Abstract:Triangle of Central China (TOCC) is one of the three cross regional urban agglomerations in the Yangtze River economic belt. It is significant to realize the regional efficient coordinated development for enhancing important national growth. This study applies footprint family (water, carbon, and ecological footprints) for evaluating the regional resource-environment pressure (REP) in the TOCC. The balance association with water, carbon, and ecological footprints can be measured through Gini coefficient from different perspectives of economy, populations, and resources. Future trend of water, carbon, and ecological footprints can be forecasted by a deep neural networks model. Results showed that the regional per capita ecological and carbon footprints kept rising from 1.98hm2 to 4.06 hm2 and from 0.27hm2 to 0.56hm2 during the periods, with average annual growth rates of 6.56% and 6.50%, respectively. From 2000 to 2015, the per capita water resources ecological footprint first declined, then increased, finally tended to balance. The water resources performance in most cities was satisfied due to their positive values of water resources overload index, especially in Hunan and Jiangxi. High REP can be observed in the TOCC, which mainly originated from the pressure of carbon emission. The REP in Jiangxi increased from the middle to higher level, and that in Hunan and Hubei was basically at a high level. There existed a poor relationship among water-carbon-ecological footprint and the social-economic performances. From the perspective of ecological footprint, its average comprehensive gini coefficient reached 0.456 with a general mismatch state and a slow downward trend, which indicated an improved overall coordination among regions. In terms of carbon footprint, its population, GDP, and water resource gini coefficients kept rising, which implied that the matching among carbon footprint, economic development, and population size was gradually weakening. The comprehensive gini coefficient reached 0.421 with a general mismatch state when it came to water resources ecological footprint. With respect to REP, its annual average gini coefficient of water resources reached 0.774 that was in the range of serious mismatch, and the comprehensive gini coefficient increased with a serious mismatch state. A steady trend of the per capita water-carbon-ecological footprint in the TOCC can be found according to the outputs from the deep neural networks model, with the averages of 1.01hm2, 0.74hm2 and 5.04hm2, respectively; but the overall ecological environment quality in Hubei is still unsatisfied. These findings can be expected to provide a scientific basis for achieving the coordinate development among economic activities, environment, and resources in the TOCC.