Spatiotemporal Analysis of High-Quality Development and Coordination in Cities Along the Lower Yellow River

The current urban development in cities along the Lower Yellow River is in tension regarding human–land relations. To achieve the goals of ecological protection and high-quality development (HQD), it is urgent to scientifically measure and analyse the region’s function development and development coordination (DC). This study focuses on cities along the Lower Yellow River, constructs a three-dimensional HQD assessment framework based on urban functions through multiple remote sensing data, and evaluates DCs by feature classification. The results show the following: (1) The HQD of the study area shows a trend of decreasing and then increasing during 2000–2020 and reaches its highest level at the end. HQD shows a spatial trend of decreasing from south to north and from east to west. (2) The overall agricultural function of the study area declined slightly; the ecological function declined first and then increased, with the highest value occurring in 2000; and the urban function increased steadily and improved significantly after 2015. (3) DCs under different administrative levels are polarised, with high-level DCs exhibiting a spatial leader effect. (4) Urban development preferences in the study area are divergent, and the functional type with the highest share under different administrative scales is agro-ecological, which is mainly influenced by differences in natural base. This study reveals the characteristics of HQD and functional changes in cities along the Lower Yellow River, combined with a hierarchical classification of DCs and the types of development preferences, providing a reference for the formulation of spatial governance strategies.