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Arid Land Geography ›› 2025, Vol. 48 ›› Issue (8): 1432-1444.doi: 10.12118/j.issn.1000-6060.2024.686

• Urbanization Research • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Coupling coordination of new urbanization and ecological security and spatial-temporal non-stationarity of its driving factors in Gansu Province

XU Jing1(), YANG Bin2   

  1. 1. Belt and Road Institute for Economic Research, Lanzhou University of Finance and Economics, Lanzhou 730101, Gansu, China
    2. School of Agricultural and Forestry Economics and Management,Lanzhou University of Finance and Economics, Lanzhou 730101, Gansu, China
  • Received:2024-11-07 Revised:2024-11-27 Online:2025-08-25 Published:2025-08-21

Abstract:

Gansu Province plays a pivotal role in China’s ecological construction. Therefore, exploring the coupling synergy between new urbanization and ecological security status in Gansu Province and its driving factors is of great significance for developing a robust ecological security barrier in northwest China and across the whole country. Based on the “population-economy-society-space” and “driving force-pressure-state-impact-response-management” models, this study constructed index systems for assessing new urbanization and ecological safety in the 14 municipalities (prefectures) of Gansu Province. A coupled coordination model was employed to analyze the development trends of the two synergies, and Geodetector and a spatiotemporal geographically weighted regression model were used to identify the main drivers and their spatiotemporal non-stationarity. The following results were obtained: (1) From 2012 to 2021, the index of new urbanization in Gansu Province grew from 0.213 to 0.328, a relatively low level of growth, and the index of ecological security increased by 0.099, from a low level of security to a moderate one. (2) From 2012 to 2021, the degree of coupling synergy of new urbanization and ecological security in Gansu Province increased from 0.527 to 0.628, and the synergistic status changed from barely to primary coordinated, reflecting the characteristic spatial distribution of “low in the north and south, and high in the middle”. (3) Fixed assets investments, the number of employees in secondary industries, urban population density, per capita gross domestic product (GDP), and the proportion of secondary industries in the GDP were the main driving forces for the synergy. (4) These driving factors showed non-stationarity in temporal and spatial scales, with differences in direction and intensity. The results can provide a reference for decision-makers aiming to promote new urbanization in Gansu Province and maintaining regional ecological security.

Key words: ecological security, new urbanization, coupling coordination, non-stationarity, driving factors