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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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

This study analyzes the coupling coordination of green finance, digital economy, and ecological environment, and constructs an evaluation index system of coupling coordination degree. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2020, this study applies the coupling coordination model, spatial autocorrelation model, and gray correlation model to analyze the spatio-temporal evolution characteristics of coupling coordination degree and driving factors. The results indicate that the overall level of green finance, digital economy, and ecological environment maintains steady development, among them, the digital economy is developing the fastest. The coupling coordination degree among the three subsystems exhibits an ascending trend and transitions from dissonance to coordination and displays significant global and local spatial autocorrelation characteristics. Regional disparities exist between the driving factors that influence the coupling coordination degree. Therefore, the existing green financial system should be optimized, coordination of green finance and digital economy synergies should be improved, and each region should devise a development strategy tailored to its regional characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The utilization of renewable energy (RE) is a meaningful way to realize the low-carbon transformation of energy systems. However, due to the imbalance of resources, economy, technology, society, and environment among regions, the coordinated development of regional RE may be restricted by different factors, which brings challenges to the formulation of relevant development policies. This paper focuses on the development of RE in 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2019. It uses the AHP-EM integrated evaluation model to evaluate the constructed multilayer indicator system for the comprehensive development of RE. The characteristics of the coupling and coordination relationship between indicators are explored, and the critical driving factors affecting the coordinated development and change in RE in different regions are quantitatively identified through the logarithmic mean Divisia index method. The results show that the comprehensive development level of RE in each province is relatively low, and the relatively high-level areas gradually move eastward in terms of spatial distribution. The degree of coupling and coordination between indicators is still in a low-level coupling stage, and RE in each region has not achieved coordinated development. In addition, the comprehensive development of regional RE is consistent with the spatial evolution characteristics of the degree of coordination among indicators, emphasizing the importance of coordinated development among indicators for RE. These findings will provide broader insights for improving the comprehensive development level of regional RE and formulating differentiated policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the coupling coordination model, this paper intends to use the panel data of 31 provinces in China from 2000 to 2019, analyze the coupling and coupling coordination relationship between environmental regulation and green water resource efficiency (GWRE), and explore the space-time pattern of coupling coordination. The results show that: (1) The overall level of environmental regulation in China is showing increasingly stringent characteristics, and the overall GWRE is showing an upward trend. Both show spatial differences, and there is a strong correlation between the spatial spillover of environmental regulation and the improvement of GWRE. (2) The environmental regulation and GWRE in China have not yet achieved the benign resonance goal of high coupling. It is overall manifested as a medium-coupled run-in and a medium-coupled coordination. (3) The space-time evolution characteristics are prominent, and the coupling coordination degree of different provinces (regions) shows a more significant difference, showing the spatial pattern of higher in the eastern region and lower in the west region. Therefore, some policy suggestions are put forward on how to break through the bottleneck of environmental regulation for the improvement of GWRE and how to optimize the external environment in which the government optimizes environmental regulation to inhibit the efficiency of green water resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The synergistic improvement in urban resilience and low-carbon development level is significant for mitigating and adapting to climate change, achieving the 'dual carbon goal' and promoting sustainable urban development. By constructing a comprehensive evaluation index system of urban resilience and low-carbon development, this study quantitatively measures the level of urban resilience and low-carbon development of the Central Plains Urban Agglomeration (CPUA) from 2009 to 2021. Further, the coupling coordination degree model and geographical detector explore the spatial and temporal evolution pattern and driving factors of the coupling and coordination (CCD) of urban resilience and low-carbon development. The results show the following: (1) From 2009 to 2021, urban resilience shows a good momentum of continuous rise, and the spatial distribution pattern is 'high in the northeast and low in southwest'. Low-carbon development is characterized by the development trend of 'first decline and then rise', forming a spatial distribution pattern of 'high in the south and low in the northwest'. (2) The CCD also shows a rising development trend. The type of coupling and coordination is mainly reluctant coordination. (3) The CCD shows a significant spatial correlation, and the degree of spatial agglomeration shows a downward trend. (4) The level of economic development and the level of scientific and technological innovation are the main two driving forces for the spatial differentiation of the coordinated development of the two systems. In addition, the explanatory power of the interaction of various influencing factors was significantly enhanced. In a word, this study was helpful to clarify further the spatial interaction between urban resilience and low-carbon development and also to provide experience and reference for low-carbon resilience construction and high-quality development of other urban agglomerations in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green and low-carbon development are important initiatives to promote the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this study, a systematic evaluation method for regional green and low-carbon development levels was established by referring to the evaluation methods of other literature. The evaluation method includes assessing the overall green and low-carbon development levels of the evaluation objects, as well as analyzing the coupling coordination of the two subsystems of green development and low-carbon development. The results show that China's green low-carbon development level shows a rising trend year by year from 2012 to 2021, but there is still much space for progress. As for 2021, 2 provinces are in the Fair stage, 25 provinces are in the Accepted stage, and 4 provinces are in the Good stage. Provinces with higher levels of green and low-carbon development are characterized by spatial clustering, and the level of green and low-carbon development in the southeast coastal provinces is significantly higher than that in the northwest inland provinces. This study measures the coupling coordination degree of the two subsystems of green development and low-carbon development in each province. The average coupling coordination degree of China's green and low-carbon development shows a rising trend year by year from 2012 to 2021. By 2021, the coupling coordination degree of China's 29 provinces belongs to the High level type, and only two provinces belong to the Low level type. This study provides a provincial map of China's green and low-carbon development levels and a distribution map of the coupling coordination degree of the green and low-carbon development subsystems, which provides support for an in-depth understanding of the spatial–temporal distribution of and development trends in China's green and low-carbon development level. This study provides support for a deeper understanding of the spatial and temporal distribution and development trend of China's green and low-carbon development level. The study also provides data to support China's efforts to promote synergies in reducing pollution and carbon emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, a typical ethnic border area with rapid tourism development, as an example, this study uses a coupling coordination degree model to quantitatively analyze tourism and urbanization, two subsystems in Xishuangbanna, and measure the level of coordinated development between tourism and urbanization in Xishuangbanna. This study provides a theoretical basis for building famous tourist cities and for improving the urbanization efficiency and level in areas such as Xishuangbanna with abundant tourism resources but insufficient urbanization. The following results were obtained: (1) Xishuangbanna's tourism plays a strong role in promoting urbanization, and its tourism urbanization response coefficient, tourism industry location entropy, and tourism urbanization level indicator all show clear upward trends; tourism has become a local advantage industry and has a significant positive correlation with urbanization. (2) In the evaluation system for tourism urbanization quality, the weights are ranked in the order of social indicators > economic indicators > population indicators > spatial indicators > eco-environmental indicators; over time, social indicators and economic indicators show clear fluctuating upward trends, population indicators fluctuate greatly, and spatial indicators and eco-environmental indicators fluctuate little. (3) The top five indicators influencing tourism urbanization are the number of the incoming individuals, the number of travel agencies, the number of corporate enterprises in the catering industry, the forest coverage rate, and the number of ethnic minority villages. (4) In the evaluation of the coupling coordination degree, the comprehensive evaluation indicator is low, resulting in an overall low coupling coordination degree of tourism urbanization quality in Xishuangbanna, and three types of coupling coordinated development (i.e., severe, moderate, and mild imbalances) are observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting the coordinated development of basic public services, urbanization, and tourism is crucial to the high-quality development of regional economies. Taking China's provinces as the research unit, an evaluation system was constructed, and the spatial and temporal evolution and influencing factors of the coordinated development of the three systems from 2010 to 2020 were measured using the coupling coordination model and geographical detector. The results demonstrate that: (1) From 2010 to 2020, there was a rising trend in basic public services, a declining trend and fluctuating stability in urbanization, and an inverted 'U' change in tourism; (2) the degree of coupling coordination was in a mild coordination state and showed an upward trend, with spatial distribution being high in the east and low in the west; (3) the degree of coupling coordination was spatially concentrated. The core hot-spot area was mainly in the southeast coastal area, and the core cold-spot area was mainly in the northwest inland area, showing a spatial distribution pattern of hot in the east and cold in the west; (4) the main influencing factors in the spatial difference in coupled coordinated development were per capita GDP, road network density, per capita disposable income of residents, urban unit employees, total import and export of goods, per capita fiscal expenditure, and number of tourists; (5) endogenous power (economic pulling power, infrastructure support power, industrial driving force, population agglomeration power) and exogenous power (government regulation power, market promotion power, social security power) together promote coupling coordinated development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecosystem services (ESs) are an important basis for maintaining farming household livelihood security and achieving the synergistic and efficient development of ecosystem services, and farming household livelihood security is important for maintaining sustainable development in the region. However, it is difficult to quantify the level of the coordinated development of ESs and farming household livelihood security in a region and their dynamic evolution. This study systematically analyzes the spatio-temporal evolution of the production-living-ecological space, ecosystem service values, and farming household livelihood security in the Dongting Lake from 2000 to 2020 based on land use data, as well as the level of coordinated development of ESs and livelihood security of farmers. The results indicate that more than 80% of the Dongting Lake area has a low level of coordinated development of ESs and farming household livelihood security at or below the level of imminent disorder, but it is on the rise, increasing by 6.32% in the past twenty years. This study can provide a reference for decision-making on the coordinated development of ecological environment and farmers' livelihoods in the Dongting Lake area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The burgeoning digital economy has facilitated a transformation and upgraded within the energy industry, which, in return, continually guarantees robust energy security for the expansion of the digital economy. China's digital economy and energy sector have increasingly merged and innovated in the domains of technology, market, and operations in recent years. Consequently, an accurate assessment of the interplay between these two sectors and their evolving patterns is vital for policy formulation and execution concerning their joint development. Drawing on 14,520 authoritative departmental statistics from 30 Chinese provinces spanning 2011 to 2021, this study applies techniques such as Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)-Malmquist, grey correlation, and objective empowerment to develop a quantitative evaluation model for the reciprocal evolution of these industries finding that the own synergistic evolutionary effect of these two industries experienced fluctuations, declining from 0.8512 and 0.7535 in 2012 to 0.4590 and 0.4378 in 2021, respectively. Conversely, the comprehensive synergistic evolutionary effect between industries increased from 0.5879 in 2012 to 0.6841 in 2021. Building upon these findings, a series of development proposals are put forth to provide valuable insights and recommendations for advancing the high-level coordinated development of China's digital economy and energy industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship and obstacles between sustainable development (SD) and ecosystem services (ESs) are crucial factors for SD decision-making and ecological conservation strategies. The production-living-ecological (PLE) functional perspective provides a new research entry point to analyze the interrelationship between the SD of human society and ESs. In view of this, based on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this study established an SD localization evaluation framework from the perspective of the PLE functions and subsequently evaluated the SD levels of 16 cities in Yunnan Province from 2005 to 2020. Furthermore, changes in the ecosystem service value (ESV) were explored by combining the PLE land classification and dynamic equivalence methods. The relationship between SD and ESV was then analyzed using the modified coupling coordination degree (CCD) model. Finally, the obstacle degree model was introduced to identify the main factors affecting the CCD level of the two systems. The results revealed the SD level in Yunnan Province to be high in the central region and low in other areas. From 2005 to 2020, the province's SD level increased from 0.146 to 0.341. Furthermore, the main contribution of ESV originated from ecological land (over 90%). The ESV was higher in the southwest of Yunnan Province compared to that in the northeast. From 2005 to 2020, the ESV decreased by 2.231 billion CNY and was dominated by the regulation services. The CCD level increased significantly from 2005 to 2020. The CCD subcategory changed from SD lag to ESV lag and ESV-SD balanced type. Moreover, the dominant obstacle factors did not change significantly during the study period. The ESV and SD systems were dominated by regulation services and sustainable production subsystems, respectively. The research results have important guiding significance for further optimization of regional development strategies and ecological protection measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The harmonious development of human settlement environments (HSEs) and resident demands (RD) contributes to the sustainable development of areas. However, few studies have focused on development-level evaluations and analyses of coupling coordination between the two. This study used a comprehensive evaluation index model and a coupling coordination degree model to measure the development level, coupling coordination degrees, and spatial characteristics of HSE and RD in 31 regions of China. The results display the following: (1) The developing degree of HSE and RD continued to improve, with spatial heterogeneity, whereas the development level of RD and the regional economy was positively correlated; (2) the degree of coupling between the two was relatively high, with high-level coupling areas accounting for 77%, and the coupling coordination level included a medium level and primary levels; (3) in the coupling and coordination relationship between subsystems, living needs > security requirements > respected needs > social needs > self-realization needs, and environmental safety > ecological environment. This study offered a new research perspective for the sustainable development of areas and put forward suggestions for promoting development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The optimization of carbon sink capacity patterns is a scientific basis for promoting the strategic goal of "carbon neutrality". The study aims to reveal the spatial heterogeneity of carbon sink capacity and its relationship with high-quality economic development. A new spatial pattern and supporting system framework for carbon sink land-use (CSL) efficiency were developed in Yunnan Province, China. The coordination level and driving factors between carbon sink capacity and high-quality development were measured using a coupling coordination model and geographic detector model. The results show that the constructed index system can effectively identify the spatial distribution pattern of CSL efficiency at the county and district scale. The development stage of the coupling coordination degree shows a trend of "wide at both ends and narrow in the middle" and the characteristics of coupling and coordinated development type present an "inverted triangle" state. The coupling coordination relationship between carbon sink capacity and high-quality development depends mainly on the regional natural background conditions, economic development, and urbanization level. The findings provide a scientific basis for decision making in the development and protection of territorial space and offer a new perspective for government to facilitate ecological carbon sink capacity and promote high-quality development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring the interaction and coupling effects within the digital economy and eco-economic system resilience in urban agglomeration areas is conducive to promoting high-quality sustainable urban development. Based on the coupling effect perspective, we construct a coupling coordination and development system with multiple elements, information, and interaction flow. The JJJ urban agglomeration from 2010 to 2019 was used as the study sample. The spatiotemporal differences and spatial effects of the coupled coordination were evaluated by combining the tools of combined weight model, coupled coordination model, nuclear density estimation, and exploratory spatial data analysis. The main results can be summarized as follows. (1) From 2010 to 2019, the digital economic index and eco-economic system resilience index of JJJ urban agglomeration maintained an upward trend, and the time series characteristics of the two sides showed a significant positive correlation. Additionally, the overall digital economic development index is better than the resilience development index of the urban eco-economic system. (2) In terms of the type of coupling coordination, the JJJ region has experienced a dynamic evolution process from the imbalance in 2010 to the primary coordination in 2019. The coupling and coordinated development levels of Beijing and Tianjin are obviously better than those of Hebei Province as a whole. (3) The coupling coordination of the system shows certain characteristics of spatial agglomeration and distribution. The overall spatial pattern presents a development pattern with Beijing and Tianjin as the core, and the gap between the north and the south is gradually narrowing. (4) Spatial spillovers and diffusion effects are evident. However, the influential factors have significant differences in the coupling and coordinated development between this region and neighboring regions. The results may provide theoretical support for the continuous improvement of ecological environment quality and green sustainable economic efficiency in urban agglomeration. It provides decision-making reference for promoting regional synergistic development strategy and optimizing spatial pattern of regional integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's pursuit of sustainable and healthy economic growth requires the promotion of high-quality development. While many scholars have studied high-quality development, few have examined the coupling and coordination among its internal systems. The study aims to analyze the influencing factors of high-quality coordinated development, identify problem areas based on the five development statuses, and provide practical recommendations for optimizing the spatial layout of high-quality development in these areas. By applying a coupling coordination model and a geographically weighted regression model, the comprehensive level of high-quality coordinated development in the eastern coastal areas was evaluated. The results revealed that the majority of the eastern coastal region exhibited weak coordination and significant spatial differences in their comprehensive level. The problem cities were predominantly located in the southern and northern coastal areas. An economic foundation and innovation potential have a positive and stable impact on high-quality coordinated development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationships between urbanization and tourism have been explored in many studies. However, there is a lack of research on the relationships between urbanization, tourism development and ecosystem services in the cities of Xinjiang. To investigate these relationships, this research takes 2000–2020 as the research period, considers 14 major cities in Xinjiang, and applies the entropy approach to build assessment indicator systems of tourism and urbanization development. The service value of the ecosystem (ESV) is calculated using the improved equivalent factor. The changing attributions of tourism, urbanization development, and the ESV are discussed. The coupling coordination degree (CCD) approach is employed to analyze the connected collaboration of tourism, urbanization, and the ESV. The results show that the tourism and urbanization level of cities in Xinjiang has increased rapidly from 2000 to 2020. The total ESV has increased with a small rate. The CCD among tourism, urbanization, and ESV in Xinjiang has been relatively low, and it is in a state of moderate disorder, but it exhibits a trend of coordinated development. The CCD of ESV and tourism are lower than those of urbanization and ESV. Economic urbanization and tourism are highly coupled. From the perspective of the development trend, the level of economic urbanization is improving, and its CCD with the tourism subsystem is increasing. At the same time, the CCD between tourism and ESV is also on the rise. The tourism development level, urbanization level, and ESV, as well as the CCD among these indicators, show spatial differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With rapid urbanization and increasingly prominent environmental issues, objective evaluation of the quality of the ecological environment is crucial for environmental protection and sustainable development. Most remote sensing ecological indices (RSEI) used for ecological environmental quality evaluation include only four indicators (greenness, humidity, heat, and dryness), and many studies have ignored the impact of air quality on urban ecological environmental quality in arid areas. This study used the urban agglomeration on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains (UANSTM), China, as the research area based on the Google Earth Engine platform via Landsat remote sensing images and NPP/VIIRS data to establish a new remote sensing ecological index (RSEInew) and compounded night light index of urbanization level. The coupling coordination degree model was used to quantitatively analyze the characteristics of the coordinated development of the ecological environment and urbanization in UANSTM and major cities from 2015 to 2020. The results showed that: (1) compared to RSEI, RSEInew is more suitable for assessing the ecological quality of arid zones because it accounts for air quality; (2) the RSEInew value for the eco-environmental quality of UANSTM from 2015 to 2020 improved and then deteriorated with an overall declining trend. The variation in the RSEInew rating was between "strongly bad" and "neutral," and there were differences in the quality of the ecological environments among cities; (3) the level of urbanization in the economic zone of UANSTM from 2015 to 2020 increased significantly, and the degree of coordination between urbanization and ecological environmental quality coupling steadily increased but remained moderately imbalanced. The results of this study provide a scientific reference for the economic development and ecological environmental protection of the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The water quality of a basin is pronouncedly affected by the surrounding types of land use. Analyzing the impact of LULC and landscape patterns on water quality is critical for identifying potential drivers. To further study how LUCC affects the water quality in a typical plateau lake basin, this study investigated the impacts of land-use types on water quality in the Dianchi Lake Basin in Southwest China. We analyzed changes in land-use types and the landscape pattern of the Dianchi basin, calculated the CWQI (Canadian Water Quality Index) value based on the water quality indexes (PH, total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), chemical oxygen demand (COD), dissolved oxygen (DO), permanganate index (CODMn), five-day biochemical ox-ygen demand (BOD5), ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N), turbitidy, and chlorophyll-a (Chla)), used the RDA (Redundancy Analysis) and SMLR (Stepwise multiple linear regression) methods, the coupling degree, coupling coordination degree, and the geographical detector model to explore the relationship between water quality and changes in the land-use type. The results show that (1) changes in the land-use types were obvious: the majority of the land, which was originally forest land, became built land in 2020 and farmland in 1990 (except for the Dianchi water). Landscape pattern indexes indicated that almost all land-use types were first scattered, then gathered from 1990 to 2020. (2) Changes in the water quality of Dianchi Lake lagged behind the changes in land-use types, and the variation trends were similar to the landscape pattern variation trends. The CWQI value decreased in a nearly linear fashion from 1990 to 1998, exhibited a slight change from 1999 to 2013, and quickly increased from 2013. (3) Land-use types demonstrated a tight correlation with the Dianchi water quality, and LPI was the most dominant factor in both Caohai Lake and Waihai Lake. (4) There were different indexes affecting the coupling coordination degrees of Caohai Lake and Waihai Lake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coupling of and coordination between science and technology innovation (STI) and sustainable development (SD) is a basic requirement for Anhui Province's economic high-quality development. According to panel data of 16 prefecture-level cities in Anhui Province from 2010 to 2021, the entropy method was applied to quantify the comprehensive development level of the two systems. The models of coupling coordination degree, grey GM (1, 1), and ARIMA prediction were constructed to analyze the spatiotemporal dynamic evolution features of the two systems' coupling coordination. In the time series, the two systems' comprehensive development showed a steady increase, a high level of coupling, and an increasing overall trend of coupling coordination. Moreover, the two systems' coupling and coordination levels show the gradient spatial differentiation characteristics of "central > east > west." The prediction shows that the two systems' coupling coordination degree exhibits a monotonic increasing trend and reaches the optimal coupling coordination state around 2030. This study provides a decision-making reference for the implementation of the innovation-driven development strategy of Anhui Province. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhancing the level of coupling coordination between the digital economy and low-carbon development is not only an inevitable choice for implementing the strategy of ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin, but also a key path to achieve China's "Double Carbon" goal. The level of coupling coordination between the digital economy and low-carbon development in 78 cities in the Yellow River Basin from 2011 to 2020 is measured by a coupling coordination model, and the spatial-temporal characteristics and driving factors are analysed using the Dagum Gini coefficient, spatial autocorrelation model and geographic detector. This study found the following: (1) Rapid growth of the digital economy, with the slow growth of low-carbon development. The degree of coupling coordination of the two systems steadily improved and moved from a stage of near-disorder to primary coordination. (2) The degree of coupling coordination is spatially characterised by lower reaches > middle reaches > upper reaches, and provincial capitals and some coastal cities have a higher level of coupling coordination. Spatial differences in coupling coordination tend to widen, with inter-regional differences being the main source of overall differences. (3) There was a significant positive spatial correlation in the degree of coupling coordination. Local spatial clustering characteristics were dominated by High-High (H-H) clustering areas in Shandong and Low-Low (L-L) clustering areas in south-eastern Gansu. (4) The degree of coupling coordination was driven by both internal and external factors of the two systems, with internet penetration and the size of the telecommunications industry within the digital economy system as the most important factors driving the coupling coordination, and the interactions between the different drivers were all enhanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]