Exploring the coupling relationship between urbanization and energy eco-efficiency: A case study of 281 prefecture-level cities in China

Since the beginning of the 21 st century, China's urbanization has developed rapidly. In line with the steep trajectory of urbanization, the Chinese government has strengthened the environmental management and ecological protection. Driven by these policies, the country's comprehensive urbanization level (CUL), including demographic, economic, land use and social aspects, and energy eco-efficiency (EE) have changed over the years. However, few studies have analyzed the changing trends of CUL and EE, especially their coupling coordination degree (CCD). In light of this research gap, this study takes 281 prefecture-level cities as the study objects with which to evaluate and analyze the spatial-temporal change trends of CUL, EE and their CCD, from 2006 to 2016. The conclusions show the following: (1) China's CUL changed dynamically over time and showed a significant distribution in space. (2) The EE of all cities improved to varying degrees. (3) The CCD manifested an increasing trend, which promoted China moving toward a high coordination level. (4) The urbanization level hindered the further improvement of the CCD. Thus, the Chinese government should improve urbanization quality. These findings and conclusions can provide useful decision-making information for policymakers as they manage cities and improve the CCD between CUL and EE.