex interplay among these three aspects. This paper tries to integrate the economic, social, and environmental upgrading into an analytical framework through the lens of coupling coordination. Using the Granger causality test and panel regression model, it provides empirical evidence and an explanation of the triad's interaction based on the Chinese case study. It is found that, over the past twenty-five years from 1996 to 2020, China has seen a significant improvement in the coupling coordination of economic, social, and environmental upgrading with the coordination degree rising from 0.35 to 0.51, though it remains at a low level of coordination. Regional disparities in economic upgrading are more pronounced than those in social and environmental upgrading, and the inter-group disparities between economic and environmental upgrading have widened following the economic crisis. Panel regression analysis shows that economic globalization, public governance, legal environment, and environmental regulation positively influence the coupling coordination of the three types of upgrading, while economic privatization and corporate violations of law tend to have a negative impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coordinated development of rural infrastructure and ecological environment is an effective way to improve agricultural productivity. The primary focus of the current research is how the two can work together to promote regional economic development in rural areas and in related fields. This study takes the western region as the research object, constructs an evaluation index system for rural infrastructure and ecological environment, and uses the Min-max Scaling method, coupling coordination model, gray GM (1, 1) model, and standard deviation elliptical model for evaluation. The trends and driving factors for the coordinated development of rural infrastructure and ecological coupling in the region from 2012 to 2021 are analyzed. The main results are as follows: (1) Except for Tibet, Qinghai, and Ningxia, the coupling degree of rural infrastructure and the ecological environment in western China reached the maximum level during the research period, also the coordination degree showed a gradual upward trend. (2) A prediction for the development and evolution of rural infrastructure and the ecological environment in western China indicates a trend of agglomerative development in the southern region. (3) By strengthening the construction of reservoirs, improving sanitary conditions, improving cultivated land use area and forest coverage, and controlling soil erosion, the coordinated development of the two can be effectively promoted. The purpose of this study is to promote the sustainable and coordinated development of rural infrastructure and ecological environment, and to provide a reference for policy formulation in the relevant sectors and other countries and regions with similar situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In light of the pressing concerns about worldwide warming and environmental degradation, understanding the nexus between energy consumption and green development has become vital to fostering a low-carbon transition in energy consumption, and promoting environmentally friendly development. After exploring the connotations of energy consumption and green development, this paper constructed evaluation systems for energy consumption and green development. By leveraging quantitative methods; such as the entropy method, coupling coordination model, spatial Markov model, and gray model GM (1, 1); we conducted an empirical study into the dynamism and evolutionary trends in the coupling coordination degree between energy consumption and green development in China, spanning from 2006 to 2020. Our findings delineate several key trends: (1) overall, the levels of each system have witnessed a marked increase, with the average energy consumption slightly exceeding that of green development; (2) the coupling coordination degree has displayed a consistent rise over time, with spatial distribution patterns exhibiting a "higher in the south, lower in the north" and a "center-edge" characteristic; (3) the dynamic evolution of coupling coordination types manifests a stability, continuity, and heterogeneity, eliciting distinct effects across different neighbourhood types; (4) within the forecast period, the coupling coordination degree among Chinese provinces is projected to undergo further enhancement, with the majority of provinces transitioning from a barely coordinated stage to a coordinated development stage. Above all, to stimulate a more qualitative coupling coordination between energy consumption and green development, this paper provides relevant policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For sustainable economic development, it is extremely important to understand how digital finance and technological innovation are coupled and how the spatial coupling network is connected. Based on panel data collected from 31 Chinese provinces between 2011 and 2020, this paper calculates the technological innovation index using the entropy method, and adopts the coupling coordination model to measure the coupling coordination degree of digital finance and technological innovation. Furthermore, this paper utilizes the improved gravity model to determine the spatial correlation matrix and uses the social network analysis (SNA) method to investigate the spatial spillover characteristics of the coupling network. The results demonstrate the following: (1) While the index of digital finance and technological innovation rose and digital finance developed rapidly, the level of technological innovation remained low. (2) There was an improvement in the degree of coupling coordination between digital finance and technological innovation, which was higher in the eastern region and lower in the west. (3) The overall network density and the number of associations increased; meanwhile, the network hierarchy and network efficiency declined, indicating that the spatial structure was strengthened. (4) The centrality of some developed eastern regions, such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Zhejiang, was greater than that of some underdeveloped areas in the midwest and northeast regions. (5) The coupling coordination network can be classified into four types: the "main inflow plate" mainly includes underdeveloped regions in the midwest areas; the "main outflow plate" and "bidirectional spillover plate" primarily include the developed eastern areas; and the "agent plate" mainly includes the central provinces. This research provides a foundation for enhancing the cross-regional coupling coordinated development of digital finance and technological innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of global resource scarcity, the integrated and coordinated development of urban modernization and low-carbon development is becoming more and more crucial. In order to calculate the degree of coupling coordination between urban modernization and low-carbon growth in 31 Chinese provinces from 2010 to 2021, this paper thoroughly applies the entropy approach and coupling coordination model; the geographical correlation of the degree of coupling coordination of various regions was confirmed using the Moran's I test method; and by utilizing the gray correlation degree model, we examined the elements that affect the degree of coupling coordination between the two in the various provinces. We found that: (1) there are periodic fluctuations in the coupling coordination between the two during the research period, with a general rising tendency year after year; (2) the degree of coupling and coordination between the two shows the characteristics of HH clustering (eastern region) and LL clustering (western region); and (3) the degree of coupling and coordination between the two is influenced by different factors in different regions. Overall, low-carbon variables have a significant impact on the eastern area, but urban modernization factors have a significant impact on the central, western, and northeastern regions. This study can provide policy recommendations for provincial governments in various regions, help identify favorable factors for coordinated development, and improve the role of some influencing factors in a targeted manner, thereby improving the level of urban modernization and low-carbon coordinated development and promoting urban development and ecological harmony. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the relationship between education and the economy in China, focusing on 31 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions from 2012 to 2023. It developed an appropriate evaluation model to assess the coupling and collaborative development of the 'higher education and economy' composite system. The study quantified both the quantity and quality of higher education modernization in China using the entropy-weight method and a comprehensive development- level evaluation model. The coupling-coordination degree model was applied to empirically analyze the internal logic, operating mechanisms, and coupling-coordination degree between the supply of higher education and the demand for high-quality regional economic development within the context of the new development pattern. Additionally, the obstacle degree model was introduced to identify factors hindering the coupling and coordination of higher education and regional economic development across 31 provinces and municipalities. The findings revealed that (1) the modernization levels of higher education exhibited fluctuating yet overall upward trends, with the eastern region leading. Economic development followed a similar upward trajectory, with the eastern region outperforming other areas. (2) The coupling coordination between higher education and economic development followed a 'rising-falling-rising' pattern. (3) The higher education system emerged as the primary obstacle to coupling coordination, with specific challenges varying across different regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The North China Plain (NCP) serves as the main grain production land in China, functioning as a critical region for ensuring China's food security. To address the multifaceted challenges confronting food security in the NCP, the study embarked on a comprehensive analysis of the synergistic interactions between agricultural water usage, carbon emissions, and ecosystem health. By proposing footprint family indicators and using the bottom-up IPCC coefficient approach, this study quantitatively evaluates the spatial–temporal changes of water–carbon–ecological footprints in NCP from 2003 to 2020. Furthermore, a coupling coordination degree model that focuses on the coordination of water–carbon–ecological footprints is established. The findings are as follows: (1) The total water footprint in the NCP showed a striking increasing trend with an increase of 1.52 × 1011 m3, and the carbon footprint increased by 1.27 × 109 t, with significant ecological impacts. (2) The NCP's ecological footprint exhibited an "M"-shaped trend. The land structure maintained stable with negligible changes in the proportion of ecological footprints. (3) The coupling degree between the footprints of water, carbon, and ecology in the NCP is high, revealing a noteworthy interaction effect. This research can provide data support for effective resources allocation and sustainable social–economic development, offering reasonable insights for China to formulate more scientific policies of green transition in land use and ecological civilization construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Revealing the coordinated correlation between chemical industry development and the water environment is essential for promoting high-quality development in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Based on the data in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2011 to 2021, this study explores the spatial–temporal evolution and influencing factors of the coupled coordination between chemical industry development and the water environment by using the global entropy method, a coupling coordination model, and the Tobit model. The results indicate a general upward trend in the comprehensive indices of chemical industry development and water environment systems, albeit with distinct spatial patterns. A mismatch between the two systems is observed in terms of spatial distribution. Regarding the coupling coordination degree, the relationship shows an upward trend, primarily at a mild-to-moderate coupling stage, exhibiting a spatial pattern of "downstream > midstream > upstream". Moreover, a trend of increasing coordination and narrowing disparities between high- and low-level regions can be observed. The model results suggest that environmental regulation, economic development, government capacity, and urbanization play a crucial role in promoting the coupled development of the chemical industry and the water environment. However, openness to external markets may not enhance coupled coordination. These findings may provide policy guidance for the development status of two subsystems in other locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use changes (LUC) have exacerbated the evolution of ecosystem structure in the urban agglomeration of the Yangtze River Delta (YRDUA), significantly affecting ecosystem service functions and values. Although the impact of land use on ecosystem service value (ESV) has received significant attention, most existing studies explore the relationship between LUC and ESV at the national, provincial, or regional scales. Few studies focus on urban agglomerations, particularly in the YRDUA. Additionally, while many studies analyze the driving factors of ecosystem services and the trade-offs and synergies among them, there is a relative scarcity of research on the coupling coordination relationship between LUC and ESV. In this study, we used the ecosystem service assessment model to dynamically analyze the spatio-temporal changes of land use and ESV in the YRDUA from 2000 to 2020 and evaluated the dynamic relationship between the two using the coupled coordination model system. The results show the following: (1) Land use types within the YRDUA underwent significant changes during the study period, with a notable decrease in farmland and a substantial increase in construction land being the dominant trends. (2) ESV showed upward and downward trends over different periods, with water bodies having the highest value, followed by forested land and farmland, respectively. The ESV of water bodies showed a trend of first increasing and then decreasing. Higher ESVs were mainly concentrated around lakes such as Taihu Lake and coastal areas along the Yangtze River, radiating outward from these central points. (3) Currently, the coupling coordination degree (CCD) between land use intensity and ESV in the YRDUA is mostly reluctant coordinated or in the state of primary coordination. However, with time, the CCD trend has increased. In addition, variations between cities were more pronounced, showing a spatial pattern characterized by higher coupling levels in eastern/northern regions compared to western/southern regions. Our study can provide policy references for improving land planning, optimizing land use structures, and realizing high-quality, sustainable, green, and coordinated development in the YRDUA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To delve into the interrelationship between the green transformation of industry and the economy's high-quality development, to promote the coordinated development of industrial carbon emission efficiency and digital economy, to expand the scope and research ideas related to economic and social sustainable development, and to provide scientific reference for the low-carbon sustainable development of regional economy, this article introduced a data-centric methodology for evaluating the collaborative advancement of both industrial enterprises' carbon emission efficiency and the digital economy. To accurately gauge the carbon footprint of industrial enterprises, models focusing on carbon emissions as well as carbon emission intensity were employed. To enhance the precision of evaluation outcomes and mitigate biases stemming from subjective weighting factors, we employed the entropy weight method to objectively assign weights to each indicator. Furthermore, the super-efficient slack-based model (SBM) can solve the problem that the conclusions are biased, due to the different radial. Subsequently, a carbon-emission efficiency slack-based measure model, and models for coupling degree and coupling-coordination degree were formulated. Anhui, as a central province in China, is also an important province in the Yangtze River Delta integration development. Coordinated development of its carbon emission efficiency and digital economy has important implications for the sustainable economy advancements of other regions in China, and even other countries or regions in the world. Therefore, Anhui was selected to be the empirical research sample. The results showed that the comprehensive levels of these two systems followed an increasing trend, while the digital economy lagged. Their coupling degree fluctuated and reached its highest point in 2021, whereas their coupling-coordination degree increased, showing high coupling and low coordination overall. This study proposes specific countermeasures and suggestions for the relevant decision-makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban green infrastructure construction and economic growth are necessary ways and important supports to promote sustainable development. Exploring their coupling coordination relationship is important for achieving high-quality economic development. This study uses the entropy method, coupling coordination degree, kernel density estimation, the Dagum Gini coefficient, and spatial autocorrelation to explore the spatial-temporal pattern characteristics and coupling coordination relationship between green infrastructure construction and economic development for 273 cities in Chinese mainland in 2010–2020. The results show that the level of China's green infrastructure construction and economic development gradually increased during 2010–2020. There were significant regional differences in space, exhibiting a decreasing spatial pattern from east to west. The coupling coordination degree was constantly improving. The overall Gini coefficient shows an upward trend. Among the four regions, eastern China has the greatest intraregional variation. The uneven level of coupled coordination is mainly from interregional variation. There was a significant positive spatial autocorrelation relationship, and cities that had a higher degree of coupling coordination tended to agglomeration development. Meanwhile, it also had certain spatial heterogeneity. China's entire level of coupling coordination degree still has much room for improvement. The study is of great significance in reducing disparities between regions and strengthening regional spatial coordination development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global warming caused by massive carbon dioxide emissions can lead to a chain of ecological disasters. As one of the main sources of carbon emissions, transportation is of great significance, and the evaluation of its connections with carbon emissions is necessary to achieve "carbon neutrality". Taking Beijing as an example, this study evaluated traffic efficiency (TE) by utilizing principal component analysis and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation. Using the Tapio decoupling model and coupling coordination degree model, the corresponding relationship between urban low carbon level (LCL) and TE was explored. The results showed the following: (1) The total carbon emission (CE) level exhibited fluctuating variation from increasing to decreasing. The carbon emission intensity (CEI) continued to slow down, and the rapid growth of population density played a key role in low-carbon development. (2) The traffic operations continually showed a positive trend in development. TE increased from a step-like to a slow shape, until it declined in 2020 due to the pandemic. (3) TE and LCL both developed from low coordination to an extreme level of coordination. Per capita carbon emission (CEP) and TE presented an inverted U-shaped curve; meanwhile, with increases in TE, the decline in CEI slowed. In addition, the weak decoupling of TE changed to become strong, due to CE and CEP, and maintained a strong decoupling state from CEI. (4) There is a necessity for the rational planning of land use for transportation infrastructure, the encouragement of a combination of public and private transportation, and the strengthening of the maintenance of the relative infrastructure and the management of traffic behaviors to attain a win–win situation. The results provide a reference for optimizing the traffic structure to achieve "carbon neutrality". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, frequent climate extremes exert a serious impact on agricultural production and social development, which is seldom studied in the previous literature. Production–Living–Ecological (PLE) is a useful analysis framework, and China is a suitable model for such study. This paper takes the Huai River Eco-Economic Belt (HREB), an important agricultural zone in China, to study the relationship among agricultural production (P), society (L), and climate change (E), which is referred to as APLE. This paper constructs a coupled coordination evaluation index system for the APLE system and uses coupling coordination degree models and geographic detector to study the spatial and temporal evolution of the coordinated development of 34 counties (cities) in the HREB from 2009 to 2018. The results show the following: (1) The development of the agricultural subsystem and the social subsystem formed a "scissors difference" from 2009 to 2014, and the three subsystems showed a slight upward trend during 2014–2018. (2) The coupling and coordinated development of the APLE system in the HREB was generally stable, and the coupling coordination degree was improved from low-grade and slightly uncoordinated to barely and primarily coordinated. Furthermore, the spatial differentiation of the coupling coordination degree shows a clear pattern of being high in the southeast and low in the northwest. (3) The main influencing factors are the drought and flood protection rate, the effective irrigation rate, the per capita electricity consumption in agriculture, the number of beds in healthcare facilities per 10,000 people, the per capita disposable income of urban residents, the annual average temperature, and the annual precipitation. (4) The spatial–temporal evolution of the coupling and coordinated development of the APLE system is the result of the comprehensive effect of internal driving forces such as food security, the consumption level of rural residents, and the development level of urbanization construction, and external driving forces such as government public welfare and natural conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coupling development between university science and technology (S&T) innovation and economy is an objective requirement for achieving sustainable economic and social development. The main goal of this paper is to explore the situation of the coupling coordination relationship between the two systems, i.e., university S&T innovation and sustainable economic development in China. It also hopes to provide a reference for promoting the coordinated development between the two. This paper constructs the evaluation index system of university S&T innovation and sustainable economic development separately and evaluates the indicators of university S&T innovation and sustainable economic development in 30 provincial regions in China from 2011 to 2020. On this basis, a coupling coordination degree model is constructed to evaluate the coupling coordination degree of university S&T innovation and sustainable economic development. Accordingly, this paper puts forward suggestions for promoting the coordinated development between university S&T innovation and sustainable economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the spatial-temporal evolution and the interconnectedness of land use/cover change (LUCC) and ecosystem service value (ESV). Such analysis can offer theoretical guidance and support decision-making for sustainable land resource development and ecological preservation in ecologically vulnerable cities within the Loess Plateau-Maowusu Desert transition zone. Utilizing Landsat data spanning 2000–2020, the paper examines the synergistic relationship between ESV and land use intensity in Shenmu City through bivariate spatial autocorrelation and the coupled coordination degree (CCD) model. Our findings indicate that the area of construction land in Shenmu City experienced the most significant change between 2000 and 2020, with a dynamism rate of 76.8%. This shift resulted in a decrease in the total ESV, from RMB 10.059 billion in 2000 to RMB 9.906 billion in 2020. The bivariate spatial autocorrelation analysis reveals a significant positive spatial correlation between ESV and land use intensity, while the CCD levels for both demonstrate a fluctuating yet overall upward trend over the 20-year period. The paper uncovers the spatial-temporal evolution of LUCC and ESV in Shenmu City along with their interconnected dynamics. The research outcomes can contribute valuable insights for reinforcing land resource utilization and promoting sustainable regional development within cities in the Loess Plateau-Maowusu Desert transition zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coupling and coordination between green finance (GF) and economic resilience (ER) are the foundation of sustainable economic development. This paper uses the panel data of 30 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) in mainland China from 2011 to 2021 to calculate the comprehensive development level of the two systems by the entropy weight method. At the same time, we analyze the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of the coupling coordination degree of the two systems by using the coupling coordination degree model, kernel density curve, spatial autocorrelation model, and Markov transition matrix. The results show that (1) the development level of ER increased steadily while that of GF fluctuated. The coupling coordination degree of the two systems shows an increasing trend. (2) The coupling coordination level of the two systems presents a spatial gradient pattern of "East > Middle > West". (3) The level of coupling coordination has an obvious spatial correlation. (4) The coupling coordination level in our country remains stable in the future, and there is a possibility of transition to a higher level. The research of this paper provides valuable enlightenment for implementing a sustainable development strategy in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With digital technologies injecting a strong impetus into China's sustainable agricultural development, the digital village is a new path for Chinese agricultural development. This paper focuses on digital village and sustainable agricultural development, in which the situation of digital village and green and high-quality agricultural development in China from 2010 to 2019 is measured based on the entropy weight–TOPSIS method and coupling coordination model and further explores the spatiotemporal evolution of their coupling coordination. In addition, it studies the factors which influence the coupling coordination of digital village and green and high-quality agricultural development using a geographical detector. The study shows that both digital villages and green and high-quality agricultural development in China show good momentum. In terms of the spatial pattern, cities on the southeast coast witness better development of digital villages, and the southern regions enjoy a higher degree of green and high-quality development in agriculture. The coupling coordination between digital villages and green and high-quality agricultural development shows a fluctuating upward trend in the eastern regions. Some of the influence factors play a significant role in the coupling coordination of digital villages and green and high-quality agricultural development, such as e-commerce, per capita income, innovation, and levels of income and education. On this basis, we suggest that the government should continuously promote the development of digital villages and improve rural governance to bridge the digital divide. In this case, policies to promote green and high-quality agricultural development through digitalization can be introduced according to local conditions, thus enabling sustainable agricultural development with the empowerment of digitalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A suitable living environment is the common aspiration of city residents and the inherent requirement of sustainable development. This paper takes 114 resource-based cities in China as the research objects, constructs a pseudo human settlement environment (PSH) system based on network data, and constructs a real human settlement environment (RSH) system based on traditional data, measures the coupling coordination degree of the pseudo and real human settlement environment, and uses Fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) to analyze its improvement path. The conclusions are as follows: (1) The evaluation index of real human settlements in China's resource-based cities continues to grow, and the evaluation index of pseudo human settlements increases first and then decreases. (2) The coupling coordination degree between the resource-based pseudo city and the real human settlement environment presents an inverted U-shaped change trend, and the overall distribution presents a three-level ladder-like distribution of east-central-west. (3) A single condition has a weak ability to explain the coupling coordination degree of human settlements; the coupling coordination degree of resource-based cities has formed three improvement paths: opening + finance driven model, opening + education + finance driven model, and education + finance driven model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sports facilities are a crucial physical safeguard and means of sustaining sporting activities. The steady and healthy development of sports facilities can promote the sustainable development of the social economy. In order to explore the coordination status and influencing factors between sports facilities construction and the social economy, this paper built a coupling coordination evaluation index system and dynamic factor index system for the sports facilities construction and social economy development by using the entropy method, coupling coordination model and random effect model. This paper assessed the comprehensive level, coupling coordination relationship, and influencing factors of the sports facilities and social economy development of nine cities in the Fujian Province across China from 2016 to 2020. The results show the overall level of sports facilities construction in Fujian is better than the social economy development, and the two systems are interacting with each other. The level of coupling and coordination gradually changes from good coordination to quality sustainable coordination. The coupling coordinated relationship between the two systems is developing in a positive way. In addition, industrial development, the level of urban development, and environmental development as influencing factors have a clear positive effect on the degree of coupling coordination. This study provides several recommendations for cities to achieve sustainable coordinated development. This paper also may provide a direction and path for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coordinated development of water and soil resource matching and grain production is essential to enhance integrated grain production capacity and promote sustainable development in agriculture. Based on the perspective of a water footprint, this article empirically evaluates the coupling coordination relationship between water and soil resource matching and grain production in typical black soil areas in Northeast China using the coupled coordination degree and the obstacle model and further analyzes the obstacle factors that affect the coordination between the two systems. The results indicate that the blue water footprint, green water footprint, and total water footprint of five grain crops are increasing year by year. Soybean has the largest water footprint per unit mass, tubers have the smallest, and rice has the largest water footprint among cereals. The overall matching degree of water and soil resources in the study area is steadily increasing. However, there are significant differences in the water and soil resource matching coefficients between regions, with the highest being observed in Hegang City and the lowest being observed in Jiamusi City. Coupling remains at a high level and coupling coordination shifts from a low–middle–high to a middle–high stage. The correlation between soil and water resource matching and grain production systems is of significant importance. The degree of matching between water and soil resources serves as the primary obstacle affecting the coupling and coordinated development of integrated systems, which fundamentally restricts the sustainable development of regional agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting the synergy of pollution and carbon reduction (PCR), as well as accelerating high-quality economic development (HQED), are the two major tasks of China's current economic development. Thus, it is crucial to achieve a deep integration between PCR and HQED. We first construct the indicator system of PCR and HQED, and use the entropy method to assign weights to the indicator system. The coupling coordination model often portrays the level of coordinated development between systems. We apply this model to measure the synergistic relationship between PCR and HQED in 108 cities of the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) in China from 2006 to 2021.We further analyze its spatial-temporal characteristics, regional differences, and convergence. The results reveal that the coupling coordination degree (CCD) between PCR and HQED in the YREB increases from 0.4234 in 2006 to 0.5832 in 2021. A higher CCD reflects a better coordinated developmental relationship between the two subsystems, and the relationship between the PCR and HQED shifts from on the verge of being uncoordinated to barely coordinated. Meanwhile, the CCD of the YREB shows a trend of decreasing downstream, midstream, and upstream, with significant spatial positive autocorrelation characteristics. Moreover, the overall differences in the CCD of the YREB from 2006 to 2021 show a fluctuating trend, with larger contributions of inter-regional differences and intra-regional differences. The convergence model reflects whether there is a tendency for the coupling coordination differences to narrow. Finally, the model indicates that there is no σ convergence but exists β convergence in the CCD of the YREB. Convergence is fastest in the downstream, followed by the midstream, and slowest in the upstream. The study reveals that the CCD of the YREB is increasing and has significant positive spatial correlation characteristics. It could utilize inter-city synergies, implement integrated strategies, and promote synergies between PCR and HQED in accordance with local conditions. Our findings provide empirical evidence and policy references for effectively promoting the deep integration of PCR with HQED. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial structure (IS), economy (EC), and ecological environment (EE) could influence each other and constitute a complex system (IS-EC-EE). This study is to explore the differences and evolution of the coordination level of the IS-EC-EE complex system of 13 cities in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) urban agglomeration by coupling coordination degree model, Markov chain, GM (1,1) model, Dagum Gini coefficient, and Kernel density estimation method to provide a reference for regional sustainable development. The results show that the comprehensive evaluation index of IS, EC, and EE had significant differences among the 13 cities in the BTH region. The IS-EC-EE system of the whole BTH region was in a highly coupled and low-coordinated development state. And the coordination degrees of the 13 cities in the BTH region had spatial differences, which were mainly due to inter-regional differences, and the differences became larger. Furthermore, the coordinated development of the 13 cities had the probability of keeping high, moderate, and low coordination. It was predicted that the coordination degree of the IS-EC-EE system in the whole BTH region in 2020–2030 was roughly similar to the trend in 2009–2019. The coordination levels of Beijing and Tianjin were higher than in Hebei Province, so optimizations need to be considered for regional overall sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intricate interplay between water resources, land resources, energy systems, and carbon emissions has emerged as a prominent discourse in academic research. Nonetheless, there remains a dearth of comprehensive research dedicated to fostering environmentally friendly and low-carbon development through systematic integration and coordination efforts. This study aimed to fill this gap by integrating the coupling mechanism of the Water-Land-Energy-Carbon (WLEC) system, thereby constructing an evaluation index framework that assesses coordinated developments in Northwest China's WLEC system. It scrutinizes the security levels within the Water-Land-Energy (WLE) subsystem while conducting quantitative analyses on the degrees of coupling coordination within the WLEC systems, alongside their associated hindering factors. The preliminary findings were as follows: Firstly, the safety development within the WLE system demonstrates a positive trend across Northwest China, with notable advancements primarily observed in the Qinghai and Gansu provinces. In 2021, all five Northwestern provinces exhibited moderate levels of safe development, except for the Qinghai province, which transitioned from moderate to robust. Secondly, the coupling coordination degree of the WLEC system across the five provinces has consistently illustrated an upward trajectory over the years. However, as of 2021, the system remains in a state characterized by marginal disorder. Notably, the Qinghai and Gansu provinces have shown particularly encouraging upward trends, with the Shaanxi province also making notable progress. Conversely, Xinjiang has declined since 2017 due to negative interactions between the subsystems of water, soil, energy, and carbon emissions. Thirdly, spatial variations exist in the distribution patterns between the provinces regarding the influence of obstructing factors on indicators related to coupled coordinated development, such as per capita arable land area, per capita energy consumption, per capita carbon emissions, per capita construction land area, and the proportion of groundwater water in the total amount of water supply, which demonstrated an increasing trend. These findings carry significant practical implications for actively and steadily promoting carbon peaking and carbon neutrality in Northwest China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study utilizes provincial panel data from China spanning the period from 2011 to 2020 to assess the coupled and coordinated development of spatial functions related to production, life, and ecology (PLE) in rural areas. The assessment is based on quantifying the spatial function indices for PLE in China's rural regions. Additionally, it examines the characteristics of their spatial and temporal evolution, spatial correlation, and driving factors. The findings indicate a modest upward trend in the spatial coupling and coordination levels of these functions across rural China, although a significant proportion of provinces still exhibit a near-disordered decline. Exploratory spatial data analysis reveals a geographical disparity, with higher levels of coupled and coordinated development observed in the eastern regions, lower levels in the west, and noticeable spatial clustering. By employing the spatial Durbin model to investigate the determinants of coupling degrees, we discovered that factors such as regional economic development, urbanization, the urban–rural income gap, financial support for agriculture, science and technology investment level, and agricultural structural adjustments significantly influence the spatial coupling of rural PLE functions. Furthermore, using the geographic detector model, the analysis identifies science and technology investment level, economic development, and financial support for agriculture as key drivers influencing the spatial coupling and coordination of these functions. These findings provide valuable reference points for policies and strategies related to rural management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a two-stage framework for analyzing the coupling mechanism between regional sustainable economic development and environmental protection subsystems. We propose a modified super-slack-based measure (SBM) model to evaluate efficiency and apply a coupled coordination model to measure the coordinated development levels of regional economies and environments. Subsequently, we assess the economic and environmental efficiency and coordination levels of 30 Chinese regions from 2011 to 2019. The findings indicate a strong synchronization between regional economic development and environmental protection, whereby regions with better economic development exhibit superior environmental protection measures. Regional technical inefficiency is primarily attributed to scale inefficiency, although the overall developmental trend is predominantly determined by pure technical advancement. While the synchronization between the economy and environment remains highly robust, over time, the coordination level gradually diminishes, transitioning from a state of well-coordinated and orderly development to dysfunctional and disorderly recession. Noticeable regional disparities in efficiency and coordination levels are apparent among the eastern, western, and central regions, with the central region demonstrating exemplary performance across all aspects. To promote sustainable high-quality coordinated development, regions with limited capacity should prioritize economic construction. Conversely, in other regions, the simultaneous promotion of economic development and environmental protection would be more appropriate to achieve a higher level of coordinated regional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studying the relationships among tourism, the environment and carbon emissions is key to understanding how tourism activity affects the sustainable development of tourism in the Tibetan Plateau. Using Lhasa, Tibet, as a case study, the coupling and coordination relationships among the three systems were analysed to explore the impact of tourism behaviour on sustainable tourism development. Utilising panel data from 2010 to 2020, the carbon emissions of tourism activities were calculated using a bottom-up approach. The coupling coordination model was employed to examine the interrelationship of the economy, the ecological environment and carbon emissions. Additionally, the Tapio model was utilised to further analyse the dependency relationship between economic development and carbon emissions. This assessment of the sustainability of Lhasa's tourism industry revealed that (1) the economy, the environment and carbon emissions are indeed closely intertwined with sustainable development and that (2) there has been a significant increase in the coupling coordination among the economy, the environment and carbon emissions from 2010 to 2020, coupled with a gradual decrease in economic dependency on carbon emissions. Despite providing favourable conditions for sustainable development, there remains considerable disparity among the three subsystems, with relatively low overall coordination. Accordingly, some practical low-carbon tourism policies are recommended to guide tourism practices and promote long-term sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid growth and development of urban areas, the economy has often been prioritized at the expense of the environment and ecological systems. However, it is essential to delve deeper into the relationship between the economy and the ecological environment. Therefore, this study introduces a comprehensive evaluation system that encompasses economic, ecological, and environmental factors in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei urban agglomeration in China. The Criteria Importance Through Inter-criteria Correlation (CRITIC) method is utilized to determine the weights of various indicators, and coupling as well as coupling coordination models are employed to investigate the spatiotemporal trends and interrelationships of the three factors. The results indicate that the economic development index has displayed a consistent uptrend since 2000, with the economic development index from 2015–2020 increasing by approximately four times compared to 2000–2005. The ecological status index has also increased in the last five years, with a rise of about 0.05 from 2015–2020 compared to 2000–2005. The environmental status index has fluctuated but generally increased, with a rise of approximately 5.6 times from 2015–2020 compared to 2000–2005. The coupling degree of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei urban agglomeration is relatively high, with intense coupling from 2005–2020, and moderate coupling from 2000–2005. Furthermore, the coupling coordination has continuously improved from mild maladjustment to barely coordinated from 2000 to 2020, indicating the enhancement of the coupling coordination of the three factors. It is crucial to acknowledge that there exists spatial heterogeneity in both the coupling degree and coupling coordination degree. This heterogeneity stems from the uneven progress in economic development, ecological conditions, and environmental status across various cities. Additional endeavors are required to foster the harmonized advancement of these factors across the entire region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water, energy, food, and ecology are essential for achieving sustainable development in a region, and in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, their security is also essential at a river basin scale. This study investigated the interrelationships among the water system, food system, energy system, and ecosystem in China's Upper Han River, in alignment with Goals 2, 6, 7, and 15 of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To evaluate the achievement of the SDGs in the Upper Han River, this water–energy–food–ecology system was evaluated by a thorough evaluation index system according to Goals 2, 6, 7, and 15, and the weights of the indices were given using a combination of the CRITIC weighting method and entropy approach. The level of coupling coordination of the system from 2000 to 2021 was quantitatively evaluated by using a coupling coordination degree model. The autoregressive integrated moving average model was built to forecast the process of the indices from 2022 to 2041, and the predicted processes of the system were evaluated by the coupling coordination degree model. The degree of coupling coordination improved from 0.396 to 0.845, and the comprehensive assessment development index increased by 113% from 2000 to 2021, demonstrating that it was a stable development period in general. The fragile support capacity of the water system for the energy system, food system, and ecosystem had a great impact on the overall comprehensive evaluation index. SDG2 (food system), SDG6 (water system), SDG7 (energy system), and SDG15 (ecosystem) all have higher levels of internal conflict. These bi-directional dynamics tended to converge in the sufficiency development mode in the future period as well as the historical period. The analysis of the relationship showed that there were inherent connections and interactions between the four goals, as presented by the high level of coupling that persisted between SDG2, SDG6, SDG7, and SDG15. In the process of promoting the achievement of these goals, the coupling degree also tends to be coordinated from 2022 to 2041. The results offer a view for the river basin's sustainable development and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trade-off and coordinated development of the "production-living-ecological" functions (PLEFs) of an area is an important basis for the optimization of the spatial pattern of the land, and helps to promote the harmonious symbiotic relationship between human beings and nature. This paper combines ecological niche theory, a coupling coordination model, and a trade-off synergy model to construct an evaluation index system for Chinese county PLEFs. Quantitative methods were used to measure spatiotemporal evolution characteristics, trade-off synergy of PLEFs in 38 counties in Chongqing, China, and the coupling coordination degree between PLEFs. The results showed that the ecological niche width of the "production-ecological" function revealed an overall growth trend. However, there was a mismatch in regional development of the "production-ecological" function, showing dislocation characteristics of "high in the west and low in the east" and "high in the east and low in the west." The niche width of the life function is similar to the comprehensive niche width of PLEFs, showing the characteristics of fluctuation and partition change. PLEFs and both the aforementioned functions showed distribution characteristics of "high in the west and low in the east," with the whole moving towards the stage of coordinated coupling, of which the "production-living" function has the highest coupling level. The functional coupling coordination degree of "production-living-ecological" is generally manifested as "high in the west and low in the east," and changing from the primary stage of imbalance to well-coordinated development. The "production-ecological" and "living-ecological" functions are in low-level imbalance in the primary and moderate coordination stages. Additionally, the evolution trend of the "production-ecological" and the "living-ecological" functions are similar, showing alternating and fluctuating development characteristics. Overall, in the past 20 years, Chongqing's "living-production" function has changed from a trade-off model to a collaborative development relationship, and the "living-ecological" function is generally based on a collaborative development relationship. The "ecological function" is manifested as a trade-off constraint relationship. Moreover, the coordinated development level of "living-production," "living-ecological," and "production-ecological" functions in the central urban area has been greatly improved, while counties have gradually shown different degrees of trade-offs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the world's largest developing country, China first proposed the construction of a Beautiful China initiative in 2012, with the aim of exploring Chinese solutions for sustainable regional development. The construction of a beautiful China is based on the guiding ideology of the Five-sphere Integrated Plan in China, that is, the overall plan for building socialism with Chinese characteristics, including economic construction, political construction, cultural construction, social construction and ecological civilization construction. This paper aims to understand the coupling relationship, as well as the spatial and temporal changes, between China's sustainable development under the Beautiful China initiative and tourism. Using data from the China Statistical Yearbook database, we constructed an evaluation index system to measure both the construction of beautiful China and tourism development using a literature review, statistical analysis, the entropy method and GIS-based spatial analysis methods. Furthermore, using the 31 Chinese provinces as the research subject, we further analyzed the state of Beautiful China construction and tourism development, as well as their coupling relationships of the two systems. Our results show that firstly, the economic "hard power" plays the most prominent role in the process of building a beautiful China under the sustainable development regime, while the status of cultural "soft power" has also been well reflected. Secondly, the weight ranking of tourism evaluation indicators and the spatial distribution of tourism development levels both reflect the central and fundamental role of tourism market demand in tourism development. Third, the weight ranking of tourism evaluation indicators ranks the highest in the mean value of the coupling coordination degree of society, ecology and tourism in the Beautiful China subsystem, which reflects the harmony between society and ecology and the significant livelihood function of tourism as a happiness industry in the new era. Fourth, the spatial and temporal relationship between the coupled and coordinated development of the Beautiful China and tourism systems varies, indicating that there is a regional imbalance in China's sustainable development. This further indicates the need to adapt to local conditions, and to build on strengths and avoid weaknesses to achieve regional sustainable development. The study highlights China's contribution to global sustainable development. It also provides theoretical and practical guidance for the promotion of the coordinated development of both Beautiful China and tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global urbanization and post-industrialization have resulted in the emergence of a large number of brownfields. The integration of brownfields into green infrastructure (GI) has been widely recognized as a sustainable development strategy in metropolitan areas. It is important to spatially prioritize brownfields catering for GI, which can enable the greatest enhancement of urban functions. Various studies have assessed brownfield site attributes or urban demands to define the priority of brownfields transformed into GI, but it is key to consider the coupling coordination between urban demands and site attributes in order to achieve more accurate matches. In this paper, an approach is proposed for assessing the priority of brownfields catering for GI in Xuzhou, China; this involved calculating the coupling coordination degree between site attributes and urban function demands, including heat island mediation, stormwater regulation, disaster prevention, landscape aesthetics improvement, and leisure and recreation increments. The results showed that 42.52% of the brownfields have a high degree of coupling coordination ("good coordination" and "primary coordination") between site attributes and urban demands. Furthermore, 40.82% of the brownfields (120 plots) were selected to be integrated into urban GI; these are not only located in high urban functional demand areas, but also have a high coupling coordination degree. These brownfields were divided into three priority levels, and 4.42% and 17.69% of the total brownfields are of very high and high priority. Our proposed approach offers an accurate decision-making tool for urban GI optimization in high-density built-up metropolitan areas, and offers guidance for brownfield redevelopment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We established a structural finite element model based on a four-tower partially cable-stayed bridge. We performed a study to determine the appropriate settings of several main parameters of the four-tower partially cable-stayed bridge. Given changes in the stiffness of the main girder, stayed cable and length of cable-free zones in the span, a three-parameter coupling coordination model was constructed. The coupling degree and coordination degree between different parameters are calculated and compared, the primary and secondary parameters affecting the structural performance of some cable-stayed bridges are determined, and a more suitable parameter composition interval is proposed. The sensitivity analysis of the main structural parameters of the four-tower partial cable-stayed bridge has not been published in the literature, and there is no coupling study on the length of the cable-free zone and the stiffness of the main girder and stay cable. The overall structural stiffness was improved by increasing the main girder's stiffness and stayed cable, with the main girder stiffness being the primary parameter. The increase in uncoupled zone length in the span improved the utilization rate of the line within a specific range; however, too long a length led to a reduction in overall structural stiffness. The main girder stiffness was set between EG′IG/EGIG = 1~3, while stayed cable stiffness was set between ECAC′/ECAC = 0.8~1.4. The length of the cable-free zone in the span was set between l1/l0 = 0.08~0.15, while the coupling coordination degree was medium to high coordination. The structural performance of the background engineering bridge was improved. However, the conclusion of this paper is more applicable to low-pylon cable-stayed bridges, and it has not been verified whether it applies to traditional cable-stayed bridges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of the coupling coordinated relationship between urbanization and the eco-environment is important to promote regional high-quality development. This paper measured the coupling coordination degree between urbanization and the eco-environment from 2008 to 2020, using the coupling coordination model, depicted its spatiotemporal characteristics with ArcGIS, and explored its driving factors and impacts of the interaction between pairwise factors on it with geo-detection methods. The results show that the coupling coordination level becomes increasingly improved, but there exist widening spatial disparities, and in 2020, its spatial distribution presents characteristics of "decreasing from north to south" and "increasing from west to east". According to their evolutionary characteristics of coupling coordination categories, cities can be classified into four types: "transition from basic misalignment to primary coordination", "transition from primary coordination to intermediate coordination", "transition from primary coordination to senior coordination", "no hierarchical transition". Currently, driving factors of industrial structure, opening to the outside world and technological innovation significantly affect the coupling coordination degree, and the interaction between pairwise factors is enhanced. Policies should be implemented in categories to improve the coupling coordination level. Regional cooperation, exchanges, and interconnection of resources and factors should be strengthened to jointly build a coordinated regional development pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the strategy of digital technology development and rural revitalisation, the digital economy has gradually become a powerful engine for rural revitalisation and development. Based on the coupling coordination mechanism of digital economy and rural revitalisation, this paper constructs the index evaluation system of digital economy and rural revitalisation and empirically studies the development characteristics of digital economy and rural revitalisation by using the coupling coordination degree and grey relation model. The results show that during 2016–2020, the overall development level of digital economy and rural revitalisation in China is high in the East and low in the West. The coupling coordination between digital economy and rural revitalisation has significant regional differences and a downward trend, and the coupling coordination degree is positively correlated. The empirical results of the grey correlation model show that the number of postal employees and per capital grain production are the most important potential factors affecting digital economy and rural revitalisation, respectively. Finally, it is suggested that the government should continue to increase investment in science, technology, and agriculture, accelerate the project of cultivating high-level scientific and technological innovation and rural management talents, and strengthen regional cooperation and collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coupled and coordinated development of urban resilience and new urbanization is an important guarantee for the realization of urban security and sustainable development. This paper first constructs an evaluation index of urban resilience and new urbanization and uses the entropy method to clarify the weights. Second, the coupling coordination degree model is used to measure the spatiotemporal differentiation characteristics of the coupling coordinated development of urban resilience and new urbanization in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2005 to 2019. The key influencing factors of the coupling coordination are analyzed using geodetectors. The results show the following. (1) The urban resilience of the Yangtze River Economic Belt has continued to improve, showing a stepwise distribution pattern of "high in the east and low in the west" in space. The overall development of new urbanization is at a medium–high level, with high levels concentrated in the eastern coastal cities. (2) The degree of spatial coupling and coordination between urban resilience and new urbanization is increasing year by year, and there is significant spatial heterogeneity, showing the pattern of "high in the east and low in the west, high in the center and low in the surrounding areas", and the type of lag is mostly urban resilience lag in new urbanization. (3) Endogenous power, external power, government power and market power interact to jointly promote the development of coupling coordination. The comprehensive effect of government power and other driving forces is the key mechanism for improving spatial coupling coordination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coupling coordination between industrial water use (IWU) and industrial green development (IGD) systems is crucial for achieving sustainable development goals. This paper measures the coupling coordination degree between IWU and IGD systems, and the spatial–temporal evolution characteristics of the degree are discussed. Here, the IWU system is assessed by adopting a dynamic slacks-based measure model, and the IGD system's performance is evaluated using an entropy-weighted TOPSIS model. The results showed that: (1) The provincial IWU efficiency showed a rising trend from 2009 to 2018 in general, while its spatial dimension showed a distribution of high in the eastern region and low in the western region. (2) The IGD performance in the eastern region was better than that in the central and western regions; the gap in industrial innovation and industrial resources was the main factor. (3) The spatial structure of the coupling coordination degree between IWU and IGD systems was gradually stable. It also had a strong spatial dependence and its evolution volatility has been enhanced. (4) The coupling coordination was improving but exhibited a dynamic local spatial dependence and volatile process, and its spatial agglomeration had a relatively higher path dependence and locked spatial features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the "double carbon" goal, this paper constructs an evaluation index system for the coordinated development of the urban and ecological environments, using the entropy method and coupling coordination degree model to analyze the spatio-temporal differentiation characteristics of the degree of coupling coordination of urbanization and ecological environment in 16 cities in Anhui Province from 2010 to 2020 and uses ArcGIS software to draw the spatial distribution of the coupling coordination relationship between urbanization and ecological environment in these cities. The results show that in terms of time, the coupling and coordination relationship between urban development and the ecological environment in Anhui Province showed a continuous improvement from 2010 to 2020. The coupling degree showed a stable trend, and the coupling and coordination level changed from mild imbalance to a high-quality coordination stage. Spatially, the coupling and coordinated development of 16 cities in Anhui Province in 2020 involves three types: mild imbalance, imminent imbalance and reluctantly coordinated, indicating that there is still a gap between this cities. Therefore, it is proposed to improve the comprehensive level of the ecological environment system, promote the coordinated symbiosis between urban development and the ecological environment and reduce the developmental differences of cities within the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting the coordinated development of population health and the economy is an important part of building a "Healthy China" and promoting high-quality economic development. Based on the systematic construction of the population health and economic development evaluation index system, this paper uses the coupled coordination model, geodetector, and geographically weighted regression (GWR) to comprehensively measure the population health level and economic development level at the provincial scale in China in 2000 and 2015, and reveals the spatial and temporal evolution characteristics of the coupled coordination relationship between the population health level and economic development level at the provincial scale in China from 2000 to 2015 and its driving factors. The results show the following: (1) China's population health and economic development are in a high-level coupling stage, and the coupling level increases slightly with time; spatially, two types of running-in coupling and high-level coupling coexist; the coupling degree in the eastern and central regions tends to increase, while the coupling degree in the western region tends to weaken. (2) China's population health and economic development are in a good coupling coordination stage as a whole, and the coupling coordination degree has an increasing trend; spatially, the coupling coordination degree shows high spatial differentiation characteristics in the east and low in the west; the good and high-quality coupling coordination type area tends to expand to the west, while the moderate coupling coordination type area tends to shrink to the west; there is also positive spatial agglomeration of coupling coordination degree, and the spatial agglomeration is gradually enhanced. (3) The coupling coordination of China's population health and economic development is driven by multiple factors such as natural conditions, health resources, culture quality, and urbanization level; the interaction between factors is stronger than that of a single factor, and the driving effect of each factor also shows significant spatial heterogeneity. This study is intended to provide a scientific basis for promoting harmonious population health and economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the causes of poverty and identifying the transformation characteristics of poverty is the basis for achieving poverty eradication. In order to clarify the availability of construction land for poverty assessment, this paper explores the spatio-temporal synergy between urban built-up areas and poverty transformation in Tibet. The following conclusions are drawn: (1) the built-up areas in Tibetan counties have been growing from 2013 to 2019; (2) the proportion of counties with very low and low levels of relative poverty have decreased significantly, and the overall spatial characteristics of poverty are "high in the center and low in the surroundings"; (3) the overall coupling-coordination level between the built-up areas and the relative poverty level is gradually improving from the initial antagonism, and the relative-poverty index shows a significant negative correlation with coupling coordination (correlation coefficient of −0.63); and (4) the built-up area has a strong explanatory power for the spatial distribution of regional relative-poverty transfer compared to temperature, precipitation, elevation, and slope. The results of the study prove that the built-up area cannot be directly used as an indicator factor when constructing the multidimensional relative-poverty model and, instead, should use urban built-up areas by region to participate in poverty-estimation models based on regional economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Northeast China, regarded as China's Rust Belt, has been dealing with numerous issues related to societal transformation and ecological concerns. Data indicate that Northeast China has already become the most severely depopulated region. It is crucial for the region's sustainable growth to figure out how to balance ecological and urban development in the face of population shrinkage. First, we measured the population shrinkage, urbanization, and green total factor productivity (GTFP) of each city. Second, we calculated the degree of coordination between urbanization and GTFP and spatially visualized it. Finally, we analyzed the influencing factors through further empirical evidence. The findings showed that Northeast China's cities were generally becoming smaller in terms of population. Urbanization and GTFP both exhibited a climbing tendency, and overall coordination between the two grew gradually. The level of coordination declined as population shrinkage increased. Governmental, technological, and economic factors influenced the level of coordination. The role played by factors influencing coordinated development varied at different levels of shrinkage. The findings not only provide a new research perspective for understanding the coordinated development of socioeconomic and ecological environment in Northeast China, but also provide insights for further improving the relevant policies and promoting the sustainable development and transformation of the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twenty-six cities in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration were taken as the research object, and this study comprehensively evaluated urbanization quality and ecological resilience from 2005 to 2020. On this basis, the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics and main influencing factors of the coupling relationship between urbanization and ecological resilience were systematically explored using a coupling coordination model and panel Tobit regression model. The results can be summarized as follows: (1) from 2005 to 2020, the quality of urbanization in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration continued to grow, the level of ecological resilience grew slowly and fluctuated, and the development among municipalities tended to be balanced. (2) The overall coupling coordination degree of urbanization and ecological resilience showed a continuous increasing trend, and the coupling coordination type changed from basic coupling coordination to good coupling coordination. The number of cities with lagging urbanization quality decreased significantly; spatially, the gap in the coupling coordination degree between municipalities narrowed, and the cities with good coupling gradually clustered. (3) The results of the panel Tobit regression showed that the differences in the spatial evolution of coupling coordination mainly resulted from the interaction of drivers such as real utilized foreign capital, per capita GDP, carbon emission intensity, the proportion of science and technology expenditure to fiscal expenditure, the ratio of per capita disposable income of urban and rural residents, fixed asset investment in municipal utility construction, and the index of ecological land area ratio. In the future, the coupling coordination degree of urbanization and ecological resilience should be improved based on the type of coupling coordination according to local conditions, and the seven influencing factors should be carefully examined to accelerate the high-quality integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis of land use sustainability (LUS) coupling socioeconomic and ecological systems has drawn the interest of researchers and decision-makers concerned with sustainable development. Exploring the relationships between land use systems can offer a coordinated route for localized and effective land governance strategies. We proposed a new theoretical framework for LUS considering coordinated development between socioeconomy and ecology. We applied it further to the Xiongan New Area, typical of a new region with government-led construction in eastern China, to explore in depth the coupling and coordination relationship among land use systems and their driving factors. Results revealed that: (1) ecological sustainability grew while socioeconomic sustainability declined in most areas of Xiongan New Area during 2010–2020 at the township level, (2) relationships among land use systems in 2010–2020 showed a trend of coordinated development, but generally, their coordination was still only at a primary and moderate level, with a shift from prominent ecological lag to prominent socioeconomic lag, (3) economic factors are critical to the coordinated development of land use systems, while the influence of ecological factors is also increasing, and (4) four development types were identified for the towns: coupling and developed, coupling and undeveloped, tradeoff and developed, and tradeoff and undeveloped. Policymakers can better appreciate the importance of government interventions in future land use planning in terms of sustainable development with the help of land use zoning optimization and sustainable land governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although urbanization greatly benefits economy-society development in China, it poses enormous challenges to cultivated land utilization. In the context of urbanization acceleration and carbon neutrality, it's of significance to achieve high-quality economy-society development and sustainable agricultural development. Thus, the coupling coordination relationship between new-type urbanization and cultivated land low-carbon utilization (CLLCU) needs to be examined. However, this topic has not been adequately addressed in previous studies. To fill the gap, this paper adopted a comprehensive evaluation model and a super-efficiency SBM (Slacked Based Measure) model to evaluate the level of new-type urbanization and the cultivated land low-carbon utilization efficiency (CLLCUE) of cities in the Yangtze River Delta in China from 2000 to 2018. Furthermore, the coupling coordination degree model (CCDM) and the relative development degree model (RDDM) were employed to measure the coupling coordination degree and the relative state of the new-type urbanization and CLLCU The results show that the coupling coordination degree between the new-type urbanization level and CLLCUE experienced a process of "rapid increase-steady develop" and presented a spatial pattern of "polarization-regional equilibrium". In addition, the relative state of the new-type urbanization and CLLCU presented the "reversal" phenomenon. In other words, the relative state changed from the new-type urbanization lagging behind CLLCU to the new-type urbanization ahead of CLLCU. None of the cities were in the state of simultaneous development. Finally, this paper puts forward policy recommendations to explore differentiated CLLCU modes and improve the quality and efficiency of new-type urbanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coupling coordination between the digital economy and industrial green high-quality development has become an inevitable choice to promote economic high-quality development in China. This paper conducts an empirical analysis of the coupling coordination degree between the digital economy and industrial green high-quality development via the entropy evaluation method, coupling coordination model, Dagum Gini coefficient and its decomposition, and β spatial convergence model, based on the spatial data of 31 provinces in China for a time period ranging from 2008 to 2020. The major research findings of this study are as follows: (1) the coupling coordination between the digital economy and industrial green high-quality development represents a whole steady-upward trend in China, with large regional differences. (2) There is a gradual decrease in the overall spatial difference of the coupling coordination, with the largest intra-regional difference in the eastern region, and significant inter-regional differences in the east-west, east-northeast, and east-central regions. Moreover, the hypervariable density serves as the major source of the regional differences. (3) There exists β Convergence for coupling coordination degrees of the whole country and the four regions. However, the spatial effects are different in different regions due to different influencing factors. Therefore, sufficient attention should be paid to the dynamic trend, the difference, and the imbalance of the coupling coordination degree between the digital economy and industrial green high-quality development. The research is of great significance for accurately implementing policies according to different levels of local resource endowments and economic development, and narrowing the regional differences of the coupling coordination between the digital economy and industrial green high-quality development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Driven by a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, the interactive and integrated development of the digital economy and the sports industry has become the objective demand of current economic development. In order to explore the coupling coordination relationship between the digital economy and the sports industry, this paper uses the coupling coordination degree model and exploratory spatial data analysis method to analyze the coupling coordination degree and spatial correlation of the integrated development of China's digital economy and its sports industry. It does this by taking the statistical data of 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in China from 2015 to 2019 as observation samples. The results show that the coupling coordination degree of China's digital economy and sports industry is low, showing an unbalanced development trend of "low in the west, high in the east, low in the north and high in the south". There is a significant positive clustering in spatial integration of the two, and the degree of clustering increases year by year. It is necessary to establish a regional coordinated development mechanism, define the stage of regional integration, optimize the spatial pattern of coupled development, and promote the balanced development of digital economy and sports industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green innovation exchanges low emissions, low pollution and low output for economic development. At the same time, economic development can provide important economic support for green innovation, and managing the connection between green innovation and economic development is significant for the balanced development of a region. There is no unified definition of green innovation efficiency in academic circles, but the definitions can be divided into three types: innovation aimed at minimizing environmental damage; innovation of environmental performance; and innovation for environmental development or environmental improvement. Based on relevant data from 30 provinces and cities in China from 2008 to 2019, this paper uses the coupling coordination model and spatial autocorrelation analysis to investigate the coordination status of green innovation efficiency (GIE), the economic development standard, and their evolution over time and space. We also use the Tobit model to analyze influential factors in coupling coordination. The results show that the overall development trend of coupling coordination is rising, and the gap between the coordination standard between the east and west is obvious. Considering the spatial correlation pattern, the high innovation area is mainly centered in the east. It is empirically demonstrated through the Tobit model that patented technology facilitates the balanced development of regional GIE and economic development. These conclusions provide a new viewpoint for the projection of green innovation policies, help to combine green innovation with economic development, and afford an academic foundation for the government to mark out future development directions and policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]