Exploring the Interactive Development between Population Urbanization and Land Urbanization: Evidence from Chongqing, China (1998–2016)

To promote regional sustainable urbanization strategies, this paper selected the population and land resources in the urbanization system, and used the time series-based econometric analysis method and the coordinated development degree model to empirically study the interactive relationship between population urbanization (PU) and land urbanization (LU) in Chongqing, China, from 1998 to 2016. The research results showed that: (1) The development of urbanization in Chongqing was relatively rapid, but the level of development was relatively insufficient. The phenomenon of population outflow during urban development was more serious, and the structure of land use irrational; (2) There was a long-term cointegration relationship between PU and LU; PU is the Granger cause of LU. A PU increase of 1% in the short-term will promote LU by 3.29%, and in the long-term will promote 2.28%; the contribution of population agglomeration to urbanization is more than 80%, while land expansion is only about 20%, and the urban development model, which relies on urban land expansion is not applicable; (3) LU was faster than PU, but the improvement of PU development’s quality level was greater than that of LU. The development quality of both systems increased year by year, and gradually developed into a coordinated state. It is recommended that the government strengthen land planning, delineate urban growth boundaries, and increase the level of land intensive use; furthermore, through the reformation of the land finance and the household registration systems, a system for linking population, finance, and construction land should be established to promote the coordinated development of the two systems.