Coupling coordination between urban green economy and ecological resilience in the context of urban rewilding: evidence from Chinese cities

Introduction Under the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the development of green economy and the enhancement of ecological resilience are widely regarded as critical pathways for promoting sustainable urban transformation. However, systematic empirical evidence on the synergistic relationship between the two, along with their spatiotemporal evolution patterns and driving mechanisms, remains limited. Methods Based on panel data from 280 prefecture-level cities in China from 2010 to 2023, this study first constructs a comprehensive evaluation indicator system for green economy and ecological resilience. It then employs methods such as the coupling coordination degree model, Dagum Gini coefficient, Markov chain, and geodetector to systematically analyze the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics and driving mechanisms of the coupling coordination degree (CCD) between green economy and ecological resilience. Results The key findings are as follows: (1) During the study period, both urban green economy and ecological resilience levels exhibited a continuous upward trend, with the CCD steadily increasing, indicating a gradual transition toward a stage of coordinated development. (2) The CCD shows significant regional heterogeneity, following a pattern of “convergence first, divergence later”, with inter-regional disparities serving as the primary source of overall inequality. (3) Spatially, the CCD exhibits a clustering pattern characterized by “high–high” and “low–low” agglomerations, with its evolution displaying notable path dependence and neighborhood spillover effects. (4) The geodetector analysis reveals that the level of digital infrastructure is the dominant driver of spatial differentiation in the CCD, with universal synergistic enhancement effects among various factors. Discussion These findings elucidate the spatiotemporal dynamics underlying the coordinated development of green economy and ecological resilience, providing empirical evidence and policy implications for advancing high-quality and sustainable urban development under the SDGs.