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The digital economy city and green development of China are important engines with important backgrounds. This paper takes 21 prefecture-level cities in Guangdong Province as the research object. By constructing the index system of the digital economy and green development, this paper discusses the external spatial pattern and internal temporal evolution characteristics of the coordinated development of the digital economy and green development from the two perspectives of intercity and inner city. The results show that: 1) From the perspective of intercity, there is a large gap between the development level of the digital economy and the green development level of all cities, only Guangzhou and Shenzhen have the digital economy development level ahead of the green development level. The coupling level of the two systems presents an unbalanced pattern of “centre-edge,” and “Guangzhou-Foshan-Shenzhen-Dongguan” becomes the core pole of the coupling development of the two systems in the province. The coordinated horizontal cascade distribution of the two systems is obvious, showing a spatial pattern of decreasing step by step from the first circle to the third circle. 2) From the perspective of inner city, the digital economy level and green development level of all cities showed an upward trend from 2013 to 2019. The coupling level shows a two-stage development trend: the stable development stage from 2013 to 2016, and he accelerated development stage from 2016 to 2019, and the internal interaction of the two systems is deepening. The coordination level of all cities improved significantly in 7 years, and in 2019, 21 cities all reached the level of moderate coordination or high coordination. Based on above research conclusions, in order to promote the positive interaction between digital economy and green development, this paper proposes to optimize resource allocation based on regional differences, and adhere to innovation-driven policy proposals to activate the potential of green development.

The goal of this paper is to investigate the coupling coordination relationship between the digital economy and the green economy, as well as to analyze possible ways to improve the coupling coordination degree. By using panel data for 280 cities from 2011 to 2018, this study has made outstanding contributions in the following areas: (1) reintegrating and constructing the evaluation index system of the digital economy and green economy; (2) utilizing the modified coupled coordination degree model to analyze it; (3) adopting the fixed effect model to test the influencing factors. The findings revealed that the current level of coupling coordination between the digital economy and the green economy in China is generally low, with significant regional differences. In terms of influencing factors, industrial structure upgrading has a U-shaped influence on coupling coordination, and government attention has an inverted U-shaped influence on coupling coordination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the background of “digital era”, the rapid development of big data technology and cloud computing technology has promoted China’s informatization process to a new level, integrating more and more originally scattered data into a huge database. Promoting the high-quality development of digital economy has become a key path for regional economic growth and industrial development transformation, and also a key way to synchronously promote the coordinated development of new urbanization and agricultural modernization. Based on the balanced panel data of Hebei Province from 2011 to 2020, this paper conducts theoretical research and empirical analysis by building the index evaluation system of the coupling system of digital economy, new urbanization and agricultural modernization, measures and studies by using the entropy weight TOPSIS model and the coupling coordination analysis model, and divides the stages according to the evaluation standard of coupling coordination, summarizes and analyzes the current situation and existing problems of the coordinated development of the three systems in Hebei Province. Finally, according to the analysis results, the countermeasures and suggestions to promote the high-quality coordinated development are put forward from the aspects of improving the high-quality coordinated development mechanism of digital economy and “two modernizations”, building a special agricultural town with regional characteristics, and strengthening the construction of agricultural digital talent team. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Objective] The purpose of this paper is to measure the coupling coordination of urban land use and the economic-social-environmental system in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and investigate its spatial and temporal differentiation characteristics and driving factors, and then to provide decision-making for promoting sustainable land use and high-quality coordinated development in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. [Methods] Based on the panel data of 108 prefecture-level cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2006 to 2019, this study constructed an indicator system of land use and economic-social-environment system, measured the coupled coordination degree using the entropy weight method and coupled coordination degree model, and examined its spatial and temporal divergence characteristics and driving factors with the methods of Dagum Gini coefficient, Moran index and geographically weighted regression model. [Results] The coupling coordination degree of land use and economic-social-environment in the Yangtze River Economic Belt increased from 0.309 to 0.477 during 2006—2019, transferring from mild disorder to barely coordinated. The coupling coordination degree decreased from downstream to upstream regions, showing a spatial distribution characteristics of the high level in the east and low level in the west. The overall, intra-regional, and inter-regional differences in coupling coordination showed a decreasing trend. The inter-regional variance was the main explanation for the overall variance, and its contribution increased from 43.67% to 46.88%. The Moran′s I of coupling coordination increased from 0.095 to 0.134, with significant positive spatial autocorrelation, and the ‘High-High’ agglomeration area mainly distributed in the lower reaches, while the ‘Low-Low’ agglomeration areas mainly distributed in the middle and upper reaches. Topographic relief and slope showed a negative driving force, urbanization level and foreign direct investment showed a positive driving force, and population density showed a two-level driving force. [Conclusion] The coupled coordination of land use and economic-social-environment in the Yangtze River Economic Belt has spatial and temporal heterogeneity, and differentiated land use policies should be formulated with full consideration of regional characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

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

• The definition of water sustainability is further expanded. • A water sustainability assessment model regarding quantity-quality-benefit is innovatively built. • The impact of coupled coordination relationships between the three subsystems is considered. • Water sustainability is evaluated from the single and three-dimensional perspective simultaneously. • Three-dimensional water sustainability assessment is more objective and scientific. An integrated water sustainability assessment is conducive to realizing the optimal allocation and efficient water utilization, and alleviating the water crisis. Existing research mainly appraises water quantity and water quality as unidimensional or in combination, without considering the water benefit, and few studies have assessed the regional water sustainability based on an integrated evaluation multidimensionally. Therefore, this paper innovatively introduces water benefit to construct a three-dimensional quantity-quality-benefit model (QQBM) to evaluate water sustainability in line with the water footprint (WF) theory and water resources balance sheet (WRBS). The impact of the coupled coordination relationship among water quantity, water quality, and water benefit on the water sustainability evaluation is further analyzed by introducing the coupled coordination degree model (CCDM). This paper takes the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) as an example and makes a spatio-temporal analysis of the water sustainability in its 11 provincial capitals during 2010-2021 from a single dimension and a three-dimensional perspective, respectively. The results found that: (1) From a single dimension, the water sustainability in the 11 provincial capitals in the YREB during 2010-2021 is at a medium level, with better water benefit sustainability, moderate water quantity sustainability, and horrendous water quality sustainability. Among them, the water sustainability is the best in Guiyang and Hangzhou, while the worst in Shanghai. (2) From a three-dimensional perspective, the water sustainability in the 11 provincial capitals from 2010 to 2021 is horrific. Among them, the water sustainability is the best in Kunming, Changsha, Nanjing and Shanghai, while the worst in Wuhan and Hefei. (3) The degree of coupling coordination between water quantity, water quality and water benefit significantly influence the water sustainability in the 11 provincial capitals of the YREB. The three-dimensional assessment model QQBM constructed in this study is more comprehensive and objective than the single perspective assessment. The findings in this paper can help other regions to conduct similar water sustainability assessments and inform policy recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sustainability of the tourism industry requires its coordination with the regional economy and ecological environment. This paper introduced the coupling coordination model of the regional economic and ecological environment of the tourism industry and conducted an analysis of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region between 2010 and 2019. The results showed that the overall comprehensive evaluation of tourism, economic, and ecological systems was in an upward trend between 2010 and 2019, among which the comprehensive evaluation of tourism and ecology has experienced a phenomenon of first decreasing and then increasing; the coupling degree among the three systems was low, and after 2012, it rose to an antagonistic level, and the coupling coordination degree experienced a rise, then a decline, and finally a rise between 2010 and 2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of China Forestry Economy is the property of China Forestry Economy Magazine Agency and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Balancing the relationship between tourism economy and ecosystem is an important prerequisite for achieving sustainable economic development. Taking Changhai County as an example, this paper constructs a tourism economy and ecological environment evaluation index system to calculate their comprehensive indexes, analyzes the time series evolution characteristics of their coupling coordination degree by using the coupling coordination model, and judges their dynamic response relationship by using the vector auto-regressive（VAR）model. The research shows that from 2010 to 2018, the tourism economy and ecological environment of Changhai County were promoted synchronously, and their comprehensive index and coupling coordination degree increased with time, showing a trend of optimal development;the response of the tourism economy to its own shocks turned from positive to negative after 2011;and the response of the ecological environment to the tourism economic shocks turned from negative to positive, the response relationship between the tourism economy and the ecological environment of Changhai County finally became stable after 2013. The tourism economy and the ecological environment are mutually causal. In the short term, the tourism economy is greatly affected by itself. In the long term, the tourism economy is affected by itself and the ecological environment, while the ecological environment is continuously affected by both the tourism economy and itself. The impact of the tourism economy on the ecological environment is increasing year by year. It is suggested that Changhai County adhere to ecological protection, timely adjust relevant policies, promote high-quality development of tourism industry, promote scientific transformation of island economy, and maintain the coordination and balance between tourism economy and ecological environment. [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]

Ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin has become a major national strategy, and the coupling coordination of economic growth, industrial development and ecology in this area is becoming a research hot spot. This paper analyzed the coupling coordination mechanism of economic growth, industrial development and ecology in the Yellow River Basin and constructed an evaluation index system of coupling coordination degree. Using the coupling coordination model, the spatial autocorrelation model and grey relational model, this paper analyzed the space differences and time differences of the coupling coordination degree of 62 cities in the Yellow River Basin and their driving factors from 2012 to 2018, And the GM (1, 1) gray prediction method was used to predict the coupling coordination degree in the short term. The results showed that：① The overall level of economic growth, industrial development and ecology in the Yellow River Basin had shown a steady trend, and there were no significant differences in the speed of development. However, the coupling coordination of them was seriously out of coordination, and the coupling coordination of ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin had not yet reached a coordinated level,② The coupling coordination degree demonstrated significant global and local spatial autocorrelation features. The global spatial auto-correlation was positive and the convergence features were obvious. (3) The forecast results showed that the coupling coordination degree remained generally stable and coordination had not been reached during the forecast period in this area. The rate of improvement was relatively slow. Finally, a support system incorporating organizational guarantee, spatial governance, policy guarantee and institutional mechanism was established for economic growth and ecological protection in the Yellow River Basin. It is expected that this paper can provide a theoretical basis and lay a certain scientific decision-making foundation for the ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin, [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In line with the pressures of energy shortage and economic development, Chinese government has adopted a series of measures and policies to promote the exploitation and utilization efficiency of electric power. China is urgently reconsidering its electric power development level and coordinating between power supply and demand sides. Therefore, in this paper, Chinese industrial structure of electric power was constructed according to its production process from resource, production and consumption sides. With the constructed industrial structure, the influencing factors on each side were selected to build a measurable evaluation system. Thirty-one Chinese provinces were chosen to explore their development coordination level based on the projection pursuit model and coupling coordination model. By the projection pursuit model, improved projection directions and best projection vectors of each province were found to describe the development level of each side. The coupling coordination model was adopted to explore the provincial supply and demand relations between electric power industry side via the indexes of coupling degree, coordination degree and relative development degree. By using ArcGIS mapping analysis, the results show the changes in Chinese provincial coupling and coordination development levels from 2011 to 2014. Finally, using the evaluation results, optimal strategies were discussed for improving the coordination of Chinese electric power development from different aspects, such as technical support, project approval and supervision, and demand side management. The findings prove that projection pursuit model and coupling coordination model can evaluate the electric power development level and describe their dynamic changing coordination relations effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to improve the sustainability of resource-exhausted cities has become a difficult problem for China to implement the sustainable development strategy, and the construction of resilient cities has become the best way to solve this problem. This paper constructed an evaluation indicator system of the sustainable development for resource-exhausted cities from the perspective of resilient cities. The entropy weight-TOPSIS-grey relational degree model was used to quantitatively analyze the sustainable development capacity of 23 resource-exhausted cities in China from 2010 to 2020. And the coupling coordination degree model was further used to analyze the relationship between urban resilience and the dimensions of economy, environment, society and resource respectively. The weak links affecting their sustainable development was explored through obstacle degree model. The research results are helpful to fully understand the current situation and obstacle factors of the sustainable development of resource-exhausted cities in China, and promote the sustainable development of cities through the construction of resilient cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Pearl River is the property of Pearl River Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The world is experiencing the tide of digital transformation. Promoting the digitalization of energy is an important measure to realize energy sustainability. The digitalization of energy is a product of the coupled and coordinated development of the energy industry and the digital economy. This paper takes 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2020 as research objects. The Entropy Weight Method is used to measure the development level of China's energy industry and digital economy, and the Coupling Coordination Degree Model is used to measure the digitalization of energy (DE). Then, the evolution characteristics and driving factors of China's DE are studied by using Grey Prediction Model, Kernel Density Analysis Method and Geodetector Model. The conclusions are mainly as follows: (1) Though the development level of energy industry and digital economy in China are both growing over time, there are distinct features in their spatial distribution. (2) The DE is in a disorderly state as a whole, but it will be upgraded to the stage of barely coordinated during China's 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021–2025). From the evolutionary process, the distribution pattern and trend changes of DE are characterized by obvious polarization distribution and increasing absolute differences, and this feature is more obvious in the central and western regions. (3) Government support, FDI, and pollution governance have an increasing impact on DE, but this impact varies considerably between the east and central-west regions. Therefore, this paper suggests that local governments should formulate policies to promote the DE according to local conditions. The central government should focus on accelerating the construction of the “East Digital West Computing” project and the development of the energy Internet to solve the problem of uneven regional development.

Green innovation and the digital economy are the new engine and driving force for Chinese high-quality development and will become the mainstream of China’s high-quality development. Therefore, it is of great significance to explore the interaction between the two for the formulation of economic development policies. This paper constructed an evaluation system of green science and technology innovation efficiency (GSTIE) and digital economy level (DEL) based on 30 provinces in China. Through the corrected coupling coordination degree (CCD) model, this paper measured the coupling coordination degree of green science and technology innovation efficiency and DEL and analyzed its provincial differences and spatial effects. By employing the fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) method, this paper further explored the influencing factors configuration affecting the coupling coordination degree of GSTIE and DEL. The research results are as follows. Compared with the development of green science and technology innovation, the development of the digital economy was relatively backward. The coupling coordination degree between China’s provincial GSTIE and DEL showed an overall increasing trend year by year, and there was obvious spatial heterogeneity in which the eastern region was the highest, followed by the western and central regions. A single influencing factor does not constitute a necessary condition for a high coupling coordination degree. There were four paths that improve the coordinated development level between GSTIE and DEL: HC + RD + OP-jointly driven, RD + OP-dual driven, HC + GS-dual driven, and GS-oriented. Finally, based on the research conclusions, this paper proposed corresponding policy suggestions.

Since the 21st century, the rapid development of China’s megacity clusters has posed a major threat to the healthy and coordinated development of cities. Therefore, it is necessary to be develop the comprehend the state of coupling coordination among mega-city cluster and EEQ under mesoscale. In this study, the largest Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration is taken as the research object, NS-RSEI is constructed to evaluate the EEQ of the Yangtze River Delta, and the coupling coordination mechanism on the long-time series of the Yangtze River Delta in recent 20 years is explored by means of spatio-temporal analysis. The outcome verify that CCD of the Yangtze River Delta growth with a strong spatial dependence from 2001 to 2020, showing a spatial distribution pattern of " East West high-low". Above all, this study shows that urbanization is the main factor determining the development of CCD. In addition, compared with the traditional remote sensing eco-environment monitoring model, NS-RSEI proposed in this study shows better ability in mesoscale environmental monitoring, and provides great convenience for mesoscale EEQ evaluation. This study fills the research gap of the interactive coupling mechanism between urbanization and eco-environment quality of mesoscale mega-city group, and provides a new perspective on the sustainable development of megacity clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sci-tech innovation is an important measure for the Guangdong– Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area to achieve high-quality economic development. theoretically, there is a coupling coordination relationship between sci-tech innovation and high-quality economic development, and coordinating the relationship between the two is beneficial to building the Guangdong– Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area into an international innovation and technology hub and promoting high-quality economic development. At present, the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area has seen a year-on-year increase in both the level of sci-tech innovation and the level of high-quality economic development, with a sound development trend. Its coupling coordination degree between sci-tech innovation and high-quality economic development has steadily improved from a slightly uncoordinated stage to a primarily coordinated stage, but the overall degree of coordination is still not high, with some gaps from realizing the excellently coordinated stage. From the perspective of spatial distribution, the internal development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area is unbalanced, with obvious differences in development level and coupling coordination degree among cities. e convergence analysis shows that the differences in the coupling coordination degree among the cities in the Guangdong Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area have stabilized after narrowing during the study period. However, the difference among the cities with higher coupling coordination degrees tends to widen in recent years. therefore, necessary measures should be taken to promote the coordination between sci-tech innovation and high-quality economic development in the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Homesteads and cultivated land are crucial elements of the rural territorial system. Their coupling characteristics and changing patterns are essential for understanding the evolution of rural human-land systems and for developing coordinated rural development strategies. This study takes Huilong Village and Pingba Village in the TGRR, employing methods such as GIS spatial analysis, comprehensive index evaluation, coupling coordination degree model, and geographic detector model. The analysis focuses on the coupling characteristics and influencing factors of the "HCS" in these villages and proposes optimization strategies to provide scientific guidance for village planning, selection of high-quality rural development paths, and strategy design. The main findings are as follows: (1) The spatial distribution of homesteads and cultivated land in typical villages exhibits clear traffic directionality. The spatial coupling of the "HCS" demonstrates significant convergent evolution and adjacent distribution characteristics. (2) The utilization coupling of the "HCS" in Huilong Village and Pingba Village is predominantly high, with 98.72% and 94.62% of farmers, respectively, being highly coupled. However, the degree of coupling coordination is mostly barely coordinated. (3) The primary factors influencing the coordinated development of the "HCS" in the study area include the utilization conditions of homestead and cultivated land, labor status, and economic status. These factors can be categorized into four types: labor factor restrictions, nonagricultural development disturbance, agricultural development, and lagging farming conditions. Differentiated development strategies are proposed for each type. This research enhances the understanding of the coupling between homestead land and cultivated land, offering valuable insights for regional village planning, high-quality development path selection, and government decision-making. [Display omitted] • This paper introduces a theoretical framework for analyzing the coupling within the "HCS". • Farmers are essential in advancing the coordinated development of homesteads and cultivated land for sustainable rural development. • At present, the balanced development of different types of rural "HCS" is on the verge of imbalance. • The current policy and capital intervention in the development of the "HCS" is not sustainable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the perspective of transportation resource allocation efficiency, it is significant to explore the impact of transportation resource allocation efficiency on urban low-carbon development, which is of theoretical guidance value and practical significance to help China achieve the dual-carbon goal as soon as possible. This paper takes the panel data of 30 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) from 2008 to 2021 as samples, adopts the entropy value method and the entropy weight TOPSIS method to measure the level of urban low-carbon development, and utilizes the super-efficiency SBM model to measure the efficiency of transportation resource allocation. The benchmark regression model is used to analyze the direct impact of transportation resource allocation efficiency on urban low-carbon development, and per capita carbon emission is selected as the mediating variable for mechanism analysis. It is found that transportation resource allocation efficiency has a significant positive impact on urban low-carbon development. In addition, the mechanism test shows that transportation resource allocation efficiency can promote low-carbon urban development by reducing per capita carbon emissions. Lastly, the impact of transportation resource allocation efficiency on urban low-carbon development contributes significantly to the eastern, western, and less developed regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to enhance ecosystem stability and promote sustainable regional ecological, social, and economic development, it is crucial to explore the coupling relationship between ecosystem service supply and demand and the resilience of ecosystem, so as to propose scientific ecological management zones and strategies. Taking the vulnerable alpine ecosystem in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (Gannan Prefecture) as the study area, this paper comprehensively utilized multi-source data, grid analysis, ecosystem service supply and demand estimation model, and coupled coordination model to analyze the spatio-temporal differentiation and coordination pattern of ecosystem service supply and demand in the study area from 2000 to 2020. With the assistance of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), the ecosystem resilience index system was constructed to evaluate the regional ecological resilience. The results reveal the following: (1) In the past 20 years, the ecosystem service supply and resilience in Gannan Prefecture showed a fluctuating upward trend, and the demand continued to grow steadily. Their spatial differentiation were obvious, but the pattern remained stable. (2) There was a moderate incoordination indicated by the average coordination degree of the supply and demand coupling of ecosystem services, which rangeed between 0.3 and 0.4. (3) Gannan Prefecture was split into three ecological management zones, considering the spatial distribution of ecosystem service supply and demand, as well as resilience. Through system function monitoring and other measures, the ecological conservation zone will rely on its high resilience to support the restoration and self-sufficiency of the system, ensuring the stability and well-being of the ecosystem. The primary objectives of general protected zone includes environmental preservation, strict regulations, and the prevention of human intervention. To enhance their ecological background, key restoration zone must intensify the implementation of ecological restoration initiatives. To address the needs of the locals, strategies such as ecological compensation, optimizing the land use structure, and fostering the growth of environmentally friendly companies can be implemented simultaneously. [Display omitted] • Spatiotemporal dynamics of supply-demand and their coupled coordination studied. • Quantification and spatial-temporal analysis of ecosystem resilience based on AHP. • Supply, demand and resilience increased, and the spatial pattern was stable. • There was a moderate incoordination between supply and demand. • Ecological management zones were identified based on "supply-demand-resilience". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's economy is transitioning from high-speed to high-quality development, making coordination between economic factors increasingly important. Human capital (HC) and infrastructure (INFRA) are important elements of economic development, and the coupling coordination of the two can have a non-negligible impact on regional economies' high-quality development. Therefore, this study measures the coupling coordination degree (CCD) of HC and INFRA based on data of 184 prefecture-level cities in China from 2011 to 2019, and comprehensively examines the impact effect and mechanism of the CCD on high-quality economic development (HQED). The relevant results are threefold. (1) Compared with single factors, the degree of HC-INFRA CCD can promote HQED more efficiently. (2) A significant single-threshold effect is evident in the promotion of HQED by the degree of HC-INFRA CCD, and a smaller city size and more extensive higher education institutions promote a stronger threshold effect. (3) Factor allocation and factor efficiency are significant transmission mechanisms of the HC-INFRA CCD affecting HQED, and the mediating effect of the capital-labor force allocation path accounts for 66.28% of the total indirect effect. The results provide empirical evidence verifying that HC-INFRA CCD promotes HQED, along with insightful reference suggestions for formulating relevant macro policies and promoting high-quality urban economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water resources, energy, and food are essential for the development of society, and they are strongly interdependent. The coupling and coordination relationships of the water–energy–food (WEF) system are important for regional resource security and high-quality development. The Yellow River Irrigation Area in Shandong Province, China, is a grain production base and has a substantial impact on national food security. To examine the water, energy, and food subsystem dynamics in this area, an evaluation system for the WEF system was established. A comprehensive weighting method based on game theory was employed to determine index weights. TOPSIS was used to assess the development level of the WEF system. A coupling coordination degree model was used to analyze the evolution of the coupling coordination degree of the WEF system from 2000 to 2020, and a GWR model was constructed to explore the spatial heterogeneity of its driving factors. The findings indicated that the development level of the WEF system in the study area was moderate, with a gradual upward trend. The coupling coordination degree fluctuated between 0.62 and 0.739. The GWR model revealed that temperature had an overall negative effect on the coupling coordination degree, with the greatest impact on the central irrigation area; the slope and NDVI had a negative effect, with increasing intensity from the southwest to the northeast; and rainfall had an overall positive effect, with the greatest impact on the irrigation area near the estuary in the northeast. Overall, the building area ratio had a negative effect on the coupling coordination degree, with exceptions in some areas. These research outcomes provide theoretical support for sustainable agricultural development in the Yellow River irrigation areas of Shandong Province and methodological reference data for studying collaborative resource utilization in irrigation regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the information age, digital information technology has gradually become a new quality of productivity to improve international competitiveness, and the status and importance of the pseudo human settlements(PHS) constructed by digital and information has been increasing in the human settlements(HS) system. In this context, exploring the coupling coordination of the internal systems of the PHS provides a theoretical basis for promoting the comprehensive improvement of the quality of the HS in the urban agglomerations, provides a theoretical reference for rationally interpreting the new type of human-land relationship in the information age, and provide a new perspective for the study of the human settlements geography. Currently, research on PHS is in its nascent stages, therefore, we construct a theoretical framework for the coupling coordination of the "three states" of the HS, takes the internal system of PHS as the entry point, empirically analyze the spatiotemporal characteristics of the PHS coupling coordination degree within urban agglomerations in eastern China and the driving factors by using the coupling coordination degree, spatial autocorrelation, the center of gravity and the ellipse of the standard deviation, and geo-detector models. Research shows: (1) Time course: exhibits an upward "inverted L" trend. (2) Spatial pattern: exhibits a general spatial pattern of "high in the north and low in the south". (3) Spatial correlation: shows a spatially positively correlated clustering trend. (4) Spatial evolution: demonstrates a decentralized pattern of migration from the northeast to the southwest, indicating that the coupling coordination grows faster in the southwest than in the northeast. (5) Driving factor: the development of coupling coordination degree of PHS results from multiple factors and systems. This research provides theoretical support for promoting the comprehensive improvement of the quality of PHS in the urban agglomerations in eastern China, and offers scientific reference for the construction of PHS in other regions of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the complex relationship between ESSD and human well-being is of paramount significance to protecting regional ecology, enhancing human well-being and achieving sustainable development. We take the Yangtze River Economic Belt as an example and use multi-source data to analyse land use and cover change, as well as the spatiotemporal evolution of ESSD and human well-being. We explore and reveal the coupling coordination relationship between ESSD and human well-being. The results show that from 2000 to 2020, the overall trend in ESs in the region improved significantly, and the supply notably increased, whereas the demand growth rate was even more pronounced. The supply–demand ratio for water yield and soil conservation showed little change, with variations of <10%. However, the supply–demand ratio for carbon sequestration declined significantly by 41.83%, whereas that for food supply increased notably by 42.93%. The overall spatial pattern in ESSD presented a mismatch, which was characterised by 'low supply and high demand in the eastern region and high supply and low demand in the western region'. Overall, human well-being remained stable and was in line with the level of socio-economic development, thereby exhibiting a distinct trend of well-being 'polarisation between the rich and poor'. Well-being was higher in the eastern and central urban agglomerations and lower in the western plateau and mountainous areas. Over 20 years, the degree of coupling coordination between ESSD and human well-being increased by 0.0107, and the coupling level gradually transitioned from moderate imbalance to moderate coordination. Spatially, Hubei Province, Chongqing Municipality and the Yangtze River Delta were the main 'high–high' agglomeration areas, whereas the Sichuan Basin and the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau were the main 'low–low' agglomeration areas. Based on these findings, we propose the following management recommendations for the Yangtze River Economic Belt and other related great river economic belts: optimise land use structure, rationally allocate natural resources, strengthen regional and external connections and promote regional coordinated development, enhance the implementation of policies for ecological and environmental protection, establish regional ecological compensation mechanisms and coordinate ecological protection in a full scope and focus on harmonising human–land relationships, build a multi-stakeholder collaborative governance mechanism and promote regional ecological protection and the elevation of human well-being. [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]

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

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

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]

Abstract The Tibetan sheep industry is a typical representative of plateau animal husbandry and grassland animal husbandry and is also one of the characteristic industries in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau region. The study of this industry is of great significance to promoting the high-quality development of animal husbandry and the region. Based on the production data and statistical data of Tibetan sheep in the main producing areas of Qinghai Province, this paper adopts the entropy method and the coupling coordination degree model to study the high-quality development of animal husbandry in Qinghai province from five dimensions: product quality, production efficiency, economic benefits, environmental friendliness and environmental conditions. The results showed that the high-quality development level and coupling coordination degree of the Tibetan sheep industry in Haibei Prefecture, Hainan Prefecture, Haixi Prefecture and Huangnan Prefecture of Qinghai Province showed an upward trend from 2015 to 2020. Among them, the high-quality development level of the Tibetan sheep industry in Haibei Prefecture and Hainan Prefecture of Qinghai Province significantly increased from 2019 to 2020, but the coupling coordination degree decreased.

In order to promote the sustainable and coordinated development of the logistics industry and the manufacturing industry in the Yangtze River Economic Belt of China and provide the policy makers with decision-making references, this paper explored the spatio-temporal evolution of the coupling coordination development level of the two industries. A three-stage super-efficiency SBM model, which eliminated the influence of environmental factors and random errors, was constructed to make it possible to conduct an in-depth comparative analysis on the effective decision-making units (DMUs), making the calculation results more accurate. This was the main contribution of this paper. Based on the new model considering undesirable output, this paper analyzed the panel data of 11 provinces and cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2007 to 2017 and investigated the coordination development level from the dimensions of time and space considering the energy input and carbon emissions of the two industries. Our main research findings were as follows. First, due to the relative lagging of the logistics industry in promoting the development of the manufacturing industry, the overall level of the coordination between the two industries was at a stage of limited coordination. Second, the regional differences were significant with a spatial evolution pattern of "high in the east and low in the west". Third, environmental factors affected the input efficiency of the logistics industry and the manufacturing industry, especially the latter. Overall, this paper made theoretical and practical contributions to promoting the joint development of the two industries, improving the logistics industry and upgrading the manufacturing industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urbanization has exacerbated land use transformation, which in turn has affected ecosystem service value (ESV). Clarifying the spatial association between land use change (LUC) and ESV is of relevance to the development of policies for sustainable land development and ecosystem service (ES) management. In this paper, taking Hubei Province as an example, the biomass coefficient, resource scarcity coefficient and socioeconomic adjustment coefficient are introduced to improve the ESV assessment model, and then the spatiotemporal dynamics of land use and ESV from 2000 to 2020 are analyzed. Furthermore, the coupling coordination degree (CCD) between land use intensity and ESV was explored through a CCD model. The results show that (1) land use in Hubei Province changed significantly from 2000 to 2020, mainly in cropland and built-up land. (2) The change in ESV showed a fluctuating upward trend, with an increase of 71.30%, and the spatial differences generally decreased, showing a spatial pattern of “low in the center and high in the surroundings”. (3) All individual ESVs first decreased and then increased, with regulating services and supporting services contributing more to ESV and hydrological regulation, maintenance of biodiversity and soil conservation being the top three ecosystem functions with high service value. (4) The CCD between ESV and land use intensity in Hubei Province and its cities (prefecture and forest area) decreased and then increased, being at the lowest and highest values in 2005 and 2020, respectively. This paper revealed the spatiotemporal evolution process of LUC and ESV in Hubei Province and their coupling coordinated relationship, which can provide effective guidance for the formulation of interzonal ES maintenance policies to reconcile the conflicts between land use and ecosystem management.

Tourism is often claimed to be one of the important industries of low-carbon cities (LCCs). This paper aims to establish a comprehensive evaluation system and to empirically investigate the coupling coordination between the tourism industry and LCCs by using the coupling coordination degree model (CCDM) with panel data of Shenzhen, China. The findings revealed that the degree of coupling coordination showed an upward trend, successively developing from barely coordinated to primary coordination, good coordination, and superior coordination from 2001 to 2011. Specifically, industrial performance and the ecological environment had the greatest effect on the coupling system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

Promoting industrial ecology and greening is the fundamental requirement of the new development concept, and also the key to realizing high-quality and sustainable development of regional economy. This paper selects the relevant data of eight cities in Anhui section of Huaihe River Economic Belt from 2014 to 2018, and uses the entropy method and the undesirable SBM model to calculate the industrial development level and ecological efficiency during the study period. Moreover, based on the coupling coordination degree model, the synergistic effect between industrial development and ecological efficiency is analyzed, and the spatial-temporal evolution pattern between them is clarified by means of spatial econometric analysis model. Further research suggests that: (1) the synergistic effect between industrial development and ecological efficiency in Anhui section of Huaihe River Economic Belt from 2014 to 2018 is significant, showing a steady strengthening trend. The endogenous power of industrial development keeps strengthening, and the scale effect keeps spillover diffusion. The mean value of overall coupling coordination degree is generally between 0.6 and 0.7. (2) In terms of spatial distribution, the regions with high coupling coordination degree are mainly distributed in the eastern part of Anhui Section (Bengbu and Chuzhou), the lower level area is mainly distributed in the northern part of Anhui Section (Suzhou), and the middle level area is widely distributed. (3) The agglomeration of coupling coordination degree between industrial development and ecological efficiency mainly occurs in low-high (L-H) and high-low (H-L) agglomeration areas. (4) The level of economic development, intensity of R&D and intensity of environmental regulation have significant positive effects on the coupling coordination degree of industrial ecological efficiency and industrial development, and promote the increase of coupling coordination effect. Finally, based on the research results, targeted suggestions are put forward in order to promote the coupling coordination between industrial development and ecological civilization construction, and walk out of a new road of high-quality development of green ecology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to promote the coordinated development of the sports and pension industries, it is of great significance to apply the theory of industrial integration to the study of the interaction mechanism of the sports and pension industries, but there is a lack of research in this area at present. This paper firstly constructs the evaluation system of the coupling and coordination development of the sports and pension industries. Secondly, based on the panel data of 11 provinces and cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt in 2013–2017, this paper analyzes the coupling and coordination relationship between the sports and pension industries by using the entropy method and the coupling coordination model. Finally, the coupling coordination relationship between the two industries in the region in the next five years is predicted using the grey model (1.1), i.e. GM (1.1) model. The results show the following: (1) The development level of the two major industries in 11 provinces and cities of the Yangtze River Economic Belt is generally on the rise, and they have a high correlation. (2) The sports industry is more volatile than the pension industry, and the sports industry has become an effective path dependence to narrow the regional development differences. The sports industry has a weak driving role in the pension industry, while the pension industry has a greater role in promoting the sports industry. (3) There is a large spatial difference in the coupling coordination degree of the sports and pension industries in 11 provinces and cities of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, which will remain in the next five years, though the evolution and upgrading speed of the coupling coordination level will be significantly accelerated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urban competitiveness (UC) evaluation system is multidimensional and complex. This paper takes the simulated annealing (SA) model as the projection pursuit (PP) optimization to achieve a comprehensive assessment of competitiveness of 277 Chinese cities from 2011 to 2019, accompanied by energy saving and carbon-emission reduction (ESCER) as environmental measurements, to explore whether the two can meet the Porter hypothesis through coupling coordination degree (CCD). Further using spatiotemporal autocorrelation and obstacle degree model to uncover spatiotemporal features and interfering factors of coordinated development. Key findings include: (1) UC and ESCER show a slightly fluctuating upward trend during the research period, with apparent spatial variations. The eastern coastal region has a robust UC, while the less competitive central and western regions benefit from natural conditions, excelling in ESCER. (2) 87% of cities have achieved coordinated development between competitiveness and ESCER. Some coastal areas, often with a high CCD, are improving resource use efficiency and environmental benefits through economic agglomeration. From the perspective of the CCD collaboration network, the positive correlation accounts for about 85%, which reveals that most adjacent regions can cooperate on the road of coordinated development. (3) While differences exist in the coordinated development of UC-ESCER across various regions, social factors predominantly influence the obstacles affecting coordinated development. Specifically, a substantial barrier to the concordant progression of most cities is the number of patent applications, underscoring the pivotal role of innovation in aligning UC with ESCER. [Display omitted] • Simulated annealing projection pursuit assessed Chinese cities' competitiveness. • There is spatial heterogeneity between UC and ESCER. • 87% of cities achieve harmonious development for UC and ESCER. • Innovation is crucial for urban response to dual challenges of environment and economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

Along with the development of urbanization of arid zones, the water resources issue has become increasingly prominent, and the sustainable utilization of water resources has become a hot spot for research in the arid zone. This paper analyzed the evolution characteristics of the comprehensive evaluation index of urbanization development and water resources utilization as well as its relative development level in 15 administrative regions of Xinjiang from 2003 to 2018. It also analyzed the spatial and temporal evolution characteristics of the coupled and coordinated relationship between urbanization development and water resources utilization through a coupled coordination model. The results show that both the comprehensive evaluation index of urbanization development and water resources utilization in Xinjiang have been increased significantly, but the level of urbanization development is higher than that of water resources utilization; the coupling degree of urbanization development system and water resources utilization system in Xinjiang is in the antagonistic stage all year round and develops to· ward the grinding stage; the urbanization development system and water resources utilization system in Xinjiang have experienced three stages of coupling coordination degree, namely low, medium and high. Spatially, although the 15 administrative regions have different starting points, they have all reached the stage of highly coordinated coupling one after another. Finally, the urbanization development model and water resources utilization countermeasures based on the sustainable utilization of water resources are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Controlling carbon emission is the core of the coordination and sustainable development of industrial structure and environmental protection. Studying the coupling coordination degree of regional carbon emission, industrial structure and environmental protection and its economic effect can provide a theoretical basis for regional carbon emission reduction, economic development and environmental protection. The paper selects the three-stages of DEA to analyze the regional carbon emission efficiency, constructs the analysis index system from the six aspects of carbon emission efficiency, economic potential and environmental pollution, introduces the ternary coupling coordination model to analyze the coupling coordination between carbon emission, industrial structure and environmental protection, and uses the spatial econometric model to analyze the spatial effects among the three from a spatial perspective. The results show that the variation trend of carbon emission efficiency in the target area is basically the same as that of Gini coefficient, which shows a downward trend of volatility on the whole, indicating that the carbon emission efficiency in the target area is gradually increasing. The coordination level of the target area basically maintains the moderate and low coupling coordination level, indicating that the target area has not yet established a high-quality coordinated development trend within the analyzed time area. The spatial characteristics of emissions, industrial structure and environmental protection in the target area are agglomeration and distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is helpful to optimize the function of land space to analyze the variation characteristics of production, living and ecological space (PLES)pattern. Taking Beijing as a case, a simple PLES identification method was used by cobiming remote sensing image and land-use evaluation based on remote sensing images of Beijing in 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2020. The spatial distribution scale, spatial clustering and spatial interaction relationship of the PLES in Beijing are analyzed by grid analysis, spatial auto-correlation analysis and coupling coordination model in this paper. There are following findings. (1) There was great regional diversity in the variation characteristics of the PLES of Beijing. Production space presented prominent expansion, living space and ecological space were shrinking. (2) The development of production and living space in Beijing has stronger spatial aggregation than ecological space, their spatial auto-correlation indexes are both above 0. 80. In 2000, the spatial auto-correlation index of ecological space was only 0. 74, but it rose constantly in the past two decades. In 2020, the spatial auto-correlation index reached 0. 79, but there was still a gap between production and life. (3) The coupling and coupling coordination indexes of PLES are increasing year by year in Beijing. However, it is still in the coupling coordination and basic coordination stage. The coordination index between production and living spaces is the lowest. The regions of lowest coordination index of production and living spaces located in Fangshan District, Mentougou District, Huairou District and Yanqing District. The conclusion is that on the basis of optimizing the pattern of PLES, relevant policies and regulations should be further improved. Formulating a scientific development plan can promote the coordinated development of PLES. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background——As a characteristic agricultural industry, tea industry is the leading industry for farmers to get rid of poverty and increase income in tea-producing areas. Fujian, as a major tea-producing province, not only has a better industrial foundation, but also has distinctive characteristics of tea industry development, which is representative and typical. Methods——Employing coupling coordination degree model and obstacle degree model, the coupling coordination degree of tea industry and regional economy in Fujian was analyzed and the obstacle factors were diagnosed. The data are derived from the Statistical Yearbook of Fujian from 2011 to 2021,the Statistical Yearbook of China’s Tea Industry from 2011 to 2017,and the Statistical Bulletin on National Economic and Social Development of Fujian from 2011 to 2020. Results——Through the analysis, the following conclusions can be drawn: (1) The tea industry in Fujian moves towards a high level of coupling with the regional economy. From 2011 to 2020,the coupling degree values were maintained between 0.7 and 1.0,and the push-pull interaction between the tea industry and economic development showed an increasingly strong trend, which led to the increase of the coupling degree value, and began to grow to and maintain the highest level in 2015.This shows that the tea industry and regional economy have entered a high level of coupling from the grinding stage. (2) The relation of Fujian tea industry and regional economy gradually moves to benign interaction and efficient coordination. In addition, the coupling coordinated development is the leading type in tea industry system from 2011 to 2015.In 2017, the synchronous development of subsystems was transformed into the dominant type of regional economic system, and the two subsystems were alternately dominated from 2018 to 2020.On the whole, the coupling development type of the two has gone through three stages, namely, from the imbalance recession stage, transition stage to the coordinated development stage. And the system changes from mild disorder to high-quality coordination. (3) Tea export volume, yield, output value, tea garden area and contribution rate of primary industry are the main obstacle factors. From 2011 to 2015,the export volume of tea has always been the first obstacle factor, followed by tea yield and tea garden area. From 2018 to 2020,the ranking of the top five obstacle factors has changed, the impact of tea exports has gradually decreased, and the proportion of tea output value in GDP has gradually increased, ranking first in 2020. Conclusions and Discussions—According to the research results, the following conclusions are drawn: (1) There is a strong interaction between the tea industry and the regional economy in Fujian Province, and it has developed from a low level of mutual restraint to a high level of mutual promotion.. (2) The obstacle degree of the subsystem of TE system in Fujian Province has not changed much. Starting from the main obstacle factors, this paper puts forward countermeasures and suggestions to promote the coordinated development of tea industry and regional economy: (1) It is necessary to improve tea quality, promote tea exports. (2) It is required to deepen the processing level and improving the output value of tea. (3)It is expected to enrich the form of industrial integration and improve comprehensive benefits. [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]

The study examines the digital finance (DF) and regional sustainable development (RSD) across 90 cities within six major city clusters in China over the period from 2011 to 2020. By constructing an evaluation index system for DF and RSD, we employed the entropy value method to assess their levels, and the coupling coordination degree (CCD) model to evaluate their interplay. Our analysis extended to temporal and spatial disparities, distribution dynamics, and the convergence of CCD through kernel density estimation, Markov chain analysis, σ -convergence, and β -convergence techniques. The results indicate a consistent upward trend in CCD, yet it remains at a low level with pronounced regional disparities and temporal characteristics. The kernel density distribution's central tendency has shifted rightward progressively, albeit with a decelerating pace annually. The Markov transition probability matrix suggests a stable CCD across various levels, hinting at "club convergence". Furthermore, both σ -convergence and β -convergence analyses reveal significant convergence trends in CCD, enhanced by economic growth factors. Using the Quadratic Assignment Procedure (QAP) method, we found that regional economic growth disparities significantly influence the CCD's regional variances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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