This article investigates the inherent tensions between technology and institutional frameworks in smart city development across the Global South, advocating for a departure from Western-centric paradigms to construct a theoretically robust, locally adaptive, and critically reflective analytical framework. The study identifies two defining characteristics of Southern smart city practices: “technological catch-up”, driven by the imperative to bridge digital divides, enhance urban competitiveness, and respond to rapid demographic change, and “post-colonial critique”, which exposes how historical legacies of colonialism continue to shape contemporary technological adoption and governance structures in subtle yet enduring ways. Theoretical innovation is framed around integrating concepts such as spatial justice—addressing unequal distribution of digital resources across urban spaces—and digital sovereignty—safeguarding Southern nations’ control over data, technological autonomy, and regulatory authority—to redefine the dialectical relationship between technology and society. The research highlights the symbiotic interplay between informal economies (e.g., self-organized community networks, grassroots digital initiatives) and digital technologies, which challenges technological determinism and reveals a resilient development logic rooted in local adaptability and everyday practices. These insights deconstruct the linear narrative of technological progress, proving that Southern countries can balance efficiency with equity while pursuing differentiated urban modernities. By prioritizing context-specific innovations and inclusive governance, the Global South is reshaping the global knowledge production landscape, shifting from a passive “technology testing ground” to an active contributor of alternative urban theories and normative agendas. The study concludes by emphasizing the transformative potential of such frameworks to democratize technology, redirect smart cities toward social equity, and empower Southern nations to reclaim agency in global technological discourse. Through China’s practice of scale-sensitive smart cities and tripartite governance models, the research exemplifies how Southern-led innovations can challenge neoliberal techno-utopianism, alter dominant policy imaginaries, and foster pluralistic urban futures that reflect diverse socio-spatial aspirations.

At present, resilience research is a hot area of sustainability science research, and livelihood resilience analysis is an effective analytical tool to solve the impact of regional or individual household livelihoods. Based on the systematic review of the research literature on livelihood resilience at home and abroad, this study combs the concept connotation, analysis framework and evaluation method of livelihood resilience. The study found that: 1) Livelihood resilience is a key support for people and their initiative to resist disturbances and achieve recovery and sustainable development when dealing with the impact of livelihood systems. Its conceptual connotation can be divided based on 4 perspectives: process, capability, strategy and transformation. 2) The theme of livelihood resilience research presents a ‘progressive’ development, from external climate change to the awareness of natural disaster response, and then to human disturbance factors and emphasizing human subjective initiative; the scale shows a global and multi-scale trend, and the construction of the index system of research content tends to be more subjective and objective. However, there are still limitations such as conceptual generalization, ignoring the transformation of livelihood strategies and long-term changes in livelihoods. 3) According to the dominant interference factors and the evolution of research topics, the analytical framework and evaluation models in the field of livelihood resilience research can be divided into 3 types: ‘climate change type’ ‘natural disaster type’ and ‘human disturbance type’. Climate change type livelihood resilience connects climate adaptation and livelihood security, and serves long-term climate adaptation policies; quantitative assessment of emergency response and short-term recovery capability of natural disaster-type focus on sudden disasters; the human disturbance type focuses on the interaction between human initiative and social structure, and the subdivision dimensions such as resource utilization and knowledge learning are more suitable for the social and economic scene. In the future, we should gradually build a systematic category-based livelihood resilience analysis framework, strengthen the comparative analysis of research objects and multi-case application research, pay attention to the multi-scale trade-off and spatio-temporal dynamics of livelihood resilience assessment, and explore the long-term dynamic characteristics of livelihood and livelihood strategies.

This paper delves into the theoretical frameworks and practical strategies for coordinated county-town-village development, unveiling its scientific essence and mechanisms. It establishes a conceptual framework for achieving coordinated development and propose implementation pathways toward urban-rural integration. The main conclusions include 3 aspects. First, as a novel model for urban-rural integration, county-town-village coordination emphasizes the interconnectedness of support systems, spatial organization, industrial systems, and comprehensive governance across administrative levels. This fosters integration in infrastructure, public services, spatial planning, industrial networks and spatial governance. This model builds upon traditional township-village coordination by emphasizing the holistic nature and networked linkages across the three levels of county, town and village. Second, the coordinated development of county-town-village systems is reinforced through coordinated infrastructure development and integrated public services. This approach strengthens alignment in development objectives and functional positioning within spatial planning frameworks. Based on the diverse products of county, town and village, it forms a county-level product space with inherent upgrading potential. Moreover, it achieves comprehensive governance across social, economic and ecological dimensions through multi-level organizational system of county, town and village. Third, the practical strategy for coordinated county-town-village development focuses on three foundational pillars of county-level economic development, urban-rural element flow and enhanced development entities. It is imperative to implement differentiated development pathways tailored to the economic characteristics and resource advantages of county, town and village. This involves constructing institutional mechanisms to enable bidirectional flows of urban-rural elements including labor, capital, technology, land and markets. Concurrently, it entails broadening the intra-rural, social and market entities involved in urban and rural development and strengthening the linkage channels for production, service and operation. This paper will contribute to tackling development imbalance and insufficiency, unleashing the immense potential of counties. It will also provide theoretical underpinnings and practical pathways for regional high-quality development and Chinese-style rural modernization.

Talent is the primary resource for development, and its spatial mobility and redistribution are essential for enhancing regional human capital, upgrading knowledge structures, and fostering innovation capacity, thereby empowering new quality productive forces and reshaping the geography of regional competition. As an emerging yet rapidly expanding branch of Population Geography, Talent Geography in China originated in the 1980s and has accelerated since 2010 under the combined forces of demographic transition, technological change, urban expansion, and policy-driven regional competition. This study conducts a systematic and integrative review of its disciplinary evolution, key concepts, analytical traditions, and interdisciplinary bases, while synthesizing research progress across multiple categories of talent, including highly educated talent, skilled labor, university graduates, and special-type talent such as scientific researchers and creative workers. It further distills the core mechanisms shaping talent distribution and mobility from 4 dimensions: economic push-pull dynamics associated with wage differentials and job opportunities; place-based amenities reflecting environmental quality, public services, and urban livability; institutional and policy interventions embodying China’s government-led talent strategy; and spatial effects manifested in spillovers, non-stationarity, and intercity interactions collectively structure China’s complex talent landscape. Looking ahead, this paper identifies 3 strategic directions for advancing talent geography research: building a theoretical framework to capture the diverse spatial behaviors and development roles of different talent groups; establishing the analytical foundations of talent dividend geography to evaluate how talent-driven gains vary across regions; and deepening the study of global “talent ocean currents” to understand China’s evolving position within worldwide talent circulation networks. By integrating historical review, mechanism-based analysis, and forward-looking perspectives, this study enriches the conceptual, methodological, and empirical foundations of talent geography and provides valuable insights for implementing China’s strategy of strengthening the nation through talent and promoting Chinese-style modernization through high-quality population development.

Land cover and its changes are an important part of global change research, and play an irreplaceable role in climate change research, biodiversity conservation, the global carbon and water cycles monitoring, as well as other major needs. As an essential descriptor of the Earth’s surface, land cover provides a fundamental basis for understanding human-environment interactions and assessing ecosystem functions. Over the past few decades, with the continuous improvement of satellite remote sensing technology, the rapid growth of data storage capacity, and the development of high-performance computing platforms, global land cover mapping and change monitoring have made remarkable progress. The spatial resolution of available products has increased from the early 1 km scale to today’s 10-30 m range, enabling a more detailed characterization of heterogeneous landscapes. Meanwhile, the temporal frequency has evolved from single-period mapping toward multi-year and annual land-cover change monitoring, greatly enhancing our ability to capture dynamic land processes and long-term environmental transitions. In this study, we collected 21 publicly released global land cover products at home and abroad, and then comprehensively summarize their characteristics from three aspects: land cover classification system, methodology and dataset/products. First, we systematically summarized the land-cover classification system of current global land cover products into three groups, and further clarified their characteristics, advantages and disadvantages. Then, we sorted out the development history of the global land-cover algorithms from single land-cover mapping and time series land cover change monitoring, and further evaluated the different development stages and overall development trends of the global land cover research. Finally, the main problems existing in the current global land cover research are described, and some thoughts on the future development of this direction are put forward, particularly regarding the need for harmonized standards, higher spatiotemporal consistency, and better validation frameworks.

Based on a bibliometrics analysis on existing literatures and a comparison of urbanization models among Europe, North America, Latin America, and Southeast Asia, this study constructs a “driving mechanisms-process-consequences” framework for analyzing urbanization. The framework adopts a time-series perspective and integrates three driving mechanisms: the primary driver of resource allocation, the fundamental endogenous and exogenous drivers, and “push-pull” interactive dynamics. Furthermore, it assesses urbanization across 5 aspects that evolve through different stages: economic development coordination, population migration, social integration, urbanization scale, and spatial representation. The post-1949 urbanization in China can be divided into three distinct historical stages. First, during the planned economy period from 1949 to 1977, cities primarily served industrialization needs. This resulted in a coexistence of incomplete urbanization and “counter-urbanization”. A distinct urban structure emerged, characterized by the intermingling of work-unit compounds and traditional residential areas, with factories and industrial zones located in the suburbs. Second, from 1978 to 2011, an era influenced by neoliberal policies, the combination of governmental macro-regulation and market forces generated a “new dualistic structure” within cities. This was defined by the socioeconomic divide between migrant workers and local hukou holders, as well as the spatial divide between the cheap, convenient housing of villages-in-the-city and high-end residential gated communities. Third, since 2012, China’s new-type urbanization has been defined by a reinforced governmental guiding role focusing on high-quality development. Strategies such as smart city initiatives, equitable public service provision, and ecological conservation have been emphasized. The people-centered approach to high-quality urbanization has provided critical guidance for charting a more mature course of urban development in China. As a result, a multipolar spatial pattern led by metropolitan areas and supported by the coordinated development of small and medium-sized cities and towns has come into being. In a word, the Chinese urbanization since 1949 has been a state-led process, though market forces have progressively intensified. It has shifted from a predominantly “push-driven” centralized one to a “pull-oriented” decentralized one. This transition has engendered a “neo-dualistic urbanization” paradigm, characterized by the simultaneous coexistence of pseudo urbanization alongside synchronous urbanization, of spatial concentration and decentralization, and of significant development gains with entrenched socio-spatial challenges. These features are fundamentally shaped by the evolving interaction between “push-pull” forces and “endogenous versus exogenous” dynamics. This study provides a valuable Chinese exemplar for understanding and theorizing urbanization in the Global South.

The phenomenon of “internet celebrity city”, a product of the digital economy, illustrates how virtual information flow can transform into actual tourist traffic. This paper uses Harbin’s emergence as an “internet celebrity city” as a case study, applying time series analysis, Granger causality tests, and multi-scale geographically weighted regression (MGWR) models to examine the mechanisms by which tourism information flow drives passenger flow. It also examines their interaction’s spatiotemporal dynamics and influencing factors. The key findings are: 1) Tourism information flow and passenger flow in the preparation, launch, outbreak and sustained four stages of attraction and interaction characteristics of symbiosis, attraction is reflected in the threshold effect and precursor effect, interaction through the feedback to strengthen the formation of a virtuous circle. 2) This interaction displays notable scale effects and spatial heterogeneity, with a significant bidirectional Granger causality observed nationwide, while complex spatial differentiation emerges at the regional level. 3) Consumer potential, information level, and transportation accessibility positively impact tourism passenger flow, while spatial distance negatively impacts passenger flow. This study enhances the theoretical framework of tourism flow dynamics by integrating spatiotemporal scales and spatial heterogeneity analysis. It proposes three strategies: developing dynamic information ecosystems for crisis management; implementing differentiated marketing strategies that leverage regional responsiveness, including cultural campaigns for remote markets; and fostering transportation-information synergy to enhance accessibility through coordinated high-speed rail promotions with social media trends. These findings offer insights for optimizing digital tourism governance and improving destination competitiveness in platform economies.

High-speed rail (HSR) infrastructure development has fundamentally reshaped urban economics and spatial organization of economic activities. The opening of new HSR lines not only enhances transportation convenience and locational advantages of cities along the route but also generates significant network effects at the regional level, thereby influencing the economic activity structure and land valuation patterns of HSR cities at different scales. While much of the existing literature has focused on the direct or local effects of HSR on individual cities, there has been relatively limited exploration of the broader network effects generated by HSR networks. This paper focuses on analyzing both the local and network effects of newly constructed HSR lines on cities, providing a comprehensive framework for understanding HSR’s multidimensional impacts. An empirical study examines the impact of the Zhongyuan Urban Agglomeration’s HSR network development on residential land prices at different scales. By combining the PSM-DID model with multilevel data analysis, the empirical findings reveal a dual mechanism through which new HSR lines influence land value. First, we identify a local effect, where cities directly connected by new HSR lines experience an average increase of 11.2% in residential land prices. This increase can be attributed to the improved accessibility, the enhanced locational appeal, and stronger development expectation among investors and local stakeholders. Second, we uncover a network effect: city, as a part of the broader HSR network, but not is necessarily on the newly opened line, also experiences a positive impact, with residential land prices increasing by approximately 2% on average. This finding highlights the importance of network connectivity and suggests that HSR infrastructure generates externalities to transcend the immediately affected localities. Furthermore, the magnitude of these network effects varies significantly across cities of different administrative levels. Prefecture-level cities benefit more substantially from the network effect compared to county-level cities. This heterogeneity shows the uneven spatial distribution of HSR-related benefits. Urban hierarchy determines how effectively cities can leverage their network position. This study demonstrates that the existence of both local effect and network effect of HSR and reveal the multidimensional and spatially heterogeneous nature of HSR effects. These results provide critical insights for regional planning and infrastructure investment. Policymakers should consider network-wide impacts in designing strategies to promote balanced urban development through transportation infrastructure expansion.

In recent years, extreme summer precipitation events have occurred frequently in northeast China, posing a serious threat to the socio-economic development and the safety of people’s lives and property. The accuracy of precipitation data is crucial for disaster prevention, and mitigation, as well as scientific research. Using the daily precipitation data from the national benchmark meteorological station in northeast China (1998—2018) and the hourly precipitation data within Jilin Province, the applicability of CLDAS multi-source fusion precipitation data and CN05.1 grid precipitation data to summer precipitation in northeast China was comprehensively assessed in this study. The results indicate that both CLDAS-Pre and CN05.1 can reasonably reflect the spatial distribution of summer precipitation in northeast China to a certain extent. Compared with CN05.1, CLDAS-Pre has a better correlation with the observed precipitation (>0.8), with smaller mean relative error and root mean square error. Dry and wet deviations are found for summer precipitation over northeast China in CLDAS-Pre and CN05.1, respectively, with this phenomenon most pronounced in August. Both datasets have a higher reproduction of the number of days with light and moderate rainfall, and a lower estimation of the number of days with heavy rainfall. The peak accuracy of CLDAS-Pre hourly precipitation reproduction is roughly between midnight and early morning over the entire region. Overall, CLDAS multi-source fusion precipitation has better applicability in the northeast region. However, the CN05.1 dataset, with its longer sequence, retains significant advantages for applications such as model validation.

Human-Economic Geography and regional/spatial planning serve as mutual ‘theory-practice’ supports. Particularly, the research in Human-Economic Geography concerning functional zoning, urban spatial structures, resource allocation, and locational theories provides a scientific basis and technical support for the development of regional/spatial plans. For instance, functional zoning research underpins the spatial division of labor and functional orientation; the theory of spatial structure provides the framework methodology for determining urban and regional economic patterns; and the location theory of element allocation serves as a critical basis for productive-force layout. Currently, the external environment is undergoing profound and complex changes. The primary conflict in regional/spatial planning has shifted from ‘development-protection’ to the mismatch between the demand for high-quality development and spatial supply. Under the global context of ‘regionalization’ and China’s population contraction, the innovative development of new regional/spatial planning requires addressing new demands from including building the new development paradigm, implementing new development philosophy, developing new quality productive forces, promoting high-quality development, and constructing new spatial governance model. This necessitates an adaptive transformation in the foundational logic, geographic layout schemes, and technical methods of regional/spatial planning research and formulation. It also raises new requirements for research in Human-Economic Geography regarding the human-land relationship across different scales and types of spaces, the flow and allocation of multiple elements across all fields, the laws of locational selection, and the collaborative spatial governance between government and market. In light of this, this paper proposes new topics for Human-Economic Geography in the coming period, particularly focusing on the evolution of China’s Economic Geography under the new development paradigm, the locational characteristics and layout principles suited to new quality productivity, the locational layout and synergistic linkage of new urban infrastructure, and the sustainable development of priority conservation areas under the requirement of harmonious coexistence between humans and nature. Furthermore, promoting integrated innovation between Human-Economic Geography and regional/spatial planning should clarify the differences in transition contexts and practical demands between Chinese and Western research. Future studies should be grounded in the phase-specific conditions of Chinese-style modernization, actively advancing summaries of Chinese-specific theoretical/methodological innovations, to serve and support national major strategies and regional socioeconomic development.

In the era of mass tourism, tourism has become an important driving force for economic growth. As the quality of national cultural tourism demand improves, the rural cultural tourism industry is in urgent need of transformation and upgrading. From the perspective of “production-circulation-consumption”, the study explores the theoretical logic of digital technology enabling the high-quality development of cultural tourism in rural areas, and concludes that digital technology has a positive driving effect on the high-quality development of rural cultural tourism, especially in the reorganization of the allocation of cultural tourism resources, innovation of cultural tourism products, upgrading of the circulation system, and enhancement of the ability of consumer services, which has a significant role in promoting the development of cultural tourism. It has a significant role in promoting the development of rural culture and tourism. However, at present, the digital divide in rural areas is highlighted, the power of resource transformation is insufficient, the governance system of digital space is missing, and the internal power of value transformation is insufficient, which restricts digital technology from empowering the high-quality development of digital cultural tourism in rural areas. To this end, we should establish a standardized system, strengthen the supervision of the new production organization system, improve the modern circulation system, and optimize the “three new” relationship of consumption in the digital context. In this way, we can promote the high-quality development of rural cultural tourism empowered by digital technology.

Investigating the cooling effects of blue-green spaces and their influencing factors is essential for optimizing urban spatial configuration and enhancing environmental resilience. Using Xi’an as a case study, this study integrates multisource data—remote sensing, evapotranspiration, and meteorological datasets—and applies the InVEST Urban Cooling Model to generate the Heat Mitigation Index (HMI) for assessing the cooling capacity of urban blue-green spaces. Landscape pattern analysis, the Geographical Detector, and boosted regression trees are further employed to reveal the mechanisms through which landscape patterns influence cooling effects. The results are as follows: 1) In summer, surface temperatures in Xi’an are dominated by moderate-temperature zones. Urban heat islands are concentrated in the central urban area and the western industrial park, with a relatively stable spatial pattern; cool islands are mainly distributed along river corridors and in suburban croplands, and appear as scattered patches within high-density built-up areas. 2) The spatial distribution of HMI is highly consistent across different cooling distances: high-value areas outside the Third Ring Road are mostly distributed along rivers or concentrated in contiguous croplands, while high-value areas inside the Third Ring Road correspond to urban parks containing water bodies; low-value areas are primarily located in high-density built-up and industrial zones, forming continuous surfaces, and appear as linear belts in surrounding rural settlements. 3) The cooling effect of blue-green spaces results from the synergistic action of multiple factors. Landscape diversity and patch fragmentation are the core driving factors, each interacting with patch size to enhance cooling capacity. All factors exhibit threshold behavior, and their influence on cooling may be either promotive or suppressive depending on the range of their values.

Village industrial land is an important support for the development of new rural industries and new formats in the new era, and it is of great significance to promote the revitalization of rural industries. This study analyzes the spatial characteristics of China’s village industrial land use in 2020 by using the land change survey data based on the Third National Land Survey, and examines the driving mechanism of village industrial land use changes at different spatial scales by using the Geodetector model. The results show: 1) The average scale of village industrial land in counties is 821.47 hm², and the per capita village industrial land is 43.52 m²/person, both of which have a significant positive correlation in spatial distribution. 2) At the regional level, the scale of village industrial land in the eastern region is significantly higher than in other regions, and both the Northeast and Eastern regions have a per capita village industrial land scale exceeding 60 m²/person. The Theil index indicates that the differences within the four major regions dominate the formation of national differences. At the provincial level, only Hebei and Shandong have industrial land scales exceeding 2×10⁵hm², and Qinghai has the largest internal differences in village industrial land. 3) At the national level, rural permanent population, topographic relief and rural per capita disposable income factor have a greater driving force on the scale of village industrial land. At the regional level, urbanization rate, topographic relief and rural per capita disposable income have a greater impact on the scale of village industrial land in the western region, while other regions are mainly affected by rural resident population, topographic relief, and cultivated land area. The interactive detection shows that the scale of village industrial land in various regions is also affected by multiple factors, but there are heterogeneity characteristics. Focusing on the needs of rural industrial revitalization in the new era, this study analyzes the characteristics and trends of rural development in various regions, and puts forward policy suggestions to promote the integration of village industrial land and intensive and economical utilization.

The spatial integration and optimization of protected areas is the foundation for establishing a protected area system with national parks as the main body, and it is crucial for resolving various conflicts and historical issues in protected areas. Systematically reviewing the research progress on the spatial integration and optimization of protected areas in China, and conducting in-depth studies in line with the national conditions, is of vital importance for building the world’s largest national park system. This article takes the research literature on the spatial integration and optimization of protected areas published in China from 2004 to 2024 as the basis, and uses Citespace software to systematically analyze the research process and main content of the spatial integration and optimization of protected areas, and to look forward to future research priorities. The study finds that: 1) The overall research on the spatial integration and optimization of protected areas in China follows the direction of “problem status-spatial analysis-policy recommendations”, continuously deepening and expanding. 2) The main research focuses on the diagnosis of major problems, the depiction of spatial patterns, the identification of protection vacancies, the optimization of ecological space integrity, and the policies and measures for integration and optimization. 3) Based on the deficiencies of existing research, future research prospects are proposed from aspects such as the coordinated development and integration pathways of transboundary protected areas, the functional zoning of protected areas under the background of territorial spatial planning, the evaluation and dynamic monitoring of the integration and optimization effects of protected areas, the division of labor and cooperation between different types of protected areas, and the research on coordinated path of ecological protection and human well-being of protected areas.

Modern tourism geography in China began in the late 1970s. After sustained exploration and development, it has made remarkable achievements in theoretical development, talent cultivation, and practical advancement. However, with ongoing societal change, tourism geography in China faces unprecedented challenges. How to better serve national strategies and industrial development has become an important question of the times. This paper provides an in-depth discussion of the discipline’s internal logic of formation, the evolution of research paradigms, knowledge spillover effects, and the construction of its disciplinary system in the new era. The findings are as follows: 1) After decades of practical exploration and theoretical development, the theoretical system of Chinese tourism geography has matured, its research agenda has continued to deepen, and its capacity to support national strategic needs has strengthened markedly. 2) Tourism geography has consistently taken the tourism human-environment relationship as its central thread, shifting from an early emphasis on “land” to a focus on the mechanisms of human-land interaction. 3) The field’s research paradigm has gradually moved from experience-based induction to an approach that gives equal weight to theory and empirical analysis, forming a methodological system grounded in the integration of qualitative and quantitative methods and the cross-validation of multiple data sources; this work has also generated knowledge spillovers to economics, management, and sociology. 4) Driven jointly by national and regional needs, talent cultivation and institutional restructuring, and shifts in research paradigms and themes, interdisciplinary integration has increasingly become a major development trend in tourism geography in China. 5) The inheritance and future development of Chinese tourism geography should remain problem-oriented, strengthen technology-enabled research, and concentrate on key tasks including talent development, innovation in foundational theory, optimization of the disciplinary system, and service to major national strategies.

Against the backdrop of climate change, energy transition, and high-quality development, new energy vehicles (NEVs) have become an increasingly vital component of strategic emerging industries. Specifying the spatiotemporal patterns of NEV enterprises within urban agglomerations and identifying the influencing factors are basic scientific issues for facilitating the development of NEV industrial development. This paper depicts the spatiotemporal patterns of NEV enterprises in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) during 2017—2021 and examines the influencing factors through the lens of the dual dynamics of state and market. The findings indicate that: 1) The spatial pattern of NEV enterprises in the PRD has evolved from a “single-core” centered in Shenzhen to a “dual-core” centered in Shenzhen and Guangzhou, with the highest concentration in the boundary areas of Guangzhou-Foshan and Shenzhen-Dongguan. Upstream “raw material” enterprises have dispersed from Shenzhen to Guangzhou, Huizhou, and Zhuhai; midstream “core component” enterprises remain largely concentrated in Shenzhen; downstream “vehicle manufacturing” enterprises are concentrated in Shenzhen and Guangzhou and begin to spread to surrounding areas, with “supporting and aftermarket” enterprises evolving from a dual-core pattern in Shenzhen and Guangzhou to multiple hotspots. 2) Both state and market dynamics influence the spatiotemporal pattern of NEV enterprises in the PRD, with the effects on the distribution of NEV enterprises in the PRD varying across development stages, geographic locations and industry chain segments. In terms of development stages, the influencing factors of enterprise spatial layout shift from the dual drive of government and market to market forces dominance. With respect to geographic locations, the eastern PRD is more sensitive to market dynamics, while the western PRD sees a relatively more prominent role of the government. As for the industrial chain, market forces mainly affect the upstream and midstream, while the downstream and extended segments are under the dual influence of both state and market forces.

Identifying the spatial non-equilibrium characteristics of digitalization development in the tourism industry can provide scientific basis for bridging the “digital divide” in the tourism industry and optimizing the spatial layout of new quality productivity in the tourism industry. Based on the connotation characteristics of digitalization in the tourism industry, a comprehensive evaluation system was constructed, and the entropy weight TOPSIS method, Dagum Gini coefficient, Kernel density estimation, and Markov chain analysis were used to explore the spatial non-equilibrium characteristics and dynamic evolution trends of tourism digitalization level from 2011 to 2022 in China. The findings indicate that: 1) According to the entropy weight TOPSIS method, it can be concluded that the digitalization level of tourism industry has maintained a steady upward trend from 2011 to 2022 in China, with eastern provinces and cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangdong leading the way. The spatial differentiation characteristics of the digitalization level of tourism industry in China were gradually emerging, roughly showing a gradient distribution state of “high in the east and low in the west” and “high in the south and low in the north”. The spatial imbalance phenomenon of the digitalization level of tourism industry among provinces in China was significant. 2) In terms of regional differences and decomposition, the overall difference in the digitalization level of the tourism industry shows a fluctuating downward trend, and the imbalance between regions shows a shrinking trend. The overall regional differences were in a state of “northeast>east>west>central”, but inter provincial differences have become the main source of the “digital divide” in the tourism industry, and narrowing regional differences has become a key direction to bridge the digital level gap of the tourism industry in China. 3) According to the Kernel density estimation method, it can be concluded that the conditional probability density curve was distributed along a 45° diagonal, and the dynamic distribution of digitalization level in the tourism industry was relatively stable. After taking into account geographical spatial factors, the digitalization level of tourism industry in China showed a shrinking trend during the research period. 4) According to the Markov chain method, it can be inferred that if geographical spatial effects are not taken into account, the digitalization level of tourism industry in China shows the phenomenon of “Matthew effect” and “club convergence”; After incorporating geographic spatial effects, as the level of spatial lag in neighboring provinces increases, the digitalization level of local tourism industry was significantly affected by the spatial spillover effects of neighboring provinces.

Since the advent of the “Anthropocene”, the multifaceted interactions and impacts of global climate change, intensive human activities, and information intelligence have intensified. The global human-earth system and its spatial patterns are undergoing significant challenges in relational restructuring and functional reconstruction, while modern geographical research faces an urgent need for theoretical innovation and paradigm transformation. This paper focuses on establishing the “Four-Dimensional Integration Model of Geographical Science-Technology-Engineering-Practice” (referred to as the Geo-STEP model), systematically elaborating its theoretical connotations, four-dimensional interaction mechanisms, and innovative applications. The study demonstrates that the Geo-STEP model is a systematic, comprehensive, and interconnected modern geographical methodology system, which emphasizes multidimensional interconnections, multi-system coupling, and multi-scenario coordination, forming an organic whole with multiple couplings of geographical science, technology, engineering, and practice. Its transmission logic generally follows the universal paradigm of “scientific cognition (S)-technological innovation (T)-engineering implementation (E)-practical feedback (P)”. Geographical science (S) is the theoretical foundation of the Geo-STEP model, geographical technology (T) is the innovation engine of the Geo-STEP model, geographical engineering (E) is the implementation carrier of the Geo-STEP model, geographical practice (P) is the value embodiment of the Geo-STEP model, and the 4 dimensions of the Geo-STEP model (S-T-E-P) form a complete knowledge action loop. In the experiment of the National Academy of Rural Revitalization (Lankao) and its “Geographical Engineering Academy”, the author achieved the integrated development of Geo-STEP through the innovative “three in one linkage” model of combining science and engineering, integrating science and education, and combining school and local areas, and achieved significant results in serving the national rural revitalization strategy and promoting the interdisciplinary integration of geographical science and engineering. The paper analyzes the application scenarios of the Geo-STEP model in key areas such as territorial spatial planning, the Yellow River Basin strategy, rural revitalization strategy, and geographical education, preliminarily validating its unique advantages and comprehensive capabilities in analyzing and addressing complex human-earth interaction issues. It provides theoretical references and practical paradigms for the optimization and reconstruction of the geographical science system and disciplinary system under the spatiotemporal patterns of the “Anthropocene” and the “Human-Earth Sphere”.

Sustainability of human-earth system has become a pivotal focus in global development research, with risk assessment and governance identified as key components and fundamental safeguards in the pursuit of sustainable development. This study begins by reviewing the conceptual definitions and classifications of risk, as well as general methods for risk assessment, early warning, and governance, to preliminarily explore the connotation of sustainability risk in human-earth system. Drawing on general risk assessment methodologies, this study constructs an integrated framework for evaluating sustainability risk in human-earth system, which incorporates both internal risks (e.g., stagnation or regression in meeting sustainable development goals) and external risks (e.g., disruptions from multiple stressors) through multi-method evaluations. Finally, based on the four key processes of traditional risk early warning systems, this study proposes a dynamic, graded technical system for early warning of sustainability risk in human-earth system and discusses a collaborative governance model underpinned by systems thinking. Overall, our study contributes to a deeper understanding of sustainability risk in human-earth system, offering theoretical support for improving governance capacities and promoting the co-evolution of regional sustainability and resilience.

The formation and transformation of soil organic carbon (SOC) are complex processes, and their responses to agricultural management practices often exhibit a lag effect. To better understand the distribution characteristics and driving mechanisms of microbial residue carbon within different SOC fractions, this study investigated the effects of four improved tillage and cropping systems (deep plowing-continuous cropping, deep plowing-rotation, shallow rotation-continuous cropping, shallow rotation-rotation, using conventional tillage fields as controls). These results showed that mineral-associated organic carbon (MAOC) was a major component of SOC in the study region. Although total SOC and particulate organic carbon (POC) did not significantly differ among treatments (P>0.05), MAOC content was significantly affected (P<0.05), with the highest value observed in the control [(11.67±0.11) g/kg] and the lowest in the deep plowing-rotation treatment [(10.20±0.36) g/kg]. The contribution of microbial residue carbon to MAOC ranged from 21.07% to 28.76%, with fungal residues [(14.69±0.19) g/kg] being the dominant source. Notably, the shallow rotary tillage with continuous cropping treatment significantly enhanced microbial residue carbon accumulation in MAOC, thereby improving SOC stability, while the shallow rotation-rotation system showed a trend toward increasing POC content, potentially enlarging the active carbon pool. This contrast may be attributed to differences in straw incorporation patterns, as compared with shallow rotary tillage, deep plowing promotes the uniform incorporation of straw throughout the tillage layer (0–25 cm), thereby facilitating a more even distribution of carbon inputs and alleviating the accumulation of plant residues in the surface layer (0–10 cm). Overall, soil nutrient status (total phosphorus, C∶N and C∶P ratios), together with mineralogical and biological properties (free iron and microbial residue carbon), are key determinants of the relative proportions of particulate organic carbon (POC) and mineral-associated organic carbon (MAOC) in soils. Agricultural management practices may indirectly affect the content and reactivity of Fed through regulating carbon input intensity, redox conditions, and soil nutrient status, which in turn modulates the formation and accumulation of microbial residue carbon and ultimately determines the partitioning between POC and MAOC. These findings provide a theoretical basis for optimizing farmland carbon management and supporting policy development for carbon sequestration in black soils of northeast China.

To effectively leverage the positive role of the digital economy in enhancing the resilience of the tourism system is crucial for ensuring the stable and long-term development of the tourism economy and achieving high-quality growth. To this end, the article integrates multi-source data to construct a panel dataset of 285 prefecture-level and above cities in China from 2011 to 2019, analyzes the evolutionary characteristics between the digital economy and tourism industry resilience from the spatial and temporal dimensions, and empirically examines the influence process, regional heterogeneity, and the mechanism of action by using the panel spatial Durbin model. The research finds that: 1) The digital economy and the resilience of the tourism industry as a whole are on an upward trend, and the development gap between cities has narrowed slightly in a converging trend. In terms of spatial distribution, the former shows a “ladder-like” pattern of high in the east and low in the west, while the latter shows a spatial evolution pattern of “central collapse”. 2) Digital economy and tourism industry resilience have strong spatial agglomeration characteristics, while the two show significant positive spatial correlation. 3) The digital economy not only enhances the resilience of the local tourism industry, but also acts on neighboring cities through spatial spillover effects. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the degree of influence of the direct effect is: Northeast > East > West > Central, and high digital economy region > low digital economy region; at the same time, the Central Region shows a negative spillover effect, while the high digital economy region shows a significant positive spillover effect. 4) Mechanism tests indicate that tourism innovation capability and tourism market influence are the two major paths through which the digital economy enables tourism industry resilience. The results of the study can provide a policy basis for effectively promoting the digital transformation of multiple tourism actors at the municipal scale, improving the ability to respond to crisis events, and promoting the sustainable and high-quality development of the tourism industry.

Based on panel data of grain output and year-end population size from 285 cities during 2000—2022, this study employs spatial analysis, the spatial mismatch index of grain supply and demand, and a two-way fixed effects model to explore the spatiotemporal evolution and influencing factors of China’s grain output and supply-demand relationships. The results show that: 1) The growth rate of grain output has slowed, with a decline in grain output in major sales areas among the three primary grain output and sales zones. The spatial clustering of grain output has intensified, with high-value clusters concentrating in the northeast and Huang-Huai-Hai regions, while low-value clusters are shifting to South China and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The spatial distribution center of grain output has shifted northeastward. 2) The per capita grain availability has increased from above the subsistence level to exceeding the food security threshold, while the spatial mismatch between grain output and demand has intensified. Per capita grain availability in major production areas has increased significantly, with an abundant grain supply. In production-consumption balance areas, per capita grain availability has slightly declined, resulting in a relatively tight supply. In major sales areas, per capita grain availability has decreased markedly, leading to a very constrained supply. Cities with abundant grain supply are concentrated in the northern regions, while cities with very limited grain supply are clustered in the southern regions. Cities with relatively abundant or relatively scarce supply are scattered across various areas. Many cities in major production areas and production-consumption balance areas have seen improvements in the grain supply-demand relationship, while many cities in major sales areas have experienced a deterioration in this relationship. 3) There is a significant positive relationship between grain output and factors such as sown area, technological progress, government intervention, climate, and farmland quality. Among these, sown area is the key factor driving grain output growth. In contrast, grain prices, urbanization, and agricultural labor force have a significant negative impact on grain output, with urbanization having the most pronounced negative effect. The findings of this study can provide references for adjusting China’s grain production-consumption divisions, alleviating the grain supply-demand imbalance, and promoting grain production.

The concept of “intersectionality”, which originated in Black feminist legal studies in the late 1980s, aims to reveal how multiple identities—such as gender, race, and class—intertwine within power relations to jointly shape unique experiences of social inequality. Since its introduction into Human Geography, the discipline’s core contribution has been its “spatialization” of the concept. By examining abstract power relations within concrete geographical contexts (such as place, scale, and the body), geography provides intersectionality with a unique analytical capacity, preventing it from becoming merely an abstract identity politics or a generalized critical tool. This article aims to systematically review this international frontier and to provide depth and expansion for the localized transformation and comparative reference of Human Geography in China. The article first outlines the conceptual evolution and methodology of intersectionality. Second, it explores the spatiality of intersectional thought and demonstrates how the theory is concretized through spatial analysis by comparing its applications in childhood, migration, and feminist geographies. Finally, it traces the concept’s path of transformation from academic critique to social practice. The significance of this article lies in clarifying why intersectionality is a necessary perspective for deeply understanding contemporary spatial inequality. The research indicates that by continuously enriching its spatialized theories and methods, the intersectional perspective helps geography better fulfill its contemporary mission: not only to profoundly explain spatial inequality in the world but also to actively participate in the social practice of changing it.

The integration of culture and tourism is a key component of Chinese-style modernization. In the digital era, online flow has surpassed traditional resource endowments and become a core driver of local development and culture-tourism integration. Through platformization and algorithmization, flow reshapes tourism space and generates a flow “carnival” dominated by algorithms and mass participation. However, the irrational pursuit of flow by small and medium-sized cities has led to a “frenzy” state, exposing tensions between flow logic and the sustainable development of local tourism. Existing studies have discussed the emergence and diffusion of influencer-driven tourism, yet they lack in-depth analysis of the paradoxes behind flow and their local embeddedness. Based on the theory of spatial production, this paper systematically examines the internal relations among flow, locality and tourism in the digital era. It analyzes the action logics of governments, platforms, tourists, and residents within flow networks, and explains how flow, as a factor of spatial production, restructures tourism geographical space. The study compares internet-famous officials and grassroots influencers in terms of their popularity paths, resource sources and action logics, finds that both face challenges in converting flow into long-term development momentum. It identifies 4 core paradoxes of digital-era tourism: distortion of tourism essence, silencing of local characteristics, misplacement of institutional support, and imbalance in flow adaptation. And it analyzes their manifestations and formation mechanisms. The findings reveal that the alienation from flow “carnival” to “frenzy” reflects an imbalance between digital capital and administrative power in spatial production. Selective flow allocation by platforms and performance evaluation pressure on local governments jointly drive irrational competition for flow, and the 4 paradoxes stem from a fundamental mismatch between flow logic and local development logic. The study argues that flow itself is not the root cause of tourism problems, and that resolving digital-era tourism paradoxes requires the realization of “flow justice”, which ensures fair rights for different regions and diverse actors in flow generation, allocation, conversion, and benefit sharing. Achieving flow justice requires a collaborative governance system involving government, platforms, and the public. Governments should shift from chasing flow to improving infrastructure and public services, platforms should optimize algorithm rules to balance fairness and efficiency, and the public should participate in governance through institutionalized channels. Only by closely coupling human emotional experience, local resource endowments, and external support, can short-term flow be transformed into endogenous drivers of local culture and tourism development. The issue of flow justice will become a frontier topic across geography, tourism studies, and related disciplines.

In this study, 115 resource-based cities were selected as cases, and an evaluation index system of potential, correlation and resilience was constructed based on the adaptive cycle theory. On the basis of analyzing the spatio-temporal evolution characteristics of three-dimensional attributes, the evolution stages of resource-based cities were identified, and then the evolution characteristics of each stage were analyzed. The results show that: 1) The growth of potential, correlation and resilience of resource-based cities shows a phased evolution feature of “slow growth in the early stage and rapid growth in the later stage”. But there are significant differences in spatial distribution; Among them, the spatial dispersion of potential is obvious, the correlation shows a decreasing trend from the southeast coast to the northwest inland, and the resilience shows a spatial agglomeration characteristic of “coastal and river”. 2) Under the comprehensive action of internal and external factors, the development and evolution of resource-based cities are in the stages of exploitation-conservation, conservation-release, release-reorganization in the adaptive cycle. The cities in exploitation-conservation stage are mainly growth-oriented and mature ones, mainly located in energy rich areas, such as Shanxi, Gansu and Inner Mongolia. The cities in conservation-release stage are mainly declining ones, concentrated in the old industrial base of northeast China. The cities in release-reorganization stage cover all types and are mainly distributed in the eastern part of the Hu-Huanyong Line. 3) The different stages correspond to different development and evolution characteristics.The cities in the exploitation-consrvation stage have obvious path dependence and extension characteristics, and their potential, correlation and resilience are on the rise; In the process of development, problems such as economic recession, environmental deterioration and population contraction occur in the exploitation-release stage, and the three-dimensional attribute value of the cities is in a declining trend. In the release-reorganization stage, the cities realize the renewal and reorganization of the elements, forming a new development path, and its three-dimensional attribute value recovers after the decline.

Due to differences in natural environments and levels of socio-economic development across different regions, finding evidence of when human activities began to have a significant and synchronous impact on the earth system has become a key issue in Anthropocene research. As an artificial radionuclide, ¹³⁷Cs is considered as a suitable stratigraphic marker of the Anthropocene because it is widely distributed around the world, closely related to human activities, clearly marked and easily recognized in sediments. The ¹³⁷Cs accumulation peaks of ¹³⁷Cs formed by human activities such as nuclear tests and nuclear accidents, as an important chronological marker, has been widely used for dating lacustrine sediments. Therefore, exploring the regional spatial distribution characteristics and patterns of ¹³⁷Cs can provide significant evidence for a deeper understanding of the temporal characteristics of the Anthropocene and global synchronous signals. This study collected and compiled ¹³⁷Cs data from 79 lakes and wetland sediment cores within China, examining their the spatio-temporal distribution characteristics and and exploreing the starting boundary of the Anthropocene. The results show that: 1) The ¹³⁷Cs sedimentary records in lacustrine drill coresalmost detect the accumulation peak of 1963 in China, indicating that the main chronological marker layer of 1963 is clearly distinguishable and easily recognizable. With distinct chronological characteristics, the ¹³⁷Cs accumulation peak of 1986 in the sedimentary drill cores can be used as a secondary chronological marker, but its reliability needs to be confirmed in combination with other dating indicators. 2) The records of ¹³⁷Cs exhibit significant spatio-temporal differentiation across China, which influenced by multiple factors, including topography, precipitation, environmental factors, erosion by runoff, and various human activities. Overall, the specific activity of ¹³⁷Cs shows a decreasing trend from north to south, and the specific activity values of ¹³⁷Cs reached the highest level in the lacustrine sedimentary of the Chinese region during the period of 1960 to 1980. 3) The main ¹³⁷Cs accumulation peak of 1963 in lacustrine drill cores has clear chronological characteristics and is a reliable chronological layer marker in China, which can be used as a potential stratigraphic evidence to indicate the impact of human activities on regional environments.

Against the backdrop of continuous urban expansion and the accelerating evolution of internal spatial structures, urban regeneration has emerged as a crucial initiative to promoting high-quality urban development in China. With the in-depth advancement of urbanization, the contradiction between the rigid demand for urban space expansion and the shortage of stock space has become increasingly prominent, which makes urban regeneration an important way to tap the potential of urban stock space, optimize urban functional layout, and promote urban sustainable development. As a significant form of urban spatial organization, the polycentric spatial structure, which is characterized by the coexistence of multiple core areas and rational division of labor among them, has gradually become the mainstream direction of urban spatial planning in many cities. Therefore, exploring the impact of polycentric spatial structure on urban regeneration and its underlying mechanisms not only is of great theoretical significance for enriching the research system of urban spatial structure and urban regeneration, but also has important practical value for guiding cities to formulate scientific spatial planning and urban renewal strategies. Utilizing panel data from 281 cities at the prefecture level and above in China from 2011 to 2023, this study empirically examines the relationship and underlying mechanisms between polycentric spatial structure and urban regeneration. In the research process, we first construct a comprehensive evaluation index system for polycentric spatial structure and urban regeneration, measuring the level of polycentric spatial structure and the intensity of urban regeneration in each city. Then, we adopt panel data regression models to control individual fixed effects and time fixed effects, so as to enhance the robustness and reliability of the empirical results. In addition, we also conduct endogeneity tests and robustness tests through instrumental variable methods and substitution of core explanatory variables to ensure the credibility of the research conclusions. 1) There exists a U-shaped relationship between polycentric spatial structure and urban regeneration. 2) Mechanism analysis reveals that market integration serves as an intermediary in the impact of polycentric spatial structure on urban regeneration. 3) Heterogeneity analysis further uncovers that this U-shaped relationship is more pronounced in coastal cities and larger cities, as well as in non-old industrial cities and non-resource-based cities. Based on these conclusions, the paper proposes the following recommendations: cities should optimize polycentric spatial planning to enhance the quality and efficiency of urban regeneration, improve mechanisms for market integration, and implement differentiated governance strategies. These measures aim to foster the synergistic advancement of polycentric spatial structure and urban regeneration, ultimately contributing to the achievement of high-quality urban development goals.

Against the backdrop of global warming and the increasing emissions and transboundary transport of aerosols dominated by black carbon, chain disaster events induced by glacier melting on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau are occurring frequently. Clarifying the variation patterns of black carbon substances on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau under different climatic backgrounds and intensities of human activities from a historical perspective is of great significance for reasonably coping with disaster risks. This article reviews the black carbon records from different geological archives including lake sediments, aeolian sediments, and ice cores on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and analyzes their spatiotemporal variation characteristics on multiple time scales of glacial-interglacial, the Holocene, historical periods, and recent centuries, and reveals their relationships with climate change and human activities. Results show that: 1) On glacial-interglacial time scale, existing research primarily based on charcoal records, indicates that the wildfire conditions are closely related to regional vegetation types and the wetness and dryness of the climate, but there are few studies on this time scale, and more reliable records are urgently needed to enrich the fire dataset. 2) For the Holocene paleofire history, charcoal records show a general “high-low-high” trend, reflecting the significant impact from regional climate in the early and middle Holocene and from human activities in the late Holocene on the paleofire history. 3) The fire activity intensity on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in past 2 000 years has increased to some extent compared with the past, revealing the great role of human activities such as agricultural expansion, war conflicts, and religious sacrifice in environmental evolution. 4) Over the past century, the concentration of black carbon has shown an overall upward trend, reflecting the development of surrounding areas and the growth of pollutant emissions, highlighting the transboundary transport characteristics of air pollution and the profound impact of human activities on the regional environment. Studying the variation characteristics of black carbon on different time scales on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and its associations with climate change and human activities can provide scientific references for further assessing the impact of past human activities on the ecological environment of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and predicting changes in fires and pollutant transport in region under context of global climate change.

Understanding how urban innovation spaces are embedded in their unique local “soil” is key to accelerating the development of new quality productive forces. Based on the in-depth analysis of the essence of urban innovation space, this study constructs a theoretical framework of urban innovation space system at the micro level, and empirically analyses it by using exploratory spatial analysis method and optimal parameters-based geographical detector model, with a case study of Lanzhou. The results show that: 1) Lanzhou urban innovation space takes “old city, development zone, new district/city” as the core carrier. Among them, the knowledge-based, incubation-based, and production-based innovation spaces are organized in the modes of “campus+park+urban area”“urban area+campus+park” and “development zone+park+urban area”, respectively. 2) The organization of clusters shows “specialized clusters” with “parks” as innovation carriers and “diversified clusters” with “urban areas” as innovation carriers. There is a certain positive coupling relationship between different types of innovation spaces, and a unidirectional asymmetry of “proximity”. 3) From a general perspective, the differentiation pattern of innovation space in Lanzhou is mainly influenced by land cost, production service, culture and leisure factors. It is also significantly influenced by the interaction between innovation environment factors, such as location history and industrial environment, and innovation service factors, such as transportation and travel and production services. 4) In terms of subtypes, knowledge-based innovation spaces are particularly dependent on location history factors; land cost factors obviously constrain incubation-based innovation spaces; and production-based innovation spaces are more sensitive to factors such as production services, land costs, culture, and leisure. At the same time, each type of innovation space is subject to the comprehensive influence of the interaction and coupling of various factors.

Based on long-term meteorological and multi-source remote sensing data, the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) and Vegetation Health Index (VHI) were selected to characterize the temporal and spatial characteristics of meteorological and ecological drought, respectively. Using eco-geographical divisions as the analytical framework, we develop a propagation model from meteorological to ecological drought based on Copula functions and conditional probability to reveal the spatial-temporal heterogeneity of propagation probability and triggering thresholds under different environmental settings. Furthermore, the driving mechanism was analyzed based on the XGBoost machine learning algorithm. The results show that: 1) Northeast China exhibited a wetting trend from 1982 to 2024, but the risk of meteorological drought triggering ecological drought still widely exists, with significant differences among ecological-geographical zones. 2) The drought propagation risk in the northern region is significantly lower than that in the southern region, and the propagation probability increases with the intensification of meteorological drought. In region I, the propagation probabilities under different meteorological drought scenarios reach 35.6%, 46.3%, and 52.6%, respectively. Regions II and V exhibit lower response thresholds of ecosystems to meteorological drought than other regions. 3) Multi-factor nonlinear threshold effects are evident: Temperature shows a three-stage threshold effect; Precipitation aggravates propagation when <60 mm but reduces risk within 60-90 mm; Evaporation, NDVI, and Soil Moisture present a saturating “promotion at low levels and inhibition at high levels” response. 4) The geographical detector, which dominates regional differentiation through multi-factor interactions, shows that all regional factor interactions exhibit an enhancement effect. Among them, region I has the strongest hydrothermal coupling effect, with the interaction q-value of Pre and Tem reaching 0.546. The interaction between NDVI and Tem in regions II and V is significant, and the interaction between NDVI and SM in region III is 42% higher than that in the natural state.