Study on the coupling and coordination between land green use efficiency and high-quality development in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, China

Reasonable land use efficiency is necessary for achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs). The high-quality development (HQD) can be regarded as one of the substantive initiatives for the implementation of SDGs in China. With the quick advancement of urbanization, the problems such as rapid urban space expansion, irrational land use structure, and inefficient land usage are becoming more and more prominent especially in developing countries. To some extent, the existence of these problems is a major impediment to the realization of HQD goals. Therefore, exploring the coupling and coordination relationship between land green use efficiency (LGUE) and HQD can provide guidance for subsequent management practices such as territorial spatial planning, industrial restructuring, and urban layout. In this study, we innovatively investigated the spatio-temporal evolution characteristics between LGUE and HQD in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) from the coupled coordination perspective. The results demonstrate that: (1) The LGUE in the YREB exhibits a stable growth trend in most cities ranging from 0.8 to 1.0 and reaches high level in the later years; (2) The HQD index of the prefecture-level cities in the YREB was on the lower level on the whole during the study period and the spatial distribution is characterized by unevenness and fragmentation; (3) The coupling coordination degree (CCD) between LGUE and HQD in the YREB is generally developing in a satisfactory direction and general coordination (Level III) is the dominant type of CCD, accounting for approximately 70% of the overall city. This study could provide a representative sample for advancing synergistic development between LGUE and HQD within the watershed economy.