PurposeThis paper aims to promote urban–rural synergy in carbon reduction and achieve the dual carbon goal, reconstruct the low-carbon urban–rural spatial pattern and explore planning strategies for carbon mitigation in urban agglomerations.Design/methodology/approachThe authors propose the idea of land governance zoning based on low-carbon scenario simulation, using the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) urban agglomeration as the empirical research area. Specifically, the authors analyze its spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of carbon balance over the past two decades and simulate the land use pattern under the scenario of low-carbon emission in 2030. Furthermore, the authors create spatial zoning rules combined with land use transition characteristics to classify the urban agglomeration into carbon sink restoration zone, carbon sink protection zone, carbon control development zone and carbon transition agriculture zone and put forward corresponding targeted governance principals.FindingsThe study findings classify the BTH urban agglomeration into carbon sink restoration zone, carbon sink protection zone, carbon control development zone and carbon transition agriculture zone, which account for 28.1%, 17.2%, 20.1% and 34.6% of the total area, respectively. The carbon sink restoration zone and carbon sink protection zone are mainly distributed in the northern and western parts and Bohai Rim region. The carbon transition agriculture zone and carbon control development zone are mainly distributed in the southeastern plain and Zhangjiakou.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors suggest restoring and rebuilding ecosystems mainly in the northwest and east parts to increase the number of carbon sinks and the stability of the ecosystem. Besides, measures should be taken to promote collaborative emission reduction work between cities and optimize industrial and energy structures within cities such as Beijing, Langfang, Tianjin and Baoding. Furthermore, the authors recommend promoting sustainable intensification of agriculture and carefully balance between both economic development and ecological protection in Zhangjiakou and plain area.Originality/valueThe authors propose a zoning method based on the optimization of land use towards low-carbon development by combining “top-down” and “bottom-up” strategies and provide targeted governance suggestions for each region. This study provides policy implications to implement the regional low-carbon economic transition under the “double carbon” target in urban agglomerations in China.

It remains unclear on how transportation network interacts with economic network in an urban-rural agglomeration, while such knowledge is crucial for urban-rural system governance and sustainability. We explored such spatial interactions in the Zhongyuan Urban-Rural Agglomeration (ZURA) from 1995 to 2015. The structure of transportation network was measured by spatial syntax model, and that of economic network was gauged by improved gravity model. The associations between transportation and economic networks were investigated by conducting bivariate spatial autocorrelation analysis. The global Moran's I showed that the two networks were positively correlated from 1995 to 2015. The local Moran's I identified "high-high" associations between transportation and economic networks around core cities in 1995, which further extended to surrounding cities. Our results reveal that peripheral cities with highly developed transportation system have little spatial economic impact on neighboring rural areas, while cities with low transportation accessibility restrained its external economic influence of neighboring cities and rural areas. Our findings shed light on future urban-rural system governance, where the "multi-center, unbalanced" growth patterns of economic network and the "multi-core, multi-directional" structure of transportation network are more likely to contribute to the sustainability of urban-rural systems.