Abstract: Urban recreationalization serves as a vital driving force in advancing modern tourism systems. As one of the most economically developed region in China,the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region offers an optimal setting for investigating the relationship between urban recreationalization and green economic effects due to its diverse economic structure and varied urbanization processes. In the context of high-quality development,the connotation and scope of urban recreationalization require further refinement and enrichment. Rigorous empirical studies are also needed to validate whether urban recreationalization can effectively generate green economic effects. This study adopted the "people-land-industry" perspective,and constructed a theoretical framework to explore the green economic effects of urban recreationalization. Spatial Durbin models and threshold models were  utilized to examine the spatial and nonlinear impacts of urban recreationalization on green economic efficiency in the YRD region. The research findings were summarized as follows: (1) From 2005 to 2022,the urban recreationalization index in the YRD region increased from 0.197 to 0.661,while green economic efficiency was improved from 0.502 to 0.872. Both indicators demonstrated a fluctuating upward trend. Spatially,urban recreationalization exhibited a pattern of "higher in the south and east,lower in the north and west," whereas green economic efficiency displayed a distribution of "low in peripheral areas,high in central areas." Nonetheless,significant intercity disparities persisted. (2) Urban recreationalization exerted a prominent direct spillover effect on local green economic efficiency,which peaked at an optimal threshold of 150 meters,and the impact diminished with an increasing distance outside the threshold distance. (3) The influence of urban recreationalization on green economic efficiency was markedly nonlinear. Beyond the dual threshold values,the positive impact of urban recreationalization on green economic efficiency showed signs of weakening.