High-Quality Financial Development and Rural–Urban Economic Integration: Coordinated Measurement and Spatiotemporal Evolution

Strengthening the coordinated development of high-quality financial development and urban–rural economic integration has become an inherent requirement for promoting rural revitalization. This study investigates the coordinated development between financial quality and urban–rural economic integration in China using data from 2011 to 2022. It applies coupling coordination models, kernel density estimates, and Gini coefficients to examine coordination levels, regional disparities, dynamic changes, and environmental outcomes. The results show the following: (1) the level of both have grown steadily each year, showing a “strong East, weak West” trend; (2) the coupling coordination development level of the two has steadily increased from 0.321 to 0.434, but remains on the edge of dislocation, with significant regional differences, presenting a “high East, low West” pattern; (3) improvements in human capital, industrial structure optimization, information infrastructure development, and government support significantly enhance the synergistic development level of the dual systems; (4) the coupling coordination development of the two has a significant effect on emission reduction.