Status analysis and vision on urban

landscape planning-take Chengdu city as an

example
Cite as: AIP Conference Proceedings 1890, 040029 (2017); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5005231
Published Online: 05 October 2017

Hanyun Liu

AIP Conference Proceedings 1890, 040029 (2017); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5005231 1890, 040029

© 2017 Author(s).
 Status Analysis and Vision on Urban Landscape Planning-
Take Chengdu City as an Example
Hanyun Liu

College of Landscape Architecture, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 610200, China.

409690175@qq.com

Abstract. Appropriate urban planning can forge a proper and safe city framework so as to achieve safety, health,
convenience and comfort. A personalized urban planning is a name card of city development which can demonstrate the
unique culture and function of a city. This essay concludes the concept and principles of urban landscape planning; takes
the status of landscape planning in Chengdu City as an object, concludes its merits and demerits and offers solutions to the
weak points; looks into the future of urban landscape planning so as to offer theoretical support for the development of an
ecologically and environmentally friendly low-carbon city.

Key words: urban planning, urban landscape, low carbon city, ecological and environmental protection.

FOREWORDS

Appropriate urban planning can forge a proper and safe city framework and enhance sustainable development,
aiming to achieve safety, health, convenience and comfort. Urban planning and landscape planning are mutual
effective and permeable. Urban planning paves the way for the development of landscape planning, while landscape
planning specifically shows the function and culture of a city. Therefore, only maintaining a balance between the two
sides can urban planning and landscape planning be improved. The significance of urban landscape planning to city
development includes: personalized landscape planning is the namecard of city development; "City makes life better"
is one of the embodiments of landscape planning in city development; the return of city culture is one of the vital roles
that urban landscape planning plays [1].
China is a late starter in landscape planning design. With the development over a decade, it gradually reaches
maturity and is deeply influenced by international landscape planning. In the course of developing urban landscape
planning, China continuously draws the strengths of overseas landscape planning, emphasizes the combination of
local culture and modern civilization, and creates a symbiosis relationship among recreation, human beings and the
nature within a limited space.
In the light of the development of China's landscape planning, landscape planners have realized the interrelations
between users and landscape environment. However, they could not plan and design with Chinese characteristics.
Problems appearing in planning are as follows: pursuance of luxury while ignoring the sense of scale; fast-food style
design lacking deep thinking; blind imitation while losing regional characteristics; poor ecological form with
environment being damaged [2]. As the provincial city of Sichuan Province, Chengdu City has made steady progress
in recent years and is deeply influenced internationally. This essay takes the status of landscape planning in Chengdu
City as an object, concludes the concept and principles of urban landscape planning; depicts its status, merits and
demerits; looks into the future of urban landscape planning so as to offer theoretical support for the development of
an ecologically and environmentally friendly low-carbon city.

2nd International Conference on Materials Science, Resource and Environmental Engineering (MSREE 2017)
AIP Conf. Proc. 1890, 040029-1–040029-6; https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5005231
Published by AIP Publishing. 978-0-7354-1568-3/$30.00

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 BRIEF INTRODUCTION OF URBAN PLANNING

Urban Planning

Urban planning is about the comprehensive deployment, specific arrangement and real-time management on the
economic and social development, land utilization, space layout and other construction of a city over a given period
of time [3]. Urban planning is one the significant public policies for government to regulate the space resources,
safeguard social justice, ensure public security and public interests [4]. Urban planning is the comprehensive
deployment and specific arrangement to achieve the goal of economic and social development, making sure of the
nature, scale and development orientation of a city, and to appropriately utilize urban land and coordinate urban space
layout and other construction.

Urban Landscape

Urban landscape is the definition of combining urban buildings and the space environment outside the buildings.
A city is a complicated organism. Then houses and buildings should be the main body of it and lives in harmony with
the outside space. The combination of the two parts is called urban landscape. (They mainly embody in the landscape
in urban public space, such as mountains and forests, water system and other natural landscape, sidewalk, park,
residential area and other artificial environment, and public space area within a building)[5]. Different from natural
landscape and agricultural landscape, urban landscape is, in a given region, a complex of high-density people who
work in the secondary and tertiary industry and artificial buildings. As the artificial landscape is built by people with
powerful economic and technological capability, then it possesses the nature of natural ecological system and the
ecological system of human beings [6].

Urban Landscape Planning

Urban landscape planning takes urban landscape as the object, in accordance with the characteristics of urban
landscape structure, function, and dynamism, to plan and design measures of building, protection, adjustment and
perfection, space layout and allocation [7].

PRINCIPLES ON URBAN LANDSCAPE PLANNING

Principles of Living in Harmony with Nature

Taking Nature as Priority
The fundamentals of landscape sustainability is to protect natural resources, preserve natural landscape ecological
process and function. Natural landscape resources include primal natural reserve, historical cultural relics and remains,
forests, lakes and large patches of vegetation, which play an important role in preserving urban basic ecological
process, life-support system and biodiversity [8].

Regionalism
Urban ecological system roots in the land, so regional factors have direct influence on the countermeasures and
methods of urban landscape design. Therefore, urban landscape planning should follow urban natural conditions and
geological conditions, including climate, soil, vegetation, and animals. Meanwhile, regional cultural traditions and
cultural relics are also parts of urban planning [9].

Landscape Diversity
Landscape diversity refers to diversity of landscape ecological system, namely the structural and functional
diversity in the patch number, size, shape and connectivity between patches, which reflects landscape complexity [10].
Urban landscape diversity also includes diversity in the form of urban ecological units and the bearing behavior

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patterns, that’s to say diversified corridor, mosaics, combination of small and big mosaics, combination of wide and
narrow mosaics and combination of the centralized and decentralized[11]. Diversity principle in landscape planning
can coordinate urban landscape structure so to protect species from being monotony, and structure from being simple.

People-oriented Principle

Humanism
People-oriented urban development thoughts mean full consideration and satisfaction of material and spiritual
needs of the people, and are to promote their health physically and mentally in the course of urban development so
that everybody can enjoy equality, rights of freedom and a carefree, safe and comfortable living environment under
the principle of fairness [12]. The goal of urban planning is to satisfy people’s needs of survival and sustainable
development in an urban environment, and to create a livable space. Therefore, the space layout of human activities
between landscape and industrial zones and business districts should be properly arranged to create a cozy living
environment.

Staleness
Scale in urban landscape planning specifically embodies in scale of urban ecological green land, fragmented urban
edge areas and continuous isolation of landscape corridors and so on. As for the scale principles, a clear scale should
be stipulated during the landscape planning, and relevant regulation and management measures should be given with
people’s activity demand in mind to make urban landscape units mutual coordinated [13].

Principle of Sustainable Development

Sustainability
Urban landscape ecological planning should stay firmly rooted in the present while looking ahead to the future,
and should be sustainable. Sustainability is the extension in time on coordinated relations between human beings and
landscapes. However, the prerequisite for this coordination is to satisfy the basic needs of human beings and
continuous landscape ecological integration. The basic needs for human beings are food, health, houses and energy.
Landscape ecological integration includes productivity, biodiversity, soil and water. Therefore, urban landscape
ecological planning should base itself on sustainable development, and on sustainable utilization of landscape
resources and improvement of ecological environment to ensure the sustainable development of social economy [10].

Comprehensiveness
Urban landscape ecological planning is a comprehensive study. Firstly, it bases on the understanding of the origin,
status and change mechanism. Analysis of them requires interdisciplinary cooperation among landscape planners, soil
and water resource planners, landscape architects, ecologists, penologists, foresters, geographers and others. Secondly,
urban landscape ecological planning is to purposely adjust the urban landscape, and the foundation for it is its inner
landscape structure, landscape process, social-economic conditions and value. All of this requires consideration of
social and economic conditions, economic development strategies and population on the basis of thorough analysis of
landscape natural conditions, and evaluation of environmental influence after the implementation of the program so
as to make it more scientific and applicable [10].

DEMERITS AND SOLUTIONS TO LANDSCAPE PLANNING IN CHENGDU CITY

Status of Landscape Planning in Chengdu City

According to statistics, there is 83.29km2 of green land out of 283.86km2 of total central urban area in Chengdu
City, among which, the park green land is 18.39km2, a 22.08% of the total green land; the attached green land is
26.19km2, accounting for 31.44% of the total green land; the green buffer is 7.23km2, taking 8.68% of the total green

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space; productive green land is 11.16km2, accounting for 13.40% of the total green land; other green land is(mainly
scenic forest land and part of the wetland) 20.32km2, a 24.40% of the green land; the green coverage rate is 32.90%.
On the green land patches, the attached green land patches take the overwhelming advantage, accounting for 87.4%.
The main reason for it is that the attached green land composed of residential area and the unit green land reflected on
the satellite film are dots which are small and scattering. The following is park green land, accounting for 9.0%. The
scenic forest land accounts for 0.41%, which is the least. The reason for it is the high degree of natural green land.
This shows the attached green land in central urban area in Chengdu City holds the largest area, while park green
land and scenic forest land and other green land only account for about 20%. It can be concluded that waterproofing
ground has become dominant in building construction due to high degree of urbanization, while high-density buildings
and roads lead to the shortage of large area of park green land and scenic forest-dominant natural vegetation [15].

Demerits Analysis and Solutions to Landscape Planning in Chengdu City

Unapparent Regional Characteristics

It has lost its own traditional characteristics because of blindly following the international trend; landscape sketches
in urban public space and sculptures are too weak to interpret the city spirit; unapparent landscape without obvious
regional characteristics and cultural connotations; traditional streets and cultural flavor of city blocks are dimming
because of city transitions [14].
To avoid monotony, the nature, style and theme of the garden green land should be fully grasped; the historical
and cultural implications should be tapped along with the regional historical and cultural relics, connecting them as
an organic whole with roads and rivers [16].
Take the greenway system in Wenjiang District of Chengdu City as an example. The function of it is to combine
rural area, countryside, folk custom and culture, shifting from single traffic function to complex function of ecology,
sightseeing and preservation. In this way, the landscape effect of the roads can be enhanced and offer more chances
to get close to nature. The greenway system not only connects Wenjiang’s traditional Yufu culture, but also links
international green low-carbon value, thus opening a new green space for traditional culture and a modern life concept.
Basing on the greenway landscape planning in Wenjiang District of Chengdu City, the landscape planning in other
districts should also achieve integration of Ba-Shu culture and landscape design.

Shortage of Human-caring in Landscapes

Shortage of pedestrian streets and barrier-free greenway system; uneven green land in central urban area, absence
of enough open green land and shortage of wetland and urban forest area [14].
Landscape planning should give expression to users’ concern, for example, to better facilitate the combination of
landscape function and humanism; to give more thoughts to humanism in details, such as the installation of desks and
chairs, garden lambs and barrier-free passages; settlement of multi-layered green system to purify the micro-
environment and change the micro-climate, and to create a comfortable temperature, quiet environment by employing
improved nature-using methods [17].
In urban landscape design, personalized design can mediate people’s psychological affinity, and rational
landscapes can not only make life convenient, but also bring more harmonious user-landscape relations. It will
accommodate to people’s behavior to the largest extent, be more considerate and comfortable rather than letting users
accommodate and understand it.
In addition, people in cities are under much pressure of life, work and study. Interpersonal relations are becoming
tense and alienated. In response to such a reality, designers are obliged to create a space to soothe people with
consideration of satisfying the needs of people with different culture background and of different ages.

Not-in–place Management of Landscape

The not-in-place management of architecture styles and features makes the community of architecture and
structures and local characteristics degrade; the skyline seems to be in chaos due to the out of order high-rise buildings;
shortage of unified and distinctive signage system allows the appearance of improper installation of non-profit
billboards, thus exerting bad influence on urban landscapes [14].

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 In response to it, it’s important to know the requirements of system planning, theory design, land utilization, and
other basic facts in urban landscape planning so as to create a planned environment that is in harmony with nature
[18]
.(thorough consideration of building orientation, building interval, concession distance, road layout, plant
collocation, drainage situation, whether earthwork filling or digging is economical and rational, whether the pipeline
is tidy, rational and economical, then to conduct general design) Chengdu City is a comprehensive southwest central
city in China, featuring broad land, complicated functions and diversified architectures. Besides, different parts built
in different historical periods deliver varied city features. Therefore, these component factors should be appropriately
applied to foster the unique cultural images of Chengdu City.

Insufficient Attention to Ecology of Landscapes

Instead of developing a stable landscape ecological unit, there appears a dirty, noisy and disorder trend and a sign
of fragile ecology in the suburban area; there are insufficient surrounding-city ecological shelter belts in the peril-
urban area, therefore, the urban landscape ecological system has poor stability; in the process of urban water resource
protection and recovery, ecological island is formed, thus blocking the exchange between the aquatic ecosystem and
urban ecosystem [14].
The reason for poor urban landscape ecology is due to the lack of proper planning management in each part of the
ecological unit. The solutions to it firstly is to build an urban network using "eco-corridor" to connect landscape
patches, by employing the thoughts of "green line connection" and "block the land with green", to make urban planning
develop orderly so as to achieve organic decentralization and livable ecology; in addition, more green land should be
opened up.
The basic methods to set up the ecological green land network are to connect rivers, wetlands, forest lands, farm
lands and other green land with greenways. Increasing of the green land and greenways will make the network more
continuous and complete, and covering all the regions of the city.
As for the three-dimensional scheme, the land shortage and a series of urban environmental problems require us
to find more space to solve them with afforestation, while developing green land vertically happens to be a sound
measure.
The rooftop afforestation can not only make the city green, but also reduce the roof heat radiation of the
architectural materials and weaken the heat island effect. It surely will be a trend of ecological landscape building in
the future [14].

OUTLOOK OF URBAN LANDSCAPE PLANNING

Ecological and Sustainable Planning of Urban Landscape

Urban landscape ecological planning emphasizes rationality. It neither follows the natural laws unconditionally,
nor is human activity oriented, instead, it rationally plans for long-term ecological interests of human beings in
accordance with the natural laws. Ecological planning is the constraints for human beings and landscapes. People
emphasize effectiveness, while landscape planning lays emphasis on ecological rationality. So, urban planners and
relevant government departments, in future urban planning, should perfect planning policies so as to strike the right
balance between ecological rationality and effectiveness. In the course of planning, we should respect nature, optimize
design, save resources, preserve the land and vegetation, and pay attention to the ecological environment in the
building area; a certain area of land should be saved for sustainable development and for future development [17].

Urban Landscape Planning Pattern under Low-carbon Economy

Low-carbon economy has already become the dominant mode of economic development, which means a higher
requirement for urban landscape ecological planning. Under the low-carbon economic development mode, urban
landscape planning should be properly made, while a landscape pattern in low-carbon city calls for appropriate
planning of the land resources. Mixed use of functional diversity and multi-function land can create a short path, which
is beneficial for encouraging the use of public transport, achieving the goal of "low-carbon" development. Therefore,
a proper urban space layout, appropriate arrangement of industrial structure organization and infrastructure can guide
varied urban elements to gather in cities and towns and form a space pattern of regional space grade and level, then a
multi-polar network system in which all kinds of functions overlapping and intersecting is fostered [20].

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 CONCLUSION
The essay concludes the concept and principles of urban landscape planning, namely, urban landscape planning
should follow the principles of nature priority, humanism and sustainability to properly organize and allocate urban
landscape structures and functions so as to achieve the goal of safety and comfort; it also takes the status of landscape
planning in Chengdu City as an example to analyze its demerits, namely, insufficiency of ecology, management and
personalized design, then to offer solutions like building multi-tiered greening system and ecological corridors so as
to achieve orderly development, organic decentralization and livable ecology; looks into the future of urban landscape
planning, namely, sustainable planning to provide theoretical support for the development of an ecologically and
environmentally friendly low-carbon city.

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