Spatial Disparity and Influencing Factors of Coupling Coordination Development of Economy–Environment–Tourism–Traffic: A Case Study in the Middle Reaches of Yangtze River Urban Agglomerations

Abstract

In the process of rapid development of economic globalization and regional integration, the importance of urban agglomeration has become increasingly prominent. It is not only the main carrier for countries and regions to participate in international competition, but also the main place to promote regional coordination and sustainable development. Coordinated economic, environmental, tourism and traffic development is very necessary for sustainable regional development. However, the existing literature lacks research on coupling coordination of the Economy–Environment–Tourism–Traffic (EETT) system in urban agglomeration. In this study, in order to fill this gap, we establish the index system from four dimensions of economy, environment, tourism and traffic, and select the influencing factors from the natural and human perspectives to exam the spatio-temporal changes and influencing factors in the coupling coordination of the EETT system using an integrated method in the Middle Reaches of Yangtze River Urban Agglomerations (MRYRUA), China. The results indicate that the coupling coordination degree of the EETT system transitioned from the uncoordinated period to the coordinated period, while it showed an increasing trend on the whole from 1995 to 2017. The spatial agglomeration effect has been positive since 2010, while “High–High” and “Low–High” agglomeration regions were transferred from the east to the south. Land used for urban construction as a percentage of the urban area and vegetation index has a great impact on the coupling coordination degree. These results provide important guidance for the formulation of integration and coordinated development policy in the MRYRUA, and then increase China’s international competitiveness by improving the contribution of urban agglomerations to GDP.

Temporal–Spatial Evolution and Influencing Factors of Coordinated Development of the Population, Resources, Economy and Environment (PREE) System: Evidence from 31 Provinces in China

“…In the evaluation process, it was considered that the four systems had the same importance—α 1 = α 2 = α 3 = α 4 = 0.25—and D is the coupling coordination degree. The coupling coordination degree of a PREE system is divided into 10 types [ 35 ], as shown in Table 2 .…”

“…Classification of coupling and coordination degree of PREE system. Source: modified based on Table1in Chen et al[35].…”

On the Coupling and Coordination Development between Environment and Economy: A Case Study in the Yangtze River Delta of China

“…Some scholars analyze the influence factors of globalization, electricity consumption, carbon emissions, tourism, traffic, and economic development [ 25 , 26 ]. Some scholars study the key factors that affect coupling coordination based on various models, such as the grey correlation degree model and coupling degree model [ 27 ], principal component regression model [ 28 ], and so on. In the analysis of the influencing factors between urbanization and eco-environment, Stefano et al [ 29 ] proposed that the imbalance of economy has serious impact on the ecological environment.…”

Spatial and Temporal Evolutionary Characteristics and Its Influencing Factors of Economic Spatial Polarization in the Yangtze River Delta Region

“…In the early stage of the transformation of the economic system, concentrating resources to develop one region will help to achieve the goal of economic growth, form a “polarized” development pole, leading to the continuous widening of the gap, resulting in a “siphon” effect, which affects the development of surrounding areas, especially backward regions. From 1978 to 2019, the average annual growth rate of China’s GDP reached 9.4% [ 16 ], but it also faced problems such as increasing social and economic imbalances and environmental unsustainable development [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ]. To narrow the differences in inter-regional development, the Chinese government has successively implemented the “Western Development Plan”, the “Revitalization of the Northeast”, the “Rise of Central China” and the “Rural Revitalization Strategy” [ 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 ], and using the remaining economic development capacity of the “polarized” development areas along the eastern coast to stimulate and promote the social development and economic growth of underdeveloped regions such as the northeast, and central and western regions of China [ 27 , 28 ].…”