Green and low-carbon rural development (GLRD) is becoming an important way to explore sustainable development in rural areas of China. It is significant for the sustainable development of the rural economy and of society to build a rural carbon sink system, advocate low-carbon emissions in rural areas, and promote the development of rural green industries and rural transformation. In this study, the existing knowledge system of GLRD was analyzed using CiteSpace. Keywords related to GLRD and their occurrence frequency were identified using keyword co-occurrence analysis. The knowledge evolution stages of GLRD were explored using citation burst analysis. Thus, the evolution of the research related to GLRD was revealed. The summary of Chinese GLRD-related research literature shows that: (1) according to the CiteSpace analysis, the GLRD research can be divided into three stages: starting, rising, and expanding and deepening; (2) GLRD research has focused on low-carbon development, green development, and then green and low-carbon integrated development, thus forming three major research content systems; (3) GLRD’s research content gradually became rich, as over time, the research focus became increasingly prominent and research integration was gradually strengthened; (4) the GLRD literature still has some limitations, e.g., nonunified measurement standards, insufficient research depth and practical significance, and relatively weak innovative policy research; (5) future research should strengthen the scientific evaluation and prediction of rural green and low-carbon functions. The industrial development pathways and regional characteristic modes of GLRD should be further studied. Innovative GLRD policies should be proposed to provide a theoretical basis and decision-making reference for GLRD and construction.

Scientific territorial spatial planning is of great significance in the realization of the sustainable development goals in China, especially in the context of China’s ecological civilization construction and territorial spatial planning. However, limited research has been carried out to understand the spatio-temporal change in EEQ and territorial spatial planning. In this study, Changsha County and six districts of Changsha City were selected as the research objects. Based on the remote sensing ecological index (RSEI) model, the spatio-temporal changes in the EEQ and spatial planning response in the study area during 2003–2018 were analyzed. The results reveal that (1) the EEQ of Changsha declined and then rose between 2003 and 2018, showing an overall decreasing trend. The average RSEI declined from 0.532 in 2003 to 0.500 in 2014 and then increased to 0.523 in 2018, with an overall decrease of 1.7%. (2) In terms of spatial pattern changes, the Xingma Group, the Airport Group and the Huangli Group in the east of the Xiangjiang River had the most serious EEQ degradation. The EEQ degradation of Changsha showed an expanding and polycentric decentralized grouping pattern. (3) Massive construction land expansion during rapid urbanization caused significant EEQ degradation in Changsha. Particularly, the areas with low EEQ were concentrated in the areas with concentrated industrial land. Scientific territorial spatial planning and strict control were conducive to regional EEQ improvement. (4) The prediction using the urban ecological model demonstrates that every 0.549 unit increase in NDVI or 0.2 unit decrease in NDBSI can improve the RSEI of the study area by 0.1 unit, thus improving EEQ. In the future territorial spatial planning and construction of Changsha, it is necessary to promote the transformation and upgrading of low-end industries into high-end manufacturing industries and control the scale of inefficient industrial land. The EEQ degradation caused by industrial land expansion needs to be noted. All of these findings can provide valuable information for relevant decision-makers to formulate ecological environment protection strategies and conduct future territorial spatial planning.