干旱区人居环境受到干旱自然条件的制约呈现出系统失衡的态势，如何促进系统耦合协调对干旱区人居环境建设至关重要。为探索系统耦合协调视野下干旱区人居环境的时空演化机制，以新疆14地州市人居环境为研究对象，构建干旱区人居环境系统协调发展评价体系，基于5个子系统的耦合协调度模型，综合运用熵值法、GIS空间分析与结构方程模型，探索2003—2019年新疆人居环境系统耦合协调度的时空演变规律与耦合作用机制。研究表明：（1） 在时间维度上，2003—2019年新疆人居环境系统的耦合度与耦合协调度均呈现波动上升趋势，14地州市之间增速不均匀。（2） 在空间维度上，形成“中间高、两侧低、北高南低”的空间分布格局，在东西方向由“一字型”向“倒U型”演变，在南北方向由“一字型”向“U型”再到“斜线型”演变。（3） 在作用机制方面，主要形成“人类系统→社会系统→居住系统→支撑系统”，以及“社会系统→自然系统”的作用路径，其作用效应依次为0.570、0.972、0.953、-1.189。其中，人类系统是干旱区人居环境协调发展的根本动力，通过社会系统正向或负向地间接作用于其他系统。

Human settlements in arid areas are restricted by the areas’ natural drought condition, which shows an obvious characteristic of system imbalance. Therefore, promoting system coupling and coordination is important for the construction of human settlements in arid areas. To explore the spatiotemporal evolution mechanism of the human settlements in arid areas from the perspective of system coupling coordination, this study considers the human settlements of 14 administrative regions of prefecture level in Xinjiang, China as the research object. An evaluation system is created for the coordinated development of human settlements in arid areas. Based on the coupling coordination degree model of five subsystems, this study comprehensively uses the entropy method, GIS spatial analysis, and structural equation model to explore the spatiotemporal evolution law and coupling mechanism of the coupling coordination degree of the human settlements system in Xinjiang from 2003 to 2019. The results show the following: (1) Time dimension: from 2003 to 2019, the coupling degree and coupling coordination degree of the human settlements system in Xinjiang showed a fluctuating upward trend, and the growth rate was uneven among the 14 administrative regions of prefecture level. (2) Spatial dimension: forming the spatial distribution pattern of “high in the middle, low on both sides, high in the north and low in the south”, evolving from “one-line type” to “inverted U type” in the east-west direction, and from “one-line type” to “U type” and then to “oblique line type” in the north-south direction. (3) Mechanism of action: mainly formed the path of “human system→social system→residential system→support system”, and “social system→natural system”, the effect is respectively 0.570, 0.972, 0.953, and -1.189. Among them, the human system is the fundamental driving force for the coordinated development of human settlements in arid areas, and affects other systems positively or negatively through the social system.