The identification and management of ecological restoration areas play important roles in promoting sustainable urban development. However, current research lacks a scientific basis for the scope and scale of ecological restoration. Further, the absence of a framework to assess policy goals and public preferences that leads to identification of ecological restoration areas across the science-policy interface is difficult, and the existing frameworks’ performance has little applicability. We proposed a transdisciplinary framework to combine ecological quality, ecological health, and ecosystem services as an assessment endpoint to identify priority restoration areas. Further, we classified the ecological restoration areas on a township scale by K-means. Based upon policy goals and public preferences of the Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration, we chose air quality, biodiversity, soil fragility, recreation quality, ecosystem vigor, landscape metrics, and the water supply ecosystem service as elements of the evaluation system. This study showed that priority restoration areas accounted for 10.8% of the urban agglomeration area and classified township, largely in the difference between natural and semi-natural ecosystems and the human environment. Policymakers can use this framework comprehensively and flexibly to identify and classify ecological restoration areas to achieve policy goals and fulfil public preferences.

Vascular plants are a fundamental component of urban green spaces (UGSs) and their diversity determines the associated ecological benefits. This study surveys the vascular plant diversity in three types of UGSs (i.e., urban parks, residential green spaces, and street green spaces) in Guangzhou, Southern China. The distribution patterns of vascular plant diversity in UGSs were analyzed from multiple perspectives, such as native‐exotic species, urbanization degree (urban‐rural gradient). We recorded a total of 207 vascular plant species belonging to 172 genera and 83 families, accounting for only 5.9% of the total recorded species in the city. Shannon–Wiener index and richness of street green spaces were the lowest among the three types of UGSs. Allien and invasive species account for 8.5% and 4.6% in urban parks, 7.1% and 4.8% in residential green spaces, and 4.3% and 0% in street green spaces respectively. Shannon–Wiener index and Pielou’s evenness index first decrease and then increase with the central‐intermediate‐outer urban gradient. Compared to the surrounding natural areas and other subtropical cities, urbanization has reduced vascular plant diversity in inner city areas, contributing to low overall diversity. Our results provide support for urban biodiversity conservation and plant species selection for UGS planting in Guangzhou.