Abstract: The correlation between urbanization and environmental quality has been well addressed in literatures, but few studies have been conducted in the regions of urban agglomeration. In this study, we constructed an evaluation index system of urbanization and environmental quality. These evaluation indices were used in 13 prefecturelevel cities (including two municipalities) and 20 county-level cities in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. By using the coordinated development degree model, we analyzed the coordinated development degree between urbanization and theenvironmental quality in this region. The results showed that the comprehensive urbanization level in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region displayed the model of “polarization development”. In contrast, most of the county-level cities belonged to the low level. The environmental quality exhibitedsignificant differences in prefecture level cities. Tianjin City had the highest degree of coordinated development, followed by Tangshan. However, the countylevel cities were in a moderate level. The coordination degree between urbanization and the environmental quality ranged from 0.37 to 0.83 in prefecturelevel cities, with higher values in Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan region. Moreover, the coordination degree ranged from 0.22 to 0.65 in countylevel cities. The balanced pattern was in the northeastern Hebei, while the imbalanced pattern was in the southeastern Hebei. These results highlight the significant difference of coordination degree among cities in this region. Results from this study are useful for scientific evaluation and decision-making management in the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Key words: rhizosphere management, mycorrhizal technology, ecological restoration, sustainable agriculture, bio-fertilizer, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, inoculation