Research on the coupling coordination, spatiotemporal evolution and zoning management of high-quality development and ecosystem service value in China

High-quality development (HQD) and ecosystem service value (ESV) are among the most prominent topics in China today. Understanding the dynamic coupling and coordination relationship between HQD and ESV is significant for achieving global urban sustainability goals. This study breaks the traditional paradigm of economic and ecological coupling coordination research. By measuring HQD and ESV in 292 Chinese cities from 2000 to 2021, we construct a coupling coordination degree (CCD) model to profoundly investigate the changes, coupling coordination, and underlying reasons of HQD and ESV from theoretical and spatiotemporal perspectives. The results indicate that: (1) HQD in Chinese cities has undergone phased changes and has shown significant improvement, with evident agglomeration characteristics centered around urban clusters. (2) ESV has a significant distribution characteristic among cities: low in the eastern coastal areas and high in the inland areas, which is negatively correlated with GDP. (3) The CCD of Chinese cities has undergone phased changes and exhibits a clear coordination trend. Spatially, the CCD is relatively lower in eastern coastal cities and higher in northeastern and southwestern cities. (4) By combining spatial autocorrelation and CCD results, Chinese cities are classified into four categories: Green innovation, resource optimization, development potential, and ecological protection.