The metropolitan areas in Wuhan city were used to study the synergistic potential of ecological restoration and recreational utilization to effectively activate the diverse values of degraded ecological spaces. A comprehensive evaluation framework integrating dominant ecosystem services and spatial governance constraints was constructed to systematically assess the magnitude， typology， and spatial patterns of such synergies.?Results showed that 5 314.53 km2 of ecological spaces in the studied areas experienced moderate to severe degradation during 2000-2022， 97.50% of this degraded area is situated outside the prohibited development zones of ecological protection redlines， with 75.69% demonstrating medium-to-high synergistic potential for recreational utilization. 4 distinct synergistic utilization directions including priority restoration-full utilization， general restoration-full utilization， priority restoration-moderate utilization， and general restoration-moderate utilization were identified based on results of current study. 5 types of differentiated utilization such as forest therapy-leisure activities were proposed to guide targeted implementation. The results indicate that the evaluation framework constructed in this study effectively assesses the synergistic potential integrating ecological restoration and recreational utilization in degraded ecological spaces. On the premise of not violating the rigid control of the ecological protection red line， the research area exhibits substantial synergistic potential integrating ecological restoration and recreational utilization.