Coordination Analysis of Urban Forest and Urban Development Level: A Case Study of the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration, China

With the rapid development of the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration, sustainability and high-quality development have become the key paths to regional development. The urban forest, referring to the sum of trees, forests, and green space in an urban area, provides a series of ecological benefits and economic values and is essential to the urban ecological system. In the post-urbanization period, the integrated development of urban forests and the city is attached with great importance to long-term development. From the perspective of regional and coordinated development, this research constructed an evaluation index system of urban development and urban forest development. Then, a comprehensive evaluation model and coordination degree model were adopted to systematically study the temporal and spatial characteristics and policy influencing factors on the coordination degree between urban development and urban forest development in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration from 2005 to 2021. The results showed that from 2005 to 2021, urban development displayed continuous growth, while urban forest development exhibited a fluctuating increase and the level of urban forest generally lagged behind that of urban development. From 2005 to 2021, the coordination degree of the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration showed a fluctuating trend, of which the maximum value was 0.999 in 2012, the minimum value was 0.730 in 2021, and the coordination degrees were all at the level of good coordination or high-quality coordination except for 2021. In terms of spatial distribution, three provinces and one city all showed a fluctuating increase at first, followed by a downward trend, while Shanghai showed the highest coordination level. From the perspective of policy on urban forests, the Shanghai government showed the best effort, while the Jiangsu government still needs improvement. This research provides a scientific basis for coordinating the relationship between urban development and the environment and for realizing regional sustainable and high-quality development.