Abstract: The Yangtze River Economic Belt is in an important strategic position in China's economic development and ecological civilization construction, and the coordination of its ecology and economy is of great significance to the sustainable development of the region and even the whole country. This paper explores the change of the coupling coordination relationship between socio-economic and ecological environment in the cities along the Yangtze River from 1990 to 2020, and the relationship between the coupling coordination and land use transition by using ArcGIS 10.2 software and by constructing the index system, based on the coupling coordination degree model and the recessive land use function index. The results show that these cities showed obvious trend of land use transition, especially in the lower reaches of the river, which was characterized by sharp decrease of cultivated land and sharp increase of construction land. The recessive land use function index of these cities shows a "U" pattern. The degree of coupling and coordination of socio-economic and ecological environment in these cities is on the rise, and the number of cities in a state of imbalance is fluctuating down. At the beginning of the period studied, the coupling coordination degree was positively correlated with the proportion of land type with ecological function, and negatively correlated with the proportion of land type with economic function. The cities can be divided into five types according to the increase or decrease of the indexes. The largest number of cities is the negative-positive correlation type, mainly the downstream cities, which is consistent with the overall trend of the river basin. The regional type is mainly dominated by the more developed cities. For the healthy development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, it is necessary to adjust the industrial structure, optimize the pattern of land use and strengthen the connection between the two ends of the basin, so as to make the joint promotion of ecological environment and socio-economic for the improvement of the living environment and the well-being of the residents in the region.

Key words: land use transition, socio-economic, ecological environment, coupling and coordination, the Yangtze River Economic Belt