Coupling coordination of urbanization with ecological environment and influencing factors in Loess Plateau of China

The ecological damage caused by the accelerated urbanization process has continued to endanger the sustainable development of the Loess Plateau region, and the conflict between economic development and environmental protection has become increasingly critical. It is meaningful to explore the coupling coordination degree (CCD) between urbanization (UZ) and the ecological environment (EE) in the Loess Plateau and the mechanism of its influence to eliminate the locking of the rapid urbanization development paths in ecologically fragile regions, using panel data of 39 cities in the Loess Plateau region from 2010 to 2020. The empirical results have found that the level of UZ shows a fluctuating upward trend while the level of EE fluctuates and decreases. The synthesis CCD is at a barely coordinated level with an apparent upward trend, and the spatial characteristics are represented by “central depression,” with low levels in the neighboring cities and high levels in the provincial capital cities. Regarding the driving factors, residents’ living, industrial structure, and openness have a favorable impact on CCD, while enhancing the government’s regulatory capacity has a negative blocking effect. These findings provide novel insights into the Loess Plateau’s regional sustainable development.