Exploration on the coordinated development of urbanization and the eco-environmental system in central China

Scientific evaluation of the interaction between urbanization and the eco-environmental system in Central China is of great significance. To optimizing the quality of urbanization and improving the eco-environmental state. As a case study of Central China, this research attempts to build a set of analytical systems to realize the integrated deconstruction from analyzing comprehensive evaluation indexes, quantification of coupling coordination, spatiotemporal evolution traits, decoupling path exploration to influential factor analysis. It tries to clarify the differences between cities, identify problematic areas, and propose targeted improvement measures. The outcomes show that the urbanization level of the cities in Central China has been improved significantly. In contrast, their eco-environmental levels are fluctuating, with the growth rate lower than that of urbanization. The coordination level between the two systems is rising, changing from primary dysfunction to intermediate coordination. The coordination level is characterized by obvious spatial association dominated by Types H-H and L-L and ever-increasing agglomeration. The decoupling between the two systems only falls into two types: strong decoupling and relative decoupling with expansion, indicating a negative effect between them. There is a problem regarding negative urbanization development. The factors including energy consumption, investment in fixed assets, opening to the outside world, technological progress, and government management capabilities all have an impact on the coordination of the two with divergent significances.