Wuhan and Shiyan cities in Hubei Province were selected as comparative cases. A landscape ecological risk assessment model was constructed to evaluate the level of conflicts among production-living-ecological spaces (PLES) and their spatiotemporal characteristics. A spatial error model was then used to investigate the impact effects of urbanization and ecological construction on PLES conflict. We further analyzed the moderating role of ecological construction in mitigating such conflicts during urbanization. The study reveals that from 2000 to 2020, Wuhan was dominated by production-ecological space, while Shiyan was characterized by ecological-production space. In Wuhan, the PLES conflicts showed a “core-periphery” structural characteristic, with the conflict level gradually intensifying and predominantly characterized by moderate and weak conflict types. In Shiyan, the conflicts exhibited a pattern of higher in the north and lower in the south, with conflict levels trending downward and the proportion of weak conflict types continued to increase. Economic urbanization helped alleviate conflicts in both cities, while land urbanization exacerbated the conflict levels. Population urbanization mitigated conflicts in Wuhan but intensified in Shiyan. Furthermore, ecological development in Wuhan strengthened the exacerbating effect of land urbanization on PLES conflicts, while in Shiyan it enhanced the mitigating effect of economic urbanization and the intensifying effect of population urbanization. The research findings provide scientific evidence for formulating differentiated optimization strategies in territorial space development and protection patterns in different types of cities.

production-living-ecological spaces, conflict characteristics, urbanization, ecological construction; spatial error model