Since the founding of the country, China’s urban–rural relations have experienced four stages: differentiation, opposition, coordination, and equivalence. The scope of rural research has expanded from individual villages to group relations, and the research content also tends to the urban–rural integration trend of factor flow. In the context of New Urbanization and the Rural Revitalization Strategies, urban–rural integration is an important starting point to solve urban–rural contradictions, and the metropolitan area is an important spatial carrier to achieving urban–rural integration. Based on investigating the key issues of urban–rural integration and metropolitan governance, this paper constructs a “place function” cognitive framework of urban–rural space in the metropolitan area, and takes Wuhan metropolitan area with its dense rural distribution as an example to recognize the urban–rural spatial characteristics of the metropolitan area scale from six dimensions: spatial structure, land use, settlement distribution, scenic spots, agricultural enterprises, and service facilities. Then, it proposes a spatial development model of the Wuhan metropolitan area of the “point axis structure-, functional area-, resilient network”, and further explores the urban–rural integration path of “planning guidance, policy promotion, and spatial support”.

Ecological security is crucial for regional sustainable development; however, as modern urbanization highlights ecological security challenges, major challenges have arisen. In this paper, we take the ecological region around Taihu Lake, China, as a typical research site, extract important ecological sources and key nodes using morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA) and circuit theory, and propose a regulatory framework for the ecological security pattern (ESP) of the ecological region based on the spatial characteristics of sources, corridors, and nodes. We obtained the following results: (1) The ESP includes 20 ecological sources, 37 ecological corridors, 36 critical ecological protection nodes, and 24 key ecological restoration nodes. (2) Most ecological sources are large and concentrated in western Zhejiang and west of Taihu Lake, which are both important ecological sources and ecological resistance surfaces. (3) The ecological corridors spread east, west, and south from Taihu Lake, with high network connectivity. (4) Shanghai serves as the central node, with the Su-Xi-Chang town cluster and the Qiantang River town cluster serving as the extension axes for the ecological resistance hot-spot area. The center of the elliptical ecological resistance surface (standard deviation) lies in Suzhou City, located on the east shore of Taihu Lake. (5) Ecological nodes were mostly located in ecological corridors or junctions. A “four zones and one belt” pattern is suggested in order to make the land around Taihu Lake more connected and stable ecologically. This study can be used as a guide for building and improving an ecological safety network.

Global climate change and the process of urbanization have had a significant impact on land surface temperature (LST). This study selects the Chengdu metropolitan area in China as a typical research subject. Based on the seasonal heterogeneity and spatial distribution characteristics of LST, different types of potential influencing factors are selected for Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to determine the categories of these factors. Subsequently, a multiple linear regression analysis is conducted to explore the relationship between LST and the identified potential influencing factors during different seasons. The findings of this study suggest that the regions with high temperatures and secondary high temperatures in the Chengdu metropolitan area are primarily concentrated in Chengdu and its adjacent localities, exhibiting noticeable seasonal variations. In the summer, high-temperature zone and second high-temperature zone of the LST show a central aggregation pattern. In the transition season, the high-temperature zone of the LST presents a “large dispersion, small aggregation” pattern. In the winter, it presents a dispersed pattern. In terms of influencing factors, elevation, slope, wind speed, humidity, and surface vegetation cover related to natural geographical conditions have a significant impact on LST, reaching a peak during the transition season. Factors associated with social and economic conditions, such as population size, nighttime light index, and road density, have a pronounced effect on LST during the summer season. During winter, LST is mainly influenced by landscape pattern-related factors such as Shannon Diversity Index, Edge Density, Largest Patch Index, and Patch Density. This study not only assesses the seasonal and spatial characteristics of LST in the Chengdu metropolitan area but also provides valuable insights for formulating phased measures to mitigate the Urban Heat Island (UHI) in other regions.

China’s unprecedented rapid urbanization has encroached upon ecologically sensitive areas. Since 2013, Wuhan, a central urban hub in China, has adopted Ecological Control Line Planning (ECLP) to regulate urban growth and preserve ecological integrity. This study evaluates how ECLP is implemented in the Wuhan Metropolitan Development Zone (WMDZ), a critical region for harmonizing urban expansion with ecological preservation. The assessment integrates two fundamental aspects—conformity and utilization—with evaluations across spatial and ecological dimensions. This methodology builds a technical framework for rapid identification and detailed analysis of planning effects through LULC statistics and landscape connectivity index monitoring. The findings reveal that the ECLP is spatially conformable and utilizable, successfully curbing urban expansion and channeling development towards the urban growth boundary (UGB) and ecological development area (EDA). However, ECLP has not significantly mitigated the decline in ecological connectivity. Details include the following: (1) The general spatial consistency of the ECLP was 88.53%, with the EDA and ecological baseline area (EBA) achieving 85.18% and 88.98%, respectively. (2) Most of the increase in impervious land within ecological lines originated from agricultural and water areas, with only 7.02 km² of land transitioning to non-agricultural and non-ecological uses. (3) The integral index of connectivity (IIC) exhibited a more rapid deterioration post-ECLP implementation, suggesting the disruption or degradation of critical connectivity pathways or patches within the ecological network. (4) Core ecological patches experienced significant losses inside and outside the UGB, with losses within the UGB being 2.51 times greater. The findings underscore the importance of ecological connectivity in implementing ecological space protection planning and the need for the flexible governance of areas where protection and development conflicts arise.

Ecological space in a densely urbanized region plays a very important role in its development. Therefore, a scientific evaluation of ecological spaces in a densely urbanized region is the main prerequisite for corresponding ecological space planning. Taking the Wu-E-Huang-Huang Metropolitan Interlocking Region as the study area, the paper selects six types of ecological factors, including the location index, land status, terrain conditions (elevation, slope), hydrological conditions (rivers, lakes), landscape value, and road traffic. By using a single factor evaluation and a multi-factor comprehensive evaluation method involving GIS, the paper presents an evaluation of the ecological space conditions of the Wu-E-Huang-Huang Metropolitan Interlocking Region. In line with the result, the ecological environment of the region is divided into four levels: highly sensitive areas, sensitive areas, weakly sensitive areas and insensitive areas. On this basis, the underlying problems and mechanisms are explored further.