A supply of high-quality cultural tourism products effectively promotes people’s happiness. This study takes the coupling and coordination relationship between cultural tourism (CT) and objective well-being (OWB) in western China as the research object and constructs an index evaluation system for the development levels of cultural tourism and objective welfare, which are divided into three development stages of dysfunctional, transitional, and coordinated development and 10 coordination levels, including high-quality coordination. The entropy weight method, coupled coordination model, Thiel index, standard deviation, and coefficient of variation were used to calculate the comprehensive development index and coupling coordination degree of the CT and OWB systems in western China from 2007 to 2020, and then their evolution characteristics were analyzed from the perspectives of time and space. The results show the following: (1) The comprehensive development capacity of the CT and OWB systems in the western region shows a relatively consistent growth trend except for 2020, the overall development capacity of objective welfare was relatively high, and the development capacity of cultural tourism was relatively low. (2) The CT and OWB systems were in a state of transition from high coupling and low coordination to high coupling and high coordination, which were divided into three development stages: imbalanced stage (2007–2008), transitional stage (2009–2011), and coordinated development (2012–2020). The coordination degree has developed steadily from moderate misalignment to good coordination over time, and the diversified characteristics of coupling coordination levels are obvious. (3) The spatial equilibrium of the CT and OWB systems is obvious, and the spatial difference in the western region is getting smaller, but the relative gap is widening significantly. (4) The comprehensive development capacity of the cultural tourism system should be enhanced, the spiritual needs of residents based on objective well-being should be met, and the sustainable development of the CT and OWB systems.

The green transformation of national spatial planning is a critical pathway to global sustainable development. Existing research has examined sector-specific strategies, but the role of integrated spatial planning as an institutional driver of urban sustainability remains underexplored. This study focuses on resource-based cities in China’s Yellow River Basin. It develops a spatial-planning-oriented analytical framework aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to assess green transformation dynamics. Using a panel dataset for 36 cities from 2006 to 2020, we use entropy weighting, coupling coordination modelling, kernel density estimation and grey relational analysis to evaluate transformation performance, spatial and temporal evolution and key influencing factors. The results show three main findings. Comprehensive green transformation levels improve markedly, and the coupling coordination degree shifts from moderate to relatively high coordination. Transformation levels display a clear spatial clustering pattern characterised by “east leading, centre rising and west catching up”. The urbanisation rate, per capita GDP and fiscal expenditure act as dominant drivers, while technological innovation has a weaker but still positive effect. The study highlights the need to embed differentiated governance strategies within the national spatial planning system. It also offers targeted recommendations on planning hierarchy, policy integration and technical standards to support a coordinated green transition in resource-intensive regions.