Evaluation of urban ecological livability and obstacle factor diagnosis from a synergistic perspective: A case study of Zhangjiajie City, China

The construction of ecological livability plays a crucial role in achieving ecological civilization. During economic development, conflicts between urban populations, resources, and the environment have become increasingly prominent. Although China’s efforts in building ecological livability have made certain achievements, they are still in the early stages, making research in this area very necessary. This study aims to establish an indicator system for the level of ecological livability construction from four aspects: ecology, society, residents’ living conditions, and economy. Based on panel data from 2008 to 2021, the entropy-TOPSIS model was used to evaluate the level of ecological livability construction in Zhangjiajie City. Additionally, the coupling coordination degree model was employed to study the correlation and coordination among different indicators within the system. Furthermore, the obstacle degree model was introduced to explore the main factors affecting the improvement of ecological livability construction levels. The results show that, over the fourteen-year period, the proximity of Zhangjiajie City’s ecological livability construction level decreased from 0.2712 in 2008 to 0.2547 in 2010, then rose to 0.7686 in 2021, reaching a medium coordination level, with the constraining effects among the ecological livability systems weakening. The average wage of employees, the proportion of social security and employment expenditure to fiscal expenditure, the per capita total postal and telecommunications business volume, the per capita number of public library collections, and the proportion of education expenditure to fiscal expenditure have become the main influencing factors of Zhangjiajie City’s ecological livability construction level.