Production-living-ecological (PLE) functions are of great significance within urban and rural territorial spaces. It is often required to synergistically promote the urban-rural spaces. Taking Zhejiang Province as a case study, this research aims to construct a multifunctional evaluation indicator system for the urban and rural territorial spaces. The coupling coordination degree model, composite system synergy degree model, Dagum Gini coefficient, and geographical detector were employed to explore the synergistic and spatiotemporal evolution of the PLE functions from 2000 to 2020. A systematic investigation was also implemented to determine their driving mechanisms. The results indicated that: 1) An upward trend was found in the PLE functions and governing function of the urban and rural territorial spaces. The improvement rate of the PLE function levels in the urban areas was higher than that in the rural areas. While there was more balance on the PLE function levels in the rural territorial spaces. There were similar distribution patterns of the PLE functions and the comprehensive function in the urban and rural areas. The high-value areas of the production, living, and comprehensive functions were concentrated in the northern region. 2) There was an improvement in the coupling coordination level of various functions in the urban and rural territorial spaces. High-level coupling coordination areas for the urban and rural production, living, and comprehensive functions were concentrated in the core area of northern. While the coupling coordination of the ecological functions exhibited a pattern of "low in the north and high in the south." The synergistic evolution of the urban-rural production, living, and comprehensive functions was primarily characterized by the moderate and synergy types, where the high-level synergy areas were mostly concentrated in the Hangzhou-Shaoxing-Ningbo and Hangjiahu Plain regions. The synergistic evolution of the urban-rural ecological functions was dominated by mild synergy, indicating a spatial distribution pattern of "low in the north and high in the south." The largest regional disparity was found in the synergistic evolution of urban-rural production functions. While the smallest was the ecological functions. Furthermore, there were consistent types in the coupling coordination and synergistic evolution of the PLE functions in different regions. Specifically, the urban-rural production and living functions in northern and coastal areas were characterized by the high coordination-good synergy types. While the mild coordination-mild synergy types predominated in the southern and western regions. Urban-rural ecological functions exhibited high-level coordination, but insignificant synergistic evolution. 3) The multiple factors were dominant in the synergistic evolution pattern of the PLE functions in the urban and rural territorial spaces. Per capita GDP, fiscal expenditure, and agricultural security were the dominant factors for the synergistic evolution of the urban-rural comprehensive function. The synergistic evolution of the urban-rural production and living functions depended on the coupled path of "natural base-economic linkage-policy regulation." There were the most complex response factors for the urban-rural living functions. The synergistic evolution of the urban-rural ecological functions was dominated by the altitude and the policy factor in the optimal development zones. Additionally, the interaction between per capita GDP and agricultural security shared the strongest interaction on the synergistic evolution of the urban-rural production and comprehensive functions. The nonlinear enhancement was found in the interaction between the urban-rural disposable income ratio and infrastructure.

Non-grain production refers to the mode in which the farmland of grain cultivation is occupied by cash crops, forests, fruits, or the stock-breeding industry. It is very necessary to identify the spatial and temporal evolution of non-grain production and then to examine the carbon emission, particularly for the national food security and low-carbon green agriculture. However, it is still lacking in the different types and their carbon emission of non-grain production at a fine scale. Differentiated control and management have been hindered on the non-grain production from a low-carbon perspective. Taking the Tongxiang City of Zhejiang Province in east China as an example, this study aims to explore the different types of non-grain production in the cultivated land, including nursery plantation, pit-pond aquaculture, livestock and poultry farming, and greenhouse vegetable production. Their spatial and temporal evolution was also determined using remote sensing and GIS spatial analysis. Global Moran’s I index and local Moran’s I statistics were used to evaluate the spatial distribution and agglomeration of non-grain production types over the years. The life cycle and the opportunity cost method were then applied to assess the carbon emission using field survey data. The results showed that: 1) The non-grain production rate of cultivated land increased from 1.56% to 7.50% from 2005 to 2020, where the non-grain production area had a net increase of 2,464.74 hectares. In terms of the distribution of non-grain production, there was significant spatial clustering, where the high-value agglomerations were distributed in the far southwestern suburbs with a dense water network. 2) Pit-pond aquaculture accounted for the largest proportion of non-grain production, followed by nursery plantation and greenhouse vegetable production. The evolution of non-grain production was shifted from the dominant type of nursery plantation to the staggered distribution of multiple types in the end. 3) Carbon emissions due to non-grain production increased from 22 232.56 to 98 945.40 t from 2005 to 2020, of which pit-pond aquaculture contributed the most. Moreover, the carbon emission from the pit-pond aquaculture accounted for 83.7% of the total in 2020. The largest contributors to the carbon emissions of nursery plantation and greenhouse vegetable production were various fertilizer inputs and plastic film inputs, respectively, while the main sources of carbon emissions from the pit-pond aquaculture and livestock and poultry farming were direct emissions of CH₄ and N₂O. Meanwhile, the carbon emissions of non-grain production showed a trend of high-value agglomeration in the far southwest and low-value ring distribution in the central suburbs. The carbon emission should consider the different types of non-grain production for regional food security. The management of non-grain production should be implemented under the regional types. The synergistic development can be achieved in cultivated land protection and low-carbon emission reduction in agricultural production.