[Figure 1]
Giving consideration to sustainable social development, economic transformation and upgrading, China’s urbanization has gradually shifted from high-speed to high-quality, with the urbanization rate increasing from 49.68% in 2010 to 63.89% in 2020, maintaining a low-speed growth trend. The concentration of labor, capital, technology and other factors promotes the formation of economic growth poles, and the resulting economic radiation has made contribution to the rapid growth of regional economies (Athukorala, 2018). Meanwhile, human activities have damaged the ecological environment while meeting the needs of rapid development, and the health of the terrestrial ecosystem has been greatly threatened. Therefore, exploring the natural and social drivers of urbanization and terrestrial ecosystem health is crucial to promote urban-ecological harmony and achieve the sustainable development.

2.2 Research Framework

In order to explore the link between terrestrial ecosystem health and urbanization and their driving mechanisms, we proposed a systematic research framework (Fig 2). First, the urbanization level was assessed by a comprehensive indicator system of the urbanization index (UI), and the terrestrial ecosystem health index (EHI) was estimated by the VOR model. Second, the spatial relationship between EHI and UI was explored by the spatial autocorrelation analysis. Finally, we proposed a conceptual model of drivers on UI and EHI, and then used the partial least squares structural equation modeling to validate it.