Spatial Agglomeration and Coupling Coordination of Population, Economics, and Construction Land in Chinese Prefecture-Level Cities from 2010 to 2020

Exploring the spatial pattern and development strategies of urbanization from the perspective of the multi-dimensional coordination of population, economy, and land is the key to solving the problems of the urban–rural gap and human–land contradiction. This paper analyzed the spatial agglomeration of population, economy, and construction land area growth rates and explored their coordinated development in Chinese prefecture-level cities from 2010 to 2020 by using the spatial autocorrelation model, elasticity coefficient model, and coupling coordination model. The results are as follows: (1) China’s population, economy, and construction land area were all growing, with the highest economic growth and the lowest population growth, and most prefecture-level cities in central and northeastern China had negative population growth. (2) The growth rates of the population, economy, and construction land in Chinese prefecture-level cities had significant positive spatial clustering characteristics; the spatial agglomeration of the economy was the most prominent and the high-value areas were mainly concentrated in western China. (3) The elasticity coefficients between the population, economy, and construction land in most Chinese prefecture-level cities indicate uneven development of urbanization, manifested as population growth lagging behind construction land expansion and further lagging behind economic development. (4) More than 56% of Chinese prefecture-level cities have uncoordinated development among the population, economy, and construction land mainly distributed in northeast China and central China. The results can provide references and decision-making support for promoting the sustainable development of China’s new urbanization.