Abstract: Harmonious urban-water relations are the basis and key to promoting the high-quality development of new urbanization and realizing the harmonious coexistence of human beings and nature. Using exploratory spatial data analysis methods and the GTWR model to construct a cross-scale spatial heterogeneity analysis framework of basin-region-province-municipality, an empirical study was conducted in 110 prefecture-level cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2011 to 2020 to reveal the inner rules and spatial evolution patterns of the coordinated development of urbanization efficiency and water resources efficiency in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and to analyze the spatial heterogeneity drivers of its coordinated development. The spatial heterogeneity of the factors driving the coordinated development was also analyzed. The results show that: (1) the urbanization efficiency and water resources efficiency of the Yangtze River Economic Belt as a whole show a fluctuating upward trend during the study period, with the urbanization efficiency fluctuating upward in the range of 0.395 0-0.767 6 and the water consumption of 10 000 Yuan GDP fluctuating downward in the range of 167.57 to 69.63. (2) the urbanization efficiency of the Yangtze River Economic Belt as a whole gradually increases from the upstream to the downstream areas, and the water resources efficiency shows a high level at both ends and a high level in the middle. (3) The coupling between urbanization efficiency and water resources efficiency in the Yangtze River Economic Belt is increasing, evolving from a loosely coupled state to a synergistic coupling state, and the overall coordinated development degree is on the verge of disorder, showing a spiral development process of rise-fall-rise again.(4) The intrinsic drivers of the coordinated development of urbanization efficiency and water resources efficiency in the Yangtze River Economic Belt are, in terms of absolute values of multi-year averages, mainly economic development level>agricultural development status>industrialization level>openness to the outside world>administrative level of cities>water resources endowment.