Rapid urbanization and land-use change cause risk in regional ecological security. It is very significance to explore the evolutionary trend of land-use change and landscape ecological risk (LER) in an ecologically fragile area, especially in terms of maintaining sustainable development in a regional ecological environment. We selected the Three Gorges Reservoir Region (TGRR) as the study area based on land-use and land-cover data for 2000, 2010, and 2020. The land-use classification system used here was constructed using the perspective of the production–living–ecological space (PLES). The GIS spatial-analysis technique and FRAGSTATS 4 software were used. We used the method of the land-use transfer matrix, the landscape ecological risk assessment model, the ecological contribution rate of land-use transfer, and spatial autocorrelation analysis. We performed quantitative analysis of the spatio-temporal pattern of PLES and its LER in the TGRR over the past 20 years. The results show that: (1) The area of human living space (HLS) has expanded significantly—by 1469.37 km2 (+326.66%), while the area of agricultural production space (APS) has been compressed by both the urban/rural living space (URLS) and the forestland ecological space (FES), particularly during the last 10 years; (2) The overall LER results were medium, but LER is increasing; (3) The LER in the northern area of the Yangtze River is higher than in the south. The Wanzhou district and the downstream areas had a lower LER; and (4) The transformation from agricultural production space to forestland ecological space and urban/rural living space has had a higher contribution rate to the LER compared to other events. These results can be used as a reference for land planning, sustainable development, and ecological civilization construction in ecologically fragile areas.

The coupling and coordinated change characteristics of land-use production, living, and ecological functions (PLEFs) and their relationship with human activity intensity (HAI) in ecologically fragile areas are important to study, especially in promoting the sustainable development of regional land-use and revealing the evolution of the human–land relationship. In this paper, the coupling coordination degree (CCD) model was used to analyze the coordinated development level of PLEF in Wanzhou District from 2000 to 2020. The HAI was measured by the equivalent of construction land. The synchronous development model was introduced to analyze the relationship between them. The results showed that, in Wanzhou District, the PLEFs showed significant spatial distribution differences and evident spatial complementarity. The PLEFs of Wanzhou District were at a good coordination level, but exhibited a downward trend. A spatial pattern of “high in the west and low in the southeast” was presented. The CCD of the production–living function was poor, which is the critical direction of future optimization. The value of HAI in Wanzhou District showed an increasing trend and exhibited a high concentration in the central town and its surrounding regions. According to the synchronous development state of the HAI and the CCD of the PLEFs, Wanzhou District was divided into three development types. The development type of most areas of Wanzhou District was positive, but the area decreased over the past 20 years. Therefore, it is crucial to propose other regulatory strategies for regions with different development types. This research will provide a decision-making reference for promoting the coordination of the PLEFs and alleviating human–land relations in the reservoir area of central and western China, mountainous regions, and similar areas in developing countries.

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With the rapid population growth and accelerating urbanization process, people compete for the scarce land resources to pursue their incompatible interests. Thus, a series of land-use conflicts (LUCs) problems are caused. Scientifically identifying the intensity of LUCs is the basis for coordinating the man-land relations. We selected the urban center of Chongqing (UCC) as the study area and chose the landscape ecological risk assessment to estimate the level of LUCs by using the hot-spot analysis and neighborhood analysis to analyze the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics and potential risk of LUCs in the UCC over the past 20 years. The results show that the conversion between the living–production space (LPS) and other spaces was most frequent. The assessment model based on the theoretical framework of landscape ecological risk assessment could effectively measure LUCs. The average conflict level of UCC has increased from 0.62 to 0.69. The area of the out-of-control zone has increased, forming hot spots in the concentrated areas of social and economic activities. In contrast, the area of the controllable zone has decreased, forming cold spots in the high-altitude forest areas. The entire area faces the potential risk of the LUCs, but not seriously. The area of the high and extreme potential conflict zones has increased and is concentrated in the northern region of the study area. Targeted management strategies and policy recommendations for regional development should be adopted for different LUCs zones in UCC at international and national levels. Our research can be extended to other areas under rapid urbanization to assess and better manage their land resources for sustainable use, and further to promote the harmonious development of regional man-land relations.