Quantization of the coupling mechanism between eco-environmental quality and urbanization from multisource remote sensing data

The rapid urbanization in central and eastern China has posed a major threat to the green sustainable development of the ecological environment. However, the understanding of the interactive coupling mechanism between urbanization and eco-environmental quality (EEQ) remains to be developed. Understanding their interactive coupling mechanism is of great significance to achieve the urban sustainable development goal. By using multi-source remote sensing data, we intended to answer “What are the temporal and spatial characteristics of urbanization and EEQ in the central and eastern regions of China on the pixel scale in the past 24 years, and what is the coupling mechanism between the urbanization and the EEQ?”. To answer these questions, we improved a pixel-based model (i.e., RSEI-2) to assess the EEQ in China and explored the coupling mechanism between the urbanization and the EEQ in central and eastern China with the combination method of mathematics and graphics. The results showed that the urbanization and the coupling coordination degree (CCD) of the whole region continually increased from 1992 to 2015, especially in the three major urban agglomerations. The CCD of the provinces in these regions exhibited a strong spatial dependence, with the spatial distribution pattern of “low inside, high outside, high in the east and low in the west”. The EEQ did not change significantly, whilst the three major urban agglomerations showed a significant downward trend. Most importantly, this study found that the urbanization determined the development of the CCD lying within the critical value. In addition, the improved RSEI-2 in this study provided great convenience for monitoring the EEQ in China. This study fills the gap in studying the interaction mechanism between the urbanization and the EEQ, and also provides a new perspective for the research on the urban sustainable development in China and even the world.