China is facing a critical period of high–speed development and a transition to high–quality development. The purpose of this study is to investigate the spatial and temporal distribution of the coupling and coordination of high–quality development of urbanization and water resources in the Yellow River Basin (YRB). Firstly, we propose the concept of “High–Quality Development of Urbanization–Water Resources Coupling” and construct a high–quality development of urbanization (HQDU) system consisting of five sub–systems: innovation, coordination, greenness, openness and sharing, and a water resources system (WRS) consisting of four sub–systems: water resources background conditions, utilization capacity, management level, and pollution control. The improved coupling coordination degree model combined with the barrier degree model and clustering model is used to study the spatial and temporal distribution of the two systems in the YRB. The results show that the coupling coordination state of HQDU and WRS in the YRB improves to some extent, from “mild imbalance” to “barely coordination” in general; Henan and Ningxia are characterized by “low and fluctuating (levels) in early years and fast development in recent years”; Shanxi and Inner Mongolia develop steadily during the study period; Sichuan, Shandong, Shaanxi, and Qinghai are characterized by “low (levels) which lasted for a long time in the early stage and accelerated development in the later stage”; and Gansu Province is characterized by “high level in the early stage but insufficient momentum in later stage”. The Coordination Index of Urbanization Economic Growth Speed and the Total Wastewater Discharge are the most important obstacle factors in HQDU and WRS. This study explores the level of coordination development of HQDU and WRS as well as finds the obstacle factors in the development process of the two systems, which is an important reference value for the high–quality development of urbanization under the constraint of water resources.

The evaluation of water resources management performance (WRMP) can provide guidance for water resources management. This paper constructs a scientific WRMP evaluation index system based on “water resources–water environment–water ecology”. Secondly, the game variable weight matter–element extension model is appropriately introduced to dynamically evaluate the WRMP level of the provinces (cities) in the YREB from 2012 to 2021, and Arcgis is used to analyze the spatial and temporal variations in the performance level of each sub-system. Lastly, a geographical detector model is used to explore the main factors influencing the WRMP in the Yangtze River Economic Balt (YREB). The main findings are as follows: (1) The overall provincial WRMP level in the YREB has been improving from 2012 to 2021, and the performance of water resource utilization (WRU) and water environment treatment (WET) are high in the east and low in the west, while the performance of water ecological protection (WEP) shows a trend of continuous improvement. (2) Compared with the model without variable weight modification, the game variable weight matter–element extension model can reflect the influence of the measured value of the index on the evaluation result as much as possible. (3) The top eight factors that have a greater impact on the WRMP level are the industrial water conservation rate, water resource development and utilization rate, water resource sustainability index, sewage diameter ratio, urban water penetration rate, industrial wastewater treatment completion rate, ecological construction and protection of the year to complete the investment in GDP, and the water ecological carrying capacity growth rate. The interaction types of each influence factor are nonlinear enhancement and two-factor enhancement.

With the rapid economic and social development and accelerated urbanization, the negative ecological impact of major river basins worldwide has been deepening, which is gradually threatening the sustainable development of cities. This study establishes the model of the coupling coordination relationship between social economy and resources environment of nine central cities in the Yellow River Basin. Based on the evaluation index system of social economy and resource environment, we quantitatively measure the coupling coordination degree and spatiotemporal pattern of the nine central cities from 2010 to 2017. The obstacle factors of coupling coordination were then diagnosed based on the obstacle degree model. The results showed that (1) the social economy and resources environment development indices of the nine central cities in the Yellow River Basin, as well as the coupling coordination of each central city, showed an overall upward trend from 2010 to 2017. (2) Most of the central cities in the Yellow River Basin were in the coordinated coupling stage, among which Xining and Lanzhou have the highest coupling degree. (3) The obstacle factors affecting the harmonious development coupling coordination of the nine central cities were natural growth rate of population, proportion of tertiary industry in GDP and per capita investment in fixed assets in social economy system, and per capita green area of parks, per capita total amount of water resources, and per capita industrial SO₂ emissions in resources environment system. It is necessary to adopt different strategies for different cities to promote the coupling coordination development of urban social economy and resources environment in the Yellow River Basin.