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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]

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 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]

The Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP) is an important way to assess the state of the ecosystem and to clarify the coupling and coordination between the ecosystem and the economic system, which can be a scientific basis for achieving the synergistic development of economic society and ecological civilization. In this paper, 11 prefectural cities in Jiangxi Province are taken as research areas. Based on the data of land use, normalized difference vegetation index, net primary productivity, soil, meteorology, elevation and statistics, the study accounts for the GEP in Jiangxi Province in 2010 and 2020 based on a biophysical model, and analyzes the changes of its ecosystem's state. Based on the economic data obtained from the Jiangxi Statistical Yearbook, a regional economic index system was established; the levels of GEP and the regional economy were measured with the help of entropy-weight-TOPSIS method, and the interaction mechanism and coupling coordination dynamics between them were explored based on the coupling coordination degree model. It was found that during 2010–2020, the GEP in Jiangxi Province increased by 0.35%, and the value of material goods and cultural services increased by 49.57% and 414.03%, respectively, but the value of regulating services decreased by 9.89%; the main coupled and coordinated development characteristics of ecosystem and economic system in Jiangxi Province developed from basic coordination-economic lagging to moderate coordination-ecological lagging, and the coupled coordinated development continues to improve, but the development of gross ecosystem product lags behind the level of economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a fundamental solution to the ecological problems of resources and environment, the Green Transition of Cultivated Land-use (GTCL) has become an inherent requirement for promoting ecological progress and implementing the food security strategy in the new era. This paper proposed a theoretical framework of GTCL and constructed a GTCL development index system based on four aspects: water, land, food and carbon; then, by applying a comprehensive evaluation model, a coupling coordination model and exploratory spatial data analysis, the development level of GTCL in China's 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2020 was evaluated and the spatial and temporal rates of change of "water, land, food and carbon" (WLFC) and their coupling coordination were finally analyzed to reveal the "water, land, food and carbon" effect of GTCL. Results showed that the systemic changes of WLFC and its coupling coordination degree of GTCL presented a spatial and temporal coincidence with a high degree of consistency; from 2000 to 2020, the overall GTCL rate in all Chinese provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions showed a "W"-shaped fluctuation uptrend. In the past five years, the development level of GTCL was higher in Northeast China, followed by Central China and North China, while South China was at a low level. In addition, WLFC showed a more obvious "W"-shaped fluctuation, with higher coupling coordination in Northeast China in good coordination and lower coordination in East China and Southwest China. Therefore, according to the results of the study, areas were divided into: benefit leading area, quality improvement area, connotation tapping potential area, ductile development area and ecological reserve area for the regulation of GTCL in all Chinese provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural decline has become an indisputable fact and a global issue. As a developing country, China is simultaneously facing unprecedented rapid urbanization and severe rural decline. The coordinated development of its rural human–land relationship is therefore of great significance for ensuring the country’s food security and achieving both rural revitalization and sustainable development. Yet, the related research on this complex subject has mostly focused on a single element: rural settlements. Since studies of the rural human–land relationship tend to only discuss the coordinated change in rural populations vis-à-vis rural settlement area, their degree of spatial matching and intensive utilization level of rural settlements has been largely overlooked. To rectify this imbalance, using data on rural populations and rural settlement area in counties of Shandong Province in 2009 and 2018, this paper applied the methods of per capita rural settlement area, the Theil index, and Tapio’s decoupling model to quantitatively identify the rural human–land relationship along three dimensions: intensive utilization level, spatial matching degree, and change coordination degree. The results revealed that the per capita rural settlement area in Shandong Province was as high as 212.18 m2/person in 2018, which exceeded the standard to varying degrees in all cities, having an overall geographical pattern of being high in the north and low in the south. The Theil index for all cities was small, which indicates that the spatial matching between rural population and rural settlements is high. To sum up, there are small differences in the utilization of rural settlements among cities, and their extensive utilization of rural settlements is a common phenomenon. In addition, the relationship between the changes in the rural population size and rural settlement area corresponded to a discordant state, in the form of strong negative decoupling, expansive negative decoupling, and expansive coupling; however, among them, the strong negative decoupling type was the dominant type. It is worth noting that all of these three types will exacerbate the extensive utilization of rural settlements. Accordingly, this paper proposes policies and measures, such as the paid withdrawal of rural homesteads, an expanded scope of homestead transfer, cross-regional “increasing versus decreasing balance”, classified promotion of rural revitalization, and improved village planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China’s long-standing urban-rural dichotomy has led to a widening gap between urban and rural areas, posing a huge challenge to the sustainable development of Chinese society. This paper adopted the subjective-objective weighting method, coupled coordination degree model, and geographically weighted regression model to conduct urban-rural sustainable development research on 31 provincial administrative regions in China and discussed their spatial-temporal divergence and driving mechanisms during 2007–2018. The results showed that (1) the quality of both rural revitalization and new urbanization improved during the study period, and the gap between them showed a trend of increasing after fluctuations. Both of them had significant spatial and temporal divergence characteristics. (2) The urban-rural coupling coordination degree in China continued to increase during the study period and showed an overall pattern of “high in the east-west and low in the north and southwest”. The changes of relative development type indicated that new urbanization had far surpassed rural revitalization during the study period. (3) The coefficients of driving factors varied significantly in space, showing a hierarchical band distribution. Seven of the eight driving factors showed a strong positive correlation in the vast majority of regions. The results and suggestions of this research can further promote the organic combination of rural revitalization and new urbanization strategy, which is of great practical significance for narrowing the urban-rural gap and realizing sustainable urban-rural development. Likewise, it can be a reference for other developing countries around the world. [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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

The interconnection between urbanization, the environment, and food security necessitates an exploration of their coupling coordination to advance the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals. However, limited research directly addresses the feasibility and strategies required to achieve such coordination. This study investigates the coupling coordination and spatial heterogeneity between urbanization, the environment, and food security in China from 2004 to 2020, employing the coupling coordination degree model, the spatial correlation model, the Dagum Gini coefficient, and the obstacle degree model. The results show that: (1) the level of coordinated development between urbanization, the environment, and food security in China has significantly increased, as evidenced by a remarkable rise in the coupling coordination degree; (2) a robust positive spatial correlation is observed in the coupling coordination degree, with "Low-Low" clusters predominantly concentrated in northwest China and "High-High" clusters primarily located in southeast China; (3) inter-regional differences are identified as the primary cause of this spatial heterogeneity; (4) food security has emerged as the foremost obstacle to coordinated development between urbanization, the environment, and food security in China. Optimizing the rational allocation of natural resources across different sectors, enhancing resource use efficiency, and strengthening environmental pollution control and management have been proven to be crucial measures and key strategies for promoting their coordinated development. This study provides a novel perspective on balancing the intricate relationship between urbanization, environmental protection, and food security, which is conducive to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of the man–land relationship in the urbanization process is the current frontier and focus of international research. How to balance urban development and ecosystem conservation in the Upper Yellow River is a key issue for sustainable development in China. In this study, we evaluated the Lanzhou–Xining urban agglomeration (LXUA) by constructing a multi-dimensional assessment system for urbanization quality and ecosystem services. The efficacy function model, entropy weight method, and Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) model were used to quantitatively assess the subsystems' state of development. Then, the coupling model (CD) and the coordination degree (CCD) model were used to explore the coupling coordination relationship and spatial-temporal change characteristics of the composite system. The findings indicate that: (1) In 2020, the quality of urbanization in the LXUA showed the pattern of "double core". The development of urban centers in each city is insufficient, and the proportion of counties with a low level is too high. (2) Integrated ecosystem services showed an increasing distribution pattern from the northeast to the southwest. Water provision services, soil conservation services and carbon fixation services all showed growth trends. (3) Each county's composite system was in the run-in stage or highly coupled stage. The subsystems were closely related to each other. (4) The CCD was decreased by 6% between two decades. The number of counties on the verge of disorder was the highest. About 80% of the counties were relatively lagging behind in ecosystem services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the digital era, the contradiction between regional urban development and land ecological protection is still prominent. Clarifying the relationship and internal interaction logic among digital economy (DE), new-type urbanization (NU), and land ecology (LE) is of great significance to the region's sustainable development. Based on theoretical analysis, this study examines the relationship among DE, NU, and LE in the Yangtze River Delta through spatial analysis and empirical test with the city data from 2011 to 2020. The study found that: (1) The overall development level of DE–NU–LE in the Yangtze River Delta shows a steady upward trend, the development level of DE and NU lags behind LE, and the convergence trend among them gradually strengthened. (2) The DE-NE-LE and the coupling coordination have different and complex spatial and temporal dynamic evolution characteristics. The ability for coordinated development is enhanced continuously, which presents a typical pattern of "high in the east and low in the west". (3) The DE has a lasting role in promoting the development of the NU and LE, while the support and stimulation of NU and LE for DE needs to be strengthened. The relationship between the NU and LE shows a mutually restricted trend. (4) The DE has a significant "siphon effect". While NU and LE both have significant positive spatial spillover effects, which can promote the coordinated development of surrounding cities. This study deepens the understanding of DE–NU–LE coordinated development, and provides a new perspective for sustainable urban development and alleviating land conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting the coupled and coordinated development of China's tourism industry and urbanization is of great significance for its marginal and less developed regions. Taking a typical marginal and less developed region, the mountainous border areas of Western Yunnan as the research object, this study analyzed the spatial and temporal characteristics of the coupling coordination degree of the tourism industry and urbanization, as well as their influencing factors, in this region from 2010 to 2019 using the coupling coordination model, spatial gravity model, and panel Tobit model. The study results show the following. (1) The development level of the tourism industry and urbanization in the study region had significantly increased, but there was an obvious polarization phenomenon in its spatial distribution. (2) The coupling coordination degree of the tourism industry and urbanization showed a good development trend of steady growth, and the areas were ranked according to the average annual growth rate as follows: West Yunnan > Southwest Yunnan > Northwest Yunnan. (3) The regional differences in the coupling coordination degree had expanded, reflecting an "agglomeration phenomenon" and "distance decay effect", and the tourism industry lagging (obstructed) subtype was dominant. (4) The industrial structure, transportation accessibility, capital effect, consumption capacity, and talent support had significant positive effects on the coupling coordination degree, but the role of openness to the outside world was not obvious. This study can provide a useful reference for further studies on the marginal and less developed regions of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable livelihood of farmers is the key to rural revitalization. The purpose of this study was to establish livelihood capital cultivation models suitable for farmers in different agricultural regions and to enhance the sustainability of farmers’ livelihoods by selecting four agricultural regions (suburban agriculture, intensive agriculture, plain field agriculture, and mountain agriculture) and 1025 rural households and employing Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) to systematically analyze the characteristics of livelihood capital and livelihood stability of farmers in different agricultural regions and the coupling coordination relationship between them based on a Sustainable Livelihood Framework (SLF). The results show that: (1) The average household livelihood capital is highest in intensive agricultural regions and lowest in mountain agricultural regions. (2) Farmers in suburban agricultural regions have a variety of sources of income; thus, the livelihood stability is the highest. while it is lowest in intensive agricultural regions. (3) The coupling coordination degree of livelihood capital and livelihood stability in suburban agricultural regions and plain field agricultural regions is primary coordination, while in intensive agricultural regions and mountain agricultural regions, livelihood capital and stability are slightly out of balance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban pseudo and reality human settlements (PHSs and RHSs) are important components of the human–land relationship regional system. To explore the coupling and coordination relationship and principle among them is an important approach to high-quality coordinated urban development. Based on the three-dimensional development of human settlements, the theoretical system of a "three states" dynamic frame diagram is constructed. The spatio-temporal heterogeneity and driving principle of coupling coordination among PHSs and RHSs in 34 prefecture-level cities in northeast China from 2011 to 2019 were explained by using the coupling coordination degree, spatial trend surface analysis and geographic detector techniques, and the evolution principle of spatio-temporal coordination was revealed. The results show that: (1) in the temporal dimension, the coupling coordination degree among PHSs and RHSs in the three provinces shows a smooth growth from "slight disadjustment" to "near disadjustment"; (2) With Shenyang, Dalian, Changchun and Harbin as the center, the coordination degree shows a circular pattern decreasing from the transition area to peripheral area. In the direction of south and north, the spatial evolution trend shows a gradual change from a "—" shape to "U" shape. There is spatio-temporal variation of the trend surface from an inverted "U" shape to "—" shape in the east–west direction; (3) The socioeconomic situation is an important driving factor, and the tool system is a new driving system for the coupling and coordinated development of urban PHSs and RHSs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]