Coupling efficiency and spatial dynamic evolution of urban water–energy–food in China–A case of evidence from 94 cities

Quantifying and interpreting the water–energy–food (WEF) nexus is critical to achieve the sustainable development of urban resources. The mismatch between urban water, energy and food allocations is a prominent problem that is particularly acute in the Yellow River Basin (YRB) of China. In this study, models for the WEF coupling degree and coupling efficiency were constructed. The WEF coupling efficiencies of the 94 cities in the YRB from 2011 to 2020 were quantified using a data envelopment analysis (DEA) model. On this basis, the spatial distribution characteristics and evolutionary trends of different urban WEF coupling efficiencies were analysed and explored using an exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) model and a parametric kernel density estimation model. The results show that the energy subsystem constrain the development of the WEF nexus, and the food subsystem, in turn, regulates the development of the WEF nexus. In some years, the phenomenon of ‘resource curse’ occurred, in which the WEF coupling degree increased while the coupling efficiency decreased. Overall, the values of the urban WEF coupling efficiency were low, ranging from 0.5300 to 0.6300, which is not effective. Spatial clustering was detected in the urban WEF coupling efficiency. The clustering types were ‘high–high’ clustering areas in less developed regions and ‘low–low’ clustering areas in developed regions. The two clusters and the median contiguous group had different evolutionary trends. Both efficiency and polarisation increased in the high-clustering group, efficiency improved in the low-clustering group, and a new efficiency pole was formed in the median contiguous group. Among the three grouped cities, we discuss the potential of policies such as cross-city cooperation, intra-city multi-sectoral cooperation and cultivating new central growth cities to improve the WEF coupling efficiency in the YRB.