Ecosystem carbon sinks can offset part of the carbon emissions from human activities, playing a significant role in the carbon neutrality process. Clarifying the relationship between carbon emissions and ecosystem services is crucial for achieving the dual goals of carbon neutrality and ecological environmental protection. Effective ecosystem management is a prerequisite for controlling carbon emissions, as well as for ecosystem conservation and restoration, making a significant contribution to emission reduction and the enhancement of ecosystem services. Therefore, this study takes Guangdong Province as an example, starting with ecological functional zones—units that can enhance the effectiveness of ecosystem management—combining multi-source data and localized methods to develop annual carbon emissions (CEs) and ecosystem service value (ESV) data from 2000 to 2020, and reveals the spatiotemporal relationships between CEs and the ESV. The results showed the following from 2000 to 2020: (1) The net CEs increased from 203.73 to 482.80 million tons, representing an increase of 279.07 million tons, or 136.98%. The metropolitan residential security zone (MRSZ) was the dominant carbon source area, accounting for more than 60% of the total net CEs. (2) The total ESV gradually decreased from CNY 596.95 to 504.56 billion, representing a decline of CNY 92.39 billion, or 15.48%. The WCZ had the highest ESV, accounting for more than 50% of the total in all periods. (3) Temporally, the net CEs were negatively correlated with the total ESV in the study area, especially in the MRSZ, while a positive correlation was observed in the agricultural products provision zone (APZ). Spatially, the main clusters were Low–Low and High–Low clusters, primarily distributed in the APZ and MRSZ. This study explores and reveals the spatiotemporal relationship between CEs and the ESV, providing valuable references for related research in Guangdong Province and other regional comparative studies.

Abandonment of the taken-for-granted attitude of territoriality in the studies of state space has been followed by diverse concerns and competing interpretations with different focuses notably on state–market relations, spatiality of social life, and relativization of scale. Inspired by Lefebvre’s spatial triad, applied textual analysis, and in-depth interview, this study critically evaluates the Chinese practices of setting up National New Areas to reshape the trajectory of urban and regional development using the Liangjiang National New Area (LNNA). Our research foregrounds the relativizing dimensions of state space in which the creation of the LNNA was conceived, perceived, and lived by key stakeholders holding different positions and vested interests. The LNNA is the spatial manifestation of the special vision and mission of China’s national developmental agenda and the adjustment of power relations within an authoritarian Party-state. However, it is a controversial project which requires negotiation, contestation, and reconciliation among grassroots people. This study shows that even in China, there existed pervasive negotiation and resistance from diverse stakeholders from the bottom up. Our research suggests an alternative perspective that goes beyond the popular dichotomy of state–market or society–space relations in the studies of state space and takes seriously the dialectical relations among the forces at work in the (re)production of state space.

In the rapidly growing literature on exploring urban restructuring in reference to the state rescaling, many authors have neglected the relatively fixed and immobile forms of territorial organization. The development of China’s National New Areas (NNAs) provides an opportunity to explore the hybrid and multiscalar processes of state rescaling. From the perspective of rescaling, an analytical framework was established to examine the practice of NNAs and their governance rescaling in China. Every National New Area (NNA) is the result of China’s “state spatial selectivity”, and the central government has guided policies to a specific spatial scale to cope with the development crisis. The rescaling of NNA governance is the process of the functioning of all-level administrative subjects in the functional orientation, spatial zoning, administrative system, and power allocation through rigid or flexible means. In practice, there are significant governance scale differences in territorial spatial organization, administrative systems, and power distribution among the various NNAs, which has led to diverse governance modes. The degree of coupling between the scale of new and existing administrative divisions is the key to the rescaling of NNA governance. Most NNAs are still facing the challenge of unifying their territorial development logic. Discussions of state rescaling in western countries have focused on the super-local level. The case of China clearly shows the role of local embeddedness and diversification in rescaling.