The Yellow River Basin is one of the regions with the most complex human-land relationship in China, and takes responsibility for the construction of ecological security and economic and social development. Since ancient times, human beings and the Yellow River has been in the process of coevolution. In recent years, there is an increasing pressure of ecological protection brought about by economic development. And there is a higher risk and greater vulnerability of water resources in the river basin. In order to resolve the human-land contradiction, it is necessary to explore the dynamic coupling mechanism of urban settlements and rivers. As "ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin" has become a major national strategy, this study focuses on the spatial differentiation and evolution of human-land relationship in this basin, as well as the difficulties and opportunities of resources and ecological protection, from the perspective of urban and rural planning, physical geography, environmental archaeology, ecology, hydrology and water resources, land resource management and other related fields. The balance between built environment and natural environment is the basis of sustainable development. The Yellow River Basin should be regarded as a “community of life”, in which the natural and human environment interact and depend on each other, and sustainable development strategies should be discussed from the aspects of systematization, intersection, locality and adaptability.