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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Environmental Health and Exposome
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1579775
This article is part of the Research Topic Greening Urban Spaces and Human Health, Volume III View all 7 articles
Spatiotemporal patterns and Influencing Factors of Coupling Coordination Development of Ecosystem Services and Urbanization : A case of Western Border Counties in China
Provisionally accepted- 1 Guangxi University, Nanning, China
- 2 Guangxi University, School of Public Administration, Green Development and Borderland Governance Research Institute, Nanning, China
The spatial distribution of border regions highly overlaps with key ecological function zones and economically underdeveloped areas, making the coordination between urbanization and ecosystem service value (ESV) crucial. Taking China's western border counties as a case study, this study explores the spatiotemporal variation characteristics of ESV, urbanization levels, and their coupling coordination relationship. By applying the Obstacle Degree Model and the geodetector analysis, we identify the factors that obstruct and drive the coordinated development of the ESV-urbanization coupling system from both internal and external perspectives. The results indicate that: (1) From 2000 to 2020, ESV in China's western border counties declined gradually, while the urbanization increased with significant spatial imbalances in development. (2) In most border counties, the coupling coordination degree (CCD) of ESV and urbanization was either mildly or severely unbalanced, and a growing number of counties experienced lagging ESV. In particular, some counties exhibited synchronous declines in both ESV and urbanization, posing a significant threat to regional sustainable development. (3) The main obstacle factors of CCD include social security, industrial structure and ecological regulation functions, while the primary driving factors are precipitation, temperature, and net primary productivity (NPP). (4) The interaction of tourism, stable ecological areas and government actions with other factors significantly enhances the driving effect on CCD in border counties. This study provides policy recommendations and a practical basis for promoting synergistic development between ESV and urbanization in China's western border counties and other similar border regions.
Keywords: Border counties, ecosystem service value, Urbanization, Coupling coordination, influencing factor
Received: 19 Feb 2025; Accepted: 31 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 LiuLuyao, ShiYungui and Meng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
LiuLuyao LiuLuyao, Guangxi University, Nanning, China
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