Contrasting land use conflicts and ecosystem health across plain and mountainous urban–rural transitional areas

Urban-rural transitional areas face growing land use conflicts and declining ecosystem health under rapid urbanization, yet comparative studies across different topographies are still scarce. This study investigates the transitional areas of Chengdu (plain) and Chongqing (mountainous) in China from 2000 to 2020, applying the spatial comprehensive conflict index and an improved space-based vigor-organization-resilience model to assess production-living-ecological land spatial conflicts (LSC) and ecosystem health (EHI), and drivers of EHI were quantified using the optimal parameters-based geographical detector model. Results show that in Chengdu, living land rapidly encroached on production and ecological spaces, causing LSC to surge from low to high intensity in a contiguous, multi-core pattern. Consequently, EHI declined, and the LSC-EHI relationship reversed from positive to negative spatial clustering. In contrast, Chongqing achieved a net gain in ecological land. Its LSC expansion was restrained and point-like, primarily shifting from low to moderate levels. EHI remained relatively high, showing a concentrated and continuous distribution. Driver analysis reveals that while LSC dominated initially, slope and temperature became key drivers in Chengdu, whereas LSC and precipitation remained dominant in Chongqing. Besides, in Chengdu, high LSC-high EHI clusters fragmented into scattered patches, while high LSC-low EHI zones formed a suburban ring. In Chongqing, mountainous terrain concentrated high LSC-high EHI clusters along valley corridors, while low LSC-high EHI clusters extended linearly with topography. This comparative study highlights divergence in LSC-EHI dynamics, providing references for differentiated land management strategies.