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The digital economy uses its own digital information advantages to reduce the intensity of energy consumption brought by economic growth. Intelligent manufacturing achieves cost reduction and efficiency through the integration of manufacturing and intelligence as well as digitalization and information technology. The two have become a new engine for sustainable economic development at present, and they can promote and influence each other. However, there is a lack of research on the relationship between them. In this regard, this study aims to build a coupling coordination model of digital economy and intelligent manufacturing and to make an empirical analysis using the data of Chinese provincial administrative regions in order to provide a theoretical reference for promoting sustainable economic development. The research finds that (1) the digital economy and intelligent manufacturing are mainly cross-coupled from four aspects: infrastructure, technological innovation, product optimization and organizational change. The development level and speed of the former are significantly higher than those of the latter, and the gap does not decrease with time. The two have a strong correlation, but there is no high-quality coupling coordination. (2) The main obstacle factors to the digital economy lie in the imperfect supporting facilities, the short board of technological innovation and the lack of technological application capacity. Intelligent manufacturing lacks intelligent application and technological innovation. (3) Influencing factors such as opening to the outside world, economic development, high-level talent input, industrial structure and innovation emphasis have different effects on their coupling and coordinated development in different regions. (4) The spatial correlation test shows that the coupling coordination degree of each region is spatially positively correlated. This research helps to promote the coupling and coordinated development of the digital economy and intelligent manufacturing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quantitative evaluation of the coupling coordination degree (CCD) between the regional economy and eco-environment systems is of great importance for the realization of sustainable development goals, which could identify economic or eco-environmental cold areas. To date, traditional evaluation frameworks mainly include the indicator system construction based on statistical data, which seldom utilize the geo-spatiotemporal datasets. Hence, this study aimed to evaluate the CCD change trend of the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) and explore the relationship between the CCD, economy, and eco-environment on the county scale. In this study, YRD was selected as the study area to evaluate its level of CCD at different periods, and then the nighttime difference index (NTDI) and eco-environmental comprehensive evaluation index (ECEI) were calculated to represent the difference in the development of the regional economy and the eco-environmental quality (EEQ). The CCD between the two systems was then calculated and analyzed using global, local, and Geary's C spatial autocorrelation indicators, in addition to change trend methods. The main findings showed that: (1) During the period 2000–2020, the economic system in YRD showed a continuously upward trend (0.0487 a−1), with average NTDI values of 0.2308, 0.2964, 0.3223, 0.3971, and 0.4239, respectively. In spatial terms, the economy system showed a distribution of "high in the east and low in the west". (2) YRD's EEQ indicated a gradual upward trend (from 0.3590 in 2000 to 0.3970 in 2020), with a change trend value of 0.0020 a−1. Spatially, the regions with high ECEI were mainly located in southwestern counties. (3) In the past 20 years, the CCD between economic and eco-environment systems showed an increased change trend, with a change trend value of 0.0302 a−1. The average CCD values for the five periods were 0.3992, 0.4745, 0.4633, 0.5012, and 0.5369. The overall level of CCD improved from "moderate incoordination" to "low coordination". (4) Both NTDI and ECEI indexes have a positive effect on the improvement of regional CCD. However, the contribution of NTDI is a little higher than that of ECEI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China’s economy has entered a new period of transformation, and the development of various industries will become the backbone of promoting economic sectors. At the same time, it will also become a booster for promoting the transformation and development of various industries. As an essential component of China’s economic construction, forestry will also enter a critical period of transformation. However, because the forestry industry mainly relies on forest resources as production factors, there is a certain contradiction between the forestry industry development and the ecological environment. Therefore, taking Heilongjiang Province as an example, this paper applies the PSR model to explain the mechanism of the relationship between forestry industry development and the ecological environment. The PSR model mainly consists of three indicators: Pressure, State, and Response, which analyze the interrelationships between elements within the system. On the other hand, the coupling coordination model is applied to analyze the coupling coordination relationship between the forestry industry development and the ecological environment in Heilongjiang Province from 2011 to 2018. The results show that the development of the forestry industry puts pressure on the ecological environment. At the same time, the environmental climate also imposes restrictions and constraints on the development of the forestry industry. The two promote, influence, and constrain each other. The development of the forestry industry was antagonistic, running in, coupled, and coordinated with the ecological environment in Heilongjiang Province from 2011 to 2018. However, there is still a particular gap in the level of coupling and coordination between the two, and they have yet to reach a state of good coordinated development. Therefore, Heilongjiang Province can promote the coordinated development of its forestry industry and the ecological environment through innovative forestry industry transformation models, policy-oriented rational development and utilization of forest resources, environmentally constrained clean production of the forestry industry, and complementary and shared development of the forestry industry and ecological environment.

To achieve the objective of high-quality development, an in-depth examination of the coupling coordination relationship between industrial green water and science and technology (S&T) innovation is essential. This study takes Chinese 30 provincial regions as specific examples and constructs the improved three-stage SBM-DEA model and entropy weight TOPSIS model to assess industrial green water efficiency and the level of S&T innovation during 2009–2021. Based on this, the coupling coordination model is applied to investigate the coupling coordination degree of industrial green water efficiency and S&T innovation, as well as the characteristics of the spatio-temporal distributions. Finally, we utilize a spatial autocorrelation model to reveal the spatial clustering characteristics of the coordination degree of the two. The findings indicate that: (1) The results of the evaluation of industrial green water efficiency and the level of S&T innovation show that the development of each province is not balanced, and the performance of the eastern coastal region is more prominent. (2) China's overall coupling coordination degree is rising steadily and moving from primary coordination into the good coordination stage. Most provinces are in the primary coordination and good coordination stages. Qinghai remains in the low coordination stage throughout the study period. Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong, and Guangdong enter the high coordination stage. (3) The spatial distribution of the coupling coordination level of the two systems shows a pattern of high in the east and low in the west, with a positive spillover effect on the spatial adjacency. The high-high coupling coordination degree area exhibits a tendency to shift towards the central region. This paper provides a scientific basis for analyzing the coupling coordination degree and spatio-temporal differences between industrial green water efficiency and S&T innovation.

The interaction between financial assistance and enterprise development is examined in this paper by constructing a coupled coordination degree model. The weights of the secondary indicators in the financial assistance and enterprise development system are calculated using the entropy weighting method. By calculating the coupling degree between financial assistance and enterprise development, we can judge the strength of the coupling effect between them and the time interval. The financial system and enterprise development evaluation indexes were constructed to explore the factors affecting financial assistance for enterprise development. Under certain conditions, financial support and enterprise development can positively affect each other, as shown in the results. The development support weights in the financial support system are 0.1979 and 0.2231, and the total weight is 0.421. The enterprise development system has a technical weight of 0.5806 for technological innovation.

In this paper, the transfer matrix model was first applied, and the eigenvalues of the matrix were calculated to clarify the cultural nature of tourist attractions. The concatenated form is introduced into the transfer matrix, successfully calculating the matrix’s matching function. The coupled coordinated time-series evolution was then used to derive the comprehensive evaluation index of tourist attractions and cultural and educational properties, and the weights of the indexes’ correlation and difference were analyzed to derive the index entropy value. Finally, the original data are processed by the dimensionless standard, the degree of coupling coordination is evaluated with the help of the coupling concept, and the relative level of coupling is dealt with after the matrix transfer. The analysis found that the highest coupling degree of cultural and educational attributes of tourist attractions in 10 years is 0.7. Therefore, the integration and development of cultural and educational attributes of tourist attractions is the inherent requirement and inevitable result of cultural construction and tourism development and must adhere to the principle of coordinated development of promoting tourism with culture and manifesting culture with tourism.

In the context of the new dual-cycle development model, the Long Triangle, as the main development pillar of China's economic development, aims to enhance the quality development level of the digitization and industrialization, and achieve the deep development of the two. Based on the differential equation, this paper presents the problems of the linkage and coordination between digitization and sustainable development of manufacturing in Long Triangle. The countermeasures based on panel data of three provinces and a city in Long Triangle from 2011 to 2019, an index system of quality of digitization and productivity has been established, and spatio-temporal evolution characteristics of joint level and problems in the process of joint coupling are analyzed. The results show that from 2011 to 2019, the level of linkage and coordination between economic digitization and sustainable development of production in Long Triangle region is increasing, but the overall level is not high and the spatial difference is large. There are also significant differences between rank and benign cooperation; The key obstacle factors in each province are both relatively concentrated and different.

With the development of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, more people are becoming aware of the importance of ecosystem protection. As a crucial part of the human well-being, ecological well-being has always had essential scientific research value. In this paper, authors take the Yellow River Delta high-efficiency eco-economic zone as a case study, based on the theory of land ecosystem services to study the ecological well-being. With the help of expert coefficient value assessment for different types of land use, authors have researched the spatiotemporal differentiation and influence mechanism of regional ecological well-being, using the Coupling Coordination Degree (CCD) model and Geographic Weighted Regression (GWR) model. The results found small differences in change of resource well-being (RW) and large differences in change of environmental well-being (EW) from 1990 to 2020, and the RWs and EWs of the central cities including Dongying Core, Hekou Core, Kenli, Hanting Core and Changyi are higher than those of their surrounding counties. The coupling coordination relationship of RW and EW in the central cities including Dongying Core, Hekou Core and Changyi is larger than in their surrounding counties. Population urbanization (PU) and industrial urbanization (IU) are important factors of change in land use and ecosystem services which influence the human well-being, PU affects RW more significantly, and IU affects EW more significantly. In order to further promote the sustainable ecological well-being of the Yellow River Delta region, authors recommend the conservation of land resources, technological innovation of environmental management and the formulation of environmental law. It provides significant enlightenment and decision support for strengthening the environmental protection of the Yellow River Delta high-efficiency eco-economic zone. In this paper, authors take the Yellow River Delta high-efficiency eco-economic zone as a case study, based on the theory of land ecosystem services to study the ecological well-being. With the help of expert coefficient value assessment for different types of land use, authors have researched the spatiotemporal differentiation and influence mechanism of regional ecological well-being, using the Coupling Coordination Degree (CCD)Model model (CCDM) and Geographic Weighted Regression (GWR) model. The results found small differences in change of resource well-being (RW) and large differences in change of environmental well-being (EW) from 1990 to 2020, and the RWs and EWs of the central cities including Dongying Core, Hekou Core, Kenli, Hanting Core and Changyi are higher than those of their surrounding counties. The coupling coordination relationship of RW and EW in the central cities including Dongying Core, Hekou Core and Changyi is larger than in their surrounding counties. Population urbanization (PU) and industrial urbanization (IU) are important factors of change in land use and ecosystem services which influence the human well-being, PU affects RW more significantly, and IU affects EW more significantly. In order to further promote the sustainable ecological well-being of the Yellow River Delta region, authors recommend the conservation of land resources, technological innovation of environmental management and the formulation of environmental law. The study has important value for realizing regional sustainable development and improving human well-being, and also provides a new research idea for exploring the relationship between man and land by using the intersection of sociology, geography, and ecology. [Display omitted] • It provides a new perspective for studying ecological well-being based on ecosystem services. • It analyzed the spatial characteristics of ecological well-being in the Yellow River Delta of China. • 3. It explored the mechanism of urbanization on ecological well-being with GWR model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism flow is an important monitoring indicator for the industrial operation of ecotourism destinations, crucial in its planning, development, and marketing. Based on the travel journal data of popular tourism websites, this paper analyzed the spatial and temporal distribution, network structure, and the coupling characteristics between ecotourism flow and traffic accessibility in Zhangjiajie using standard deviation ellipse, social network analysis, kernel density estimation, and a spatial coupling model. The main results are as follows: (1) In terms of time distribution, the ecotourism flow in Zhangjiajie is mainly short-term tourism, with significant seasonal differences. (2) In terms of spatial structure, the ecotourism flow in Zhangjiajie presents a polygonal distribution of "core-edge", forming a dense distribution area of Wulingyuan–Tianmen Mountain–Huanglongdong ecotourism flow. (3) In terms of spatial and temporal distribution, the connection intensity between the core area of ecotourism flow in Zhangjiajie and other scenic spots increases as the tourism length of stay increases. However, the radiation scope is mainly in the surrounding ecotourism scenic spots. (4) The coupling degree of ecotourism flow and traffic accessibility in Zhangjiajie is high, but the coupling coordination degree remains low on the whole. In addition, there is a serious mismatch between ecotourism flow and traffic accessibility in Zhangjiajie. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

From the perspectives of ecology, population, economy and society, this paper established an intensive land use system. From the aspects of land input, output and sustainable development, it built a new urbanization system. Besides, using the entropy weighting method, it measured the level of intensive land use and new urbanization of 31 provinces(cities or regions). Based on the coupling degree and coordinated development model, and in combination with GIS, it discussed the spatial differentiation pattern. It reached the following research results, (i) The new urbanization in the eastern region is ahead of the intensive land use, and they are relatively balanced in the western region;the new urbanization in the central and northeast regions lags behind the intensive land use; the intensive land use and the development of new urbanization in the eastern region are both stronger than that in central region, while the northeastern and western regions are weaker.(ii) The effect of sustainable land use in mainland China is remarkable, and the potential advantage of land output benefit in the eastern region is huge, the land input and sustainable development in the central region rank second, and the land output in the western region is the weakest.(iii)The development of new urbanization in mainland China is concentrated on economic and social urbanization; the eastern region has high economic urbanization benefits, while the western region is weak in both the ecological and population urbanization.(iv) There is significant unbalance of the spatial differentiation pattern in the intensive land use and new urbanization, showing a trend of high in east and low in west.(v) Most provinces(cities or regions) stay at a high level of antagonistic coupling, but there are " virtual high-level coupling" in regions such as Ningxia and Gansu; at present, the eastern, central and northeastern are moderately disordered, the western is highly disordered, and most provinces(cities or regions) are moderately disordered. Regions with high coordination level are concentrated in the eastern part of Guangdong and Jiangsu, Shandong, Shanghai, Henan, and Hebei; the coordination level of western regions such as Xinjiang, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, Tibet, Guizhou and Yunnan badly needs to be upgraded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the temporal and spatial characteristics of the coordination of urbanization and eco-environment of 30 provinces in China from 2005 to 2015, using the method of coupling coordination degree model and global (local) spatial autocorrelation. The results show that the coordination of urbanization and eco-environment are in a state of basic coordination. The coupling coordination degree of each province is gradually increasing and the spatial difference gradually narrows as time evolves. A spatial dependence is observed in the coordination of provincial urbanization and eco-environment in China from the perspective of global correlation and its dependence is weakened with the increase of geographical distance. The local agglomeration mode presents a trend towards the evolution of the “high-high” clustering mode. Finally, the spatial Markov chain method is used to forecast the provincial coordination degree in 2016. It is further confirmed that the coordinated state of urbanization and eco-environment is getting better and the spatial correlation is strengthening in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Define IE as an evolutionary process characterized by the dimensions of industry and ecology. • Industrial efficiency and eco-efficiency were analyzed from spatial-temporal perspectives. • Cities were classified as coordinated development mode and professional development mode. • Social network analysis was used to examine the spatial correlations of IE. • The IE interaction network was characterized by "scale-free" and "small world." Industrial ecology (IE) was defined as a dynamic evolution process characterized by the coupling coordination relationship between ecological efficiency and industrial efficiency. This paper used data envelopment analysis and technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution method to explore the spatiotemporal evolution of ecological efficiency and industrial efficiency in China's loess plateau region (LPR) from 2006 to 2017. Based on the definition, LPR's IE development and spatial correlations were studied separately using coupling evaluation model and social network analysis. Findings include: Although eco-efficiency and industrial efficiency were mutually promoted, and both have improved during the study period, LPR's human-earth relation was still facing uncertainties. There were significant disparities in industrial efficiency, ecological efficiency, and IE levels among cities. The evolutionary patterns of cities were classified as coordinated development mode and professional development mode. The IE interactive network was characterized by "scale-free" and "small world," where provincial capitals and big cities functioned as growth poles and intermediaries. The correlations of IE brought challenges as well as favorable conditions for setting up a cross-regional coordination mechanism. This paper provided a new perspective to understand IE and a "quantity and structure" driven development idea for policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coordinated development of the territorial spatial pattern and its function is an important prerequisite for the realization of regional high-quality development. This paper aims to reveal the evolutionary characteristics of the spatial–temporal pattern and the coupling coordination level of the "production-living-ecological" spaces (PLES) in Jilin Province from 1998 to 2018 by using the entropy method, a coupling coordination model and spatial analysis methods, and proposes the optimization paths for the four regions of the province. The results indicate that the scale of the ecological space was the largest, mainly concentrated in the eastern region. The production space was mainly concentrated in the central and western regions, and the scale of the living space was the smallest, but increased slightly, mainly concentrated in the central regions. The PLE functions in every county and city are at the coupling coordination levels of mild and moderate imbalance. Eastern Jilin should take the ecological function as the lead, and should improve the production and living functions; Central Jilin should maintain the production and living functions and improve the ecological function; Western Jilin should strengthen ecological restoration and accelerate the transformation and development of the green production function. This study can provide references for the optimization of the provincial territorial space layout in order to improve the regional territorial space coordination and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional economy-environment-tourism is an open system with complex structure and coupling characteristics. Tourism is the key link among the three subsystems for coordinating the regional economy and ecological environment. The analysis of the coupling coordination relationship among the three subsystems in islands is of great significance for promoting the sustainable development of the regional island tourism. This paper proposes a conceptual index system using entropy weight method and coupling coordination degree model for analysis of the coupling coordination relationship among the regional economy, ecological environment and island tourism. After that, the paper introduces an obstacle degree model to identify the obstacle factors of coordinated development in each island district. This framework is applied to eleven island districts in eastern China's Zhejiang Province during 2008–2018. The results show that the temporal changes of the coupling coordination relationship among economy, environment and tourism in eleven island districts are quite satisfactory, while the regional differences are large. Although the obstacle factors of coordinated development in each district are distinct, most of them tend to be environmental subsystem. Based on the results of analysis, this paper finally puts forward several policy recommendations to provide a referential path for the sustainable development of island tourism. [Display omitted] • A conceptual index system is proposed to analyze the coordinated relationship of islands' economy-environment-tourism. • Coupling coordination degree model and obstacle degree model are applied. • The obstacle factors of coordinated development tend to be environmental subsystem. • Policy implications are put forward to promote the sustainable development of island tourism [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Boosting the coordination and symbiosis of urbanization and forest ecological security is notably critical for promoting regional green and sustainable development and achieving emission peak and carbon neutrality goals. However, there was still a lack of in-depth analysis of the coupling coordination relationship between urbanization and forest ecological security and its impact mechanism. On the basis of the data from 844 counties in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, this paper explored the spatial differences and influencing factors of the coupling coordination degree of urbanization and forest ecological security. The results manifested that: i) There were apparent spatial disparities in the urbanization index, forest ecological security index, comprehensive index, coupling degree and coupling coordination degree of the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Among them, the spatial pattern of coupling coordination degree had a strong consistency with urbanization index, that is, areas with higher urbanization index also had higher coupling coordination degree. ii) Based on coupling feature identification, it was found that 249 'problem areas' were mainly located in Yunnan Province, southeastern Guizhou Province, central Anhui Province, and central and eastern Jiangsu Province. The main factor for the formation was due to the lag of urbanization in coordinated development. iii) Among the socioeconomic indicators, population structure (0.136), per capita year-end financial institutions loan balance (0.409) and per capita fixed asset investment (0.202) all had a positive impact on coupling coordination degree, while location conditions (−0.126) had a negative impact. Among the natural indicators, soil organic matter (−0.212) and temperature (−0.094) had a negative impact on coupling coordination degree. iv) During the process of coordinated development, it was necessary to increase financial investment and financial support, actively formulate policies to attract talents, enhance the education and publicity of ecological civilization, and develop a green circular economy. The above measures can promote the harmonious development of urbanization and forest ecological security in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. • Exploring the coupling relationship between urbanization and forest eco-security. • Areas with higher urbanization index have higher coupling coordination degree. • Coordinated development is deeply influenced by socioeconomic and natural factors. • Targeted policies for problem areas promote their coordinated development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigating the integrated development between green finance and clean energy has significant implications for achieving structural energy transformation and sustainable financial development. This paper aims to explore the path toward achieving a positive interaction between green finance and clean energy. To achieve this, a coupling coordination degree model for the green finance – clean energy system is constructed. Additionally, limited attention has been paid to the interconnectedness of multiple factors with coupling coordination. Hence, we introduce a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) approach to explore diverse pathways to enhance coupling coordination. Empirical results indicate that from 2011 to 2020, the degree of coupling coordination between green finance and clean energy in China improved from 0.3341 to 0.4718. However, it remains on the verge of an imbalanced level. Furthermore, the regional coupling coordination degree exhibits uneven development, with a tendency towards high-value clustering. The coordinated development paths of different provinces are driven by various configurations of conditions. Based on these findings, this study suggests that provinces should formulate policies tailored to their local characteristics and condition configurations, and effectively promote the coordinated development of green finance and clean energy in their respective regions. This study improves the comprehension of the coordinated development between green finance and clean energy at the provincial level in China. The employed fsQCA technique offers a novel approach for investigating developmental pathways of coupling coordination, bearing significance in promoting a mutually beneficial and harmonious relationship between green finance and clean energy.

Karst World Heritage Site (KWHS) combines high-grade landscape resources and a fragile ecological environment. As an essential tool for heritage conservation and maintaining local interests, its buffer zone is primarily located in remote villages, a crucial and challenging area for rural revitalization. The conflict between heritage conservation and development is particularly acute at the site. How to deal with the relationship between the heritage site's OUV conservation and the buffer zone's tourism industry development and realize the synergy between the two subsystems? Few studies have focused on it. There is an urgent need to explore the synergistic mechanism of the KWHS's OUV conservation and the buffer zone's tourism industry development. Accordingly, this study takes the Libo-Huanjiang KWHS, one of the 'South China Karst' series of heritage sites, as a case study. The coupling coordination degree model, gray correlation analysis (GCA), and Geographic Information System (GIS) spatial analysis are used. The results show that: (1) There is a synergistic effect between the Libo-Huanjiang KWHS's OUV conservation and its buffer zone's tourism industry development, showing a favorable trend. The mean value of the coupling coordination degree increased from 0.57 in 2015 to 0.63 in 2020, and the overall situation improved from barely coupling coordination state to primary coupling coordination. (2) Influenced by the main driving factors, such as NDVI, landscape dominance, government support for tourism development, tourists' satisfaction, and residents' support, the coupling coordination of the four tourist scenic areas in the study area differed slightly in 2015 and 2020. Yaoshan Ancient Village Scenic Area is the highest in both years, increasing from 0.69 to 0.81, followed by the Mengliu Buyi Scenic Area (0.59), Wanmu Meiyuan Scenic Area is relatively stable with a slight increase, and Lianshanwan Scenic Area (0.45) is the lowest. (3) The four dimensions of ecological resources, policy drivers, economy drivers, and social facilitators work together to create a synergistic mechanism between the KWHS's OUV conservation and the buffer zone's tourism industry development. Future research can promote synergy between the two by formulating a comprehensive plan, encouraging sustainable tourism, establishing a diversified tourism industry, strengthening heritage education and training, enhancing community participation, and reinforcing stakeholder cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimizing the connectivity-carbon sequestration coupling coordination of forest and grassland ecological spaces (F&GES) is a crucial measure to enhance carbon sequestration effectively in mining areas. However, the prevailing strategies for optimizing F&GES often overlook the connectivity-carbon sequestration coupling coordination of the network. Therefore, this study aimed to propose a novel restoration plan to improve the connectivity-carbon sequestration coupling coordination of existing networks. Taking a typical mining area in northwestern China (Eyu County) as an example, we extracted the existing F&GES based on remote sensing ecological indicators and ecological risk assessments. Subsequently, we optimized the network using the connectivity-carbon sequestration coupling coordination degree (CSCCD) model from the perspective of connectivity-carbon sequestration coupling coordination, proposed potential alternative optimization schemes, and evaluated the optimization effects. The results showed that the range of Eyu County's F&GES structure had been determined. Ecological source sites with better carbon sequestration effects were primarily distributed in the central and northeastern parts of Eyu County. After optimization, the network added 26 ecological patches, and the added area reached 641.57 km2. Furthermore, the connectivity robustness, edge restoration robustness, and node restoration robustness of the optimized network were significantly improved, and the carbon sequestration effect of the forest and grassland ecological space was increased by 6.78%. The contribution rate of ecological source sites was 97.66%, and that of ecological corridors was 2.34%. The CSCCD model proposed in this study can effectively improve the carbon sequestration effect in mining areas, promote carbon neutrality, and save network optimization time while improving efficiency. This restoration strategy is also applicable to forest and grassland ecosystem management and optimization of ecological spaces in other mining areas, which has positive implications for promoting ecological civilization construction and sustainable development. [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]

As a strategy for building a beautiful China, new-type urbanization (NTU) has an impact on the regional ecological security pattern. Clarifying the coupling coordination relationship between NTU and ecosystem services (ESs) can help ecological protection and high-quality coordinated development. The methods of this paper are as follows. Firstly, the integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) model is used to calculate ESs, and then evaluate the level of NTU from multiple dimensions. On this basis, the coupling coordination degree model and the relative development model are used to analyze the coupling relationship between ESs and NTU. The results indicate that the ESs in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) decreased, from 2000 to 2020. The level of NTU continues to improve, but the spatial imbalance is more prominent. ESs and NTU are significantly negatively correlated, with population, economic, land, and infrastructural urbanization having a more detrimental effect on ESs overall. In general, the coupling coordination relationship between Es and NTU changes from intermediate coordination to primary coordination, and the spatial manifestation was “high in the east and low in the west” and the dependence was strong. Most areas show lagging ES disorders. To achieve an orderly breakthrough in the steady-state phase while adhering to the law of coupled coercive development, as well as to serve as a guide for making decisions to create a YREB model with clear skies, lush vegetation, stunning mountains, and harmony between people and the land.

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]

An important foundation of a strong agricultural country is the virtuous cycle of the agricultural production system, and the beef cattle industry is the pivotal industry that guarantees the virtuous cycle of China's agricultural production system. Farmers are the main force of beef cattle breeding in China, and livelihood capital is an important basis for influencing farmers' breeding decisions. The measurement and evaluation of the livelihood capital of beef cattle farmers in China can help to comprehensively grasp the current level and structural characteristics of the livelihood capital of beef cattle farmers in China. In this study, the entropy value method and Delphi method were used to determine the weights of each evaluation index, and on this basis, the level, structure, and coupling coordination of farmers' livelihood capital were measured and classified. The study shows that the overall level of livelihood capital of beef cattle farmers is low; the level and structure of livelihood capital show an uneven phenomenon, and the level of livelihood capital of farmers in different regions and different modes differ significantly. The coupling coordination degree among various measurements of livelihood capital of beef cattle farmers in China is also low, which indicates that a good coordination relationship between various types of livelihood capital has not been formed, which may affect the efficiency of resource allocation. It is suggested to improve the livelihood capital level and coupling coordination among beef cattle farmers and improve the livelihood capital structure of farmers by innovating financial tools, developing forage resources, strengthening technical training and extension, and improving policy support for the beef cattle industry. [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]

• DPSIR theory is used to analyze the coupling coordination mechanism among systems. • An evaluation index system of coupling coordinated development is proposed. • A CCD evaluation model optimized by information entropy is further constructed. • The characteristics of CCD in time and spatial dimension are analyzed. • Optimal strategies for the provinces in the YREB are put forward. The interaction between regional energy, economy and ecology system has the characteristics of high correlation and complexity. In-depth study of the relationship between the three systems is of great significance for regional sustainable development. In this paper, DPSIR (driving forces, pressures, states, impacts and responses) theory is innovatively introduced to analyze the coupling coordination mechanism among systems. On this basis, an evaluation system for the coupling coordination development of regional energy-economy-ecology system is proposed. A coupling coordination degree (CCD) evaluation model optimized by information entropy is further constructed, and the panel data of 11 provinces along the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) from 2008 to 2017 are used for empirical analysis of this region. The results show that the development of the energy and economy systems in the YREB has strong similarities, while the evaluation values of ecology systems in the provinces mainly fluctuate or first descend then rise. The development of the ecology system is influenced by the development of energy system and economy system on the one hand, and also by regional policies on the other hand. The CCD on the time dimension is given priority to with fluctuations rise development momentum, on the spatial dimension is roughly east high and west low development pattern. And the main factors restricting the coupling coordinated development of the YREB are different in the east, central and west. The three eastern provinces all belong to the type of ecology lag, while the four provinces in the central region belong to economy lagged. The development of energy and economy systems in the four western provinces lags behind their ecology systems. In addition, this paper proposes optimal strategies for the provinces, in which the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River should reduce energy consumption per unit of GDP and accelerate the transformation from traditional economy to green economy. The downstream region should improve the ecological carrying capacity of the resources and environment, and promote the economic conversion rate of scientific and technological achievements. The research process and results show that the combination of DPSIR theory and CCD model can provide a general tool for determining the coupling coordinated effect between subsystems. [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]

Regional transportation integration is a key aspect in promoting regional integration and high-quality economic development, as it can improve inter-regional connectivity, decrease transportation costs, and facilitate the flow of labor, capital, technology, and data. However, regional transportation integration is also difficult to quantitatively evaluate, causing difficulties in comprehensively understanding the specific transportation–economic relationships for different regions that are planned for integration. This article studied 41 cities in the Yangtze River Delta, which is known as the largest regional integration project in China. Two sets of index systems were created to quantitatively evaluate regional transportation integration and high-quality economic development. Coupling coordination degree analysis was then performed to investigate the relationship between the two systems. It was found that areas with a high degree of coupling coordination are located in the Z-shaped belt with the Shanghai–Nanjing–Hefei and Shanghai–Hangzhou–Ningbo urban agglomerations. Furthermore, specific developmental gaps between regional transportation integration and high-quality economic development were identified and mapped, showing areas with transportation development falling behind economic development and vice versa. Based on these findings, a number of policy suggestions are provided from the perspective of province and regional development. It is recommended to continue to invest in transportation development and integration in the well-coordinated Z-shaped region and areas with transportation development falling behind economic development, while it is not recommended to use transportation investment to solve economic problems for those under-developed regions that already have relatively advanced transportation than economic development. [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]

Integrating ecosystem services supply–demand relationships into ecological management zoning is a hot topic. Most studies have focused on the matching relationship between the supply and demand of ecosystem services. However, the extent to which both are coordinated at different matching levels is ignored, that is, whether ecosystem services supply and demand tend to reinforce each other at high levels or constrain each other at low levels. Therefore, taking Dalian as an example, this study constructed a research framework for ecological management zoning by integrating the matching and coupling coordination relationship of ecosystem services supply–demand. We found that the supply of ecosystem services in Dalian decreased by 23.70% and the demand increased by 22.54% from 2005 to 2019. There was an obvious mismatch and disharmony in the supply and demand of ecosystem services, and the matching and coordination often did not exist simultaneously. Overlay analysis was used to divide Dalian into four ecological management zones: eco-conservation, eco-development, eco-improvement, and eco-restoration zones. This study helped in integrating the matching and coupling coordination relationship of ecosystem services supply–demand into the environmental management system, which has practical significance for the sustainable development of ecosystem services. [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]

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]

• Investigating the coupling coordination of social economy–water environmental quality. • Improved CCD model, scissors difference were developed. • Spatiotemporal distribution and dynamic mechanism in CCD were discussed in detail. • Subsystem development modes and suggestions were proposed to promote CCD. Investigating the coordinated development between social economy and water environmental quality is an important basis for promoting the protection of water ecological environment. In this paper, a comprehensive index system was built to estimate the coupling coordination between social economy and water environmental quality subsystems in Nansi Lake catchment, China. Improved coupling coordination degree (CCD) model, scissors difference and projection pursuit model based on genetic algorithm were developed to investigate the spatiotemporal distribution and dynamic evolution mechanism of coupling coordination in social economy–water environment system. Results showed that: (1) Comprehensive level of two subsystems showed an overall uptrend, water environmental quality in the catchment was improved gradually with socio-economic development. (2) The status of coupling coordination between two subsystems had transformed from moderately unbalanced development (CCD of 0.265 in 2001) to favorably balanced development (CCD of 0.667 in 2017). The relatively low CCD in Heze generated the biggest restriction on the coordinated development between two subsystems, compared to Zaozhuang and Jining. (3) The speed difference between two subsystems showed a downward trend, the scissor difference was controlled effectively. And the social economy–water environmental quality system gradually tended to the coordinated development. Overall, the improved CCD model and scissors difference analysis in this paper may provide a new approach for empirical research on environment–economy nexus. We hope this study can help decision makers formulate measures to promote the coordinated development between social economy and water environmental quality subsystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green and high-quality development has become an important development path for the global response to climate change. Eco-efficiency and innovation, as important indicator and core driver of green and high-quality development respectively, have attracted wide attention. However, the research on the relationship between innovation and eco-efficiency is mostly qualitative research, and the index selection of technological innovation and eco-efficiency is single. Therefore, this paper from the perspective of quantitative research based on the industrial enterprise data of 30 provinces from 2006 to 2019 to explore the mechanism between innovation network and eco-efficiency by constructing a three-stage evaluation model. The first step is to build the network SBM model to measure the innovation network efficiency, and decomposing it to explore the internal development and change rules of the innovation. And the SBM with undesirable output model is employed to evaluate the eco-efficiency and analyze the regional heterogeneity. Second, the coupling coordination model is constructed to quantitatively study the coupling coordination degree between innovation network efficiency and eco-efficiency. Finally, the influencing factors of coupling coordinated degree are discussed. The result shows that the innovation network comprehensive efficiency is lower than that of scientific and technological innovation efficiency and transformation of scientific and technological achievement efficiency, and the eco-efficiency of eastern China develops stably and is higher than that of the other three economic zones. Scientific technological innovation and the eco-efficiency of coupling coordination degree is higher than the transformation technological achievement and eco-efficiency of coupling coordination degree. Information and communication technology plays an important role in promoting innovation network comprehensive efficiency and eco-efficiency at different systems. • Decompose the efficiency of innovation network, and make the internal evolution law of innovation "white box" • Coupling coordination model is introduced to explore the dynamic interaction mechanism between innovation and eco-efficiency • To explore the ICT impact on innovation and ecological efficiency coupling coordination. [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]

Women-friendliness is an important content of inclusive city, while it has received rare attention during the regeneration of old cities. This study constructed women-friendliness indicators in three dimensions, i.e., security, equity, and specialization, and combined the quantitative calculations of coupling coordination with the qualitative analysis of in-depth interview. 25 subdistricts in old Beijing city were selected as case studies to analyze the spatial variation pattern of women-friendliness at the subdistrict level, and the characteristics of supply and demand relationships in three scenarios, namely “living,” “working,” and “traveling,” were summarized. It was found that the spatial variation in terms of women’s security and equity indicators among each subdistrict of the old Beijing city was large, while specialized facilities, which are still at an early development stage, were more evenly distributed but fewer in number. And the facilities in old Beijing city were more inclusive for both female residents and female tourists, while less inclusive for female employees. Finally, specific suggestions for the women-friendly development of old Beijing city were proposed in perspectives of mixed use of function, facility optimization, supply and demand adjustment, etc., hoping to provide references for other cities to increase inclusiveness in the process of urban regeneration. [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]