Study on the spatial–temporal evolution and driving mechanism of urban land green use efficiency in the Yellow River Basin cities

Under the current social background of green, sustainable, and high-quality development, countries and regions have increasingly begun to regard green development as a major goal of their economic and social development plans. If the evaluation of urban land use efficiency continues to be based only on economic and social outputs, such research will not conform to the current social development situation. Therefore, this paper introduces negative impacts, such as environmental pollution, into the evaluation system, using the Super-EBM model to measure the urban land green use efficiency (ULGUE) of the Yellow River Basin (YRB) based on panel data from 2011 to 2019. Exploratory spatial data analysis, kernel density estimation, and trend surface analysis were used to study the spatial–temporal evolution characteristics of ULGUE, and the GTWR model was used to explore potential driving mechanisms. The overall ULGUE remained relatively flat from 2011 to 2015, before showing a climbing growth in the post-2015 period; at the sub-basin level, the ULGUE in the midstream area was significantly higher than that in the downstream area, and slightly higher than that in the upstream area, but the rate of ULGUE increase in the upstream area was significantly higher than that in other areas. The spatial aggregation degree of ULGUE showed an increasing trend followed by a decreasing trend, but at the end of the study period, it was still slightly higher than its initial level. The overall ULGUE showed a “polarization–non-differentiation–polarization” trajectory, with the highest efficiency area gradually shifting from the northwest to the central region. Although the driving factors vary between different cities, in general, the roles of technology input and pollution emission factors have gradually increased. This research provides a scientific reference for high-quality development of the YRB and supports the optimal allocation of land resources and regional coordinated development.