The Coupling and Coordinated Development and Driving Factors of Ecological Civilization Construction and New Urbanization Construction in Anhui Province

The article constructed an evaluation index system for ecological civilization construction and new urbanization construction, scientifically evaluated the level of ecological civilization construction and new urbanization construction in Anhui Province from 2012 to 2020, and analyzed the coupling and coordinated development situation and driving factors of ecological civilization construction and new urbanization construction in Anhui Province using the coupling and coordinated development model and multiple regression model. The research found that: (1) Mount Huangshan, Chizhou, Wuhu and Bengbu had a high level of ecological civilization construction, while Hefei, Maanshan, Wuhu and Tongling had a high level of new urbanization construction. (2) The coupling and coordinated development level of cities such as Hefei, Huaibei and Bengbu was relatively high, and the coupling and coordinated degree of Ma’ anshan, Xuancheng and Anqing was steadily increasing. (3) Except for the three cities of Hefei, Wuhu, and Ma'anshan, where the ecological civilization construction has been lagging behind for most of the years, the ecological civilization construction in other cities has given priority to the construction of new urbanization. (4) The degree of opening up, government financial expenditure, industrial structure upgrading and economic development level could all drive the coupling and coordinated development of ecological civilization construction and new urbanization construction, and fixed assets investment played the opposite role. Based on this, policy recommendations such as formulating a differentiated ecological civilization construction strategy, promoting people-oriented new urbanization construction, expanding opening-up, and promoting industrial structure optimization and upgrading were proposed.