Spatial and temporal evolution of the coupling of new urbanization and ecological efficiency and its influencing factors: 84 cities in Western China

Abstract The relationship between urbanization and the ecological environment has received increasing attention worldwide. Studying the coupling and coordination relationship between urbanization and the ecological environment is conducive to resolving the contradiction between development and environmental protection. This paper focuses on cities in western China, which are characterized by ecological vulnerability and delayed urbanization. By introducing spatiotemporal exploratory data analysis methods and spatial econometric models, the paper systematically explores the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of the coupling coordination degree (CCD) between ecological efficiency (EE) and new urbanization (NU) and identifies possible spatial effect issues related to CCD. Time series changes show that the CCD between EE and NU in western Chinese cities has generally shifted from the Little Imbalance stage to the primary coordination level. By the end of the observation period, all cities in the study area—except Chongqing—had reached the bare coordination level or higher. Spatial evolution reveals a significant and stable positive agglomeration effect in the spatial distribution of CCD. The coupling and coordinated development of EE and NU in local cities tends to drive coordination between the two systems in neighboring cities. In addition, through spatial econometric models, it was found that economic development, educational investment, and technological progress promote the CCD between NU and EE within a city, while industrial structure and financial development hinder CCD. At the same time, a city’s educational investment and industrial structure have positive spillover effects on the CCD of neighboring cities. These findings have reference value for the scientific advancement of urbanization and the balance between EE and NU.