Under the background of rapid urbanization, the transformation of the spatial pattern of urban natural resources and land has led to the deterioration of the water ecological environment in the watershed. Based on data from 4 typical cities of Yueyang, Changde, Yiyang and Jingzhou in Dongting Lake area and their 32 counties, this paper analyses the typical characteristics of the evolution of the "production-living-ecological space" pattern in the Dongting Lake area during the urbanization process through the calculation of dynamic land use attitude and transfer matrix, and reveals the potential driving mechanisms of the evolution of the territorial spatial pattern by using the grey correlation model. The results show that:(1) from 1980 to 2020, the overall distribution of the "production-living-ecological space" pattern in the Dongting Lake area was characterized by obviously horizontal geographical differences and vertical gradients. The ecological space was mainly concentrated in the central part of the Dongting Lake watershed and the peripheral woodland hilly areas in the east, south and west of the region, production space was mainly located in the lakeside plains formed by the river network, and living space was scattered in a dotted pattern among the production and ecological space. (2) The evolution of the spatial and temporal pattern of the "production-living-ecological space" of the cities in the Dongting Lake area has gradually become more intense with the development of urbanization, and the most prominently structural changes were the increase in urban construction land and the reduction in agricultural production land. The functional transformation is reflected in the encroachment of urban living space on agricultural production space, the encroachment of agricultural production space on water ecological space, and the return of agricultural production space to water ecological space. (3) Urbanization, industrialization and agricultural modernization, three key drivers of the evolution of the "production-living-ecological space" pattern in the Dongting Lake area, have accelerated the process of changing the territorially spatial pattern of the cities in the area, and are key elements that should be taken into account in the future strategicly ecological and environmental management and territorially spatial planning of the region. The above research methods and results can provide reference for the rational planning of water network land resources in the Dongting Lake area and guide the high-quality development of urbanization under the goal of ecological management in the Great Lakes Basin.