A Multi-Dimensional Efficiency Evaluation Framework for Sustainable Territorial Management: A Focus on the Production-Living-Ecological Spaces

Territorial space use efficiency (TSUE) is a core indicator characterizing regional sustainable development. Nevertheless, existing studies have not established a systematic quantitative system to assess sustainable development status based on TSUE. From the perspective of production-living-ecological spaces, this study constructs a multi-dimensional efficiency evaluation framework for sustainable territorial management. This study adopts geographic data envelopment analysis (GeoDEA), spatial autocorrelation analysis and multi-scale geographically weighted regression (MGWR). It calculates TSUE, uses efficiency levels to characterize and identify territorial sustainable development status, and further reveals the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics and driving mechanisms of regional sustainable development. The results indicate that the regional sustainable development level reflected by TSUE generally shows fluctuating evolution, with distinct phase transitions emerging around 2010. Merely 20% of cities attain medium-high or higher sustainability levels, and spatial imbalance is prominent nationwide. Areas with high-efficiency production and living spaces are mainly clustered in eastern and central China, while highly sustainable ecological spaces concentrate in western and northeastern China. In addition, driving factors exert significantly heterogeneous effects on the three types of territorial functional spaces. This study provides scientific references for implementing differentiated territorial spatial governance and advancing sustainable territorial development.