Weihai Urbanscape Feature Planning

Project Profile

Globalization and the rapid urbanization had a significant impact on China's urban construction, of which the most perceivable manifestation is the local characteristics and cultural identity formed in long-term development of cities is being weakened gradually. Cities are progressively losing their features and characteristics, which has become an important issue of China's contemporary urban development. The protection and creation of urban features and characteristics became an important and urgent task faced by the decision-makers and participants of urban construction. Since the 80s of the 20th century, a large amount of cities has carried out a variety of planning exploration related to urban style and landscape, through the excavation and enhancement of urban landscape features and characteristics to ensure the capacity of sustainable urban development, to improve the city's comprehensive competitiveness, and to cope with the impact on the urban landscape by globalization and rapid urbanization.

On systematic sorting of the concept and research of urbanscape feature planning both in and abroad, this study proposed a urbanscape feature planning approach based on the ecological infrastructure. It took Weihai city as case study to explore the theory and method.

The Study has following conclusions:

(1) Urbanscape features are mainly decided by the local natural process, historical and cultural process and the local socio-economic activities. It is the object of urban visual aesthetic, the basis of urban location and identity of citizens, the carrier of ecological processes and social economic process, telling the story of urban history and culture. The optimal urbanscape feature should not be visually “beautiful”, but also be “healthy” and “indigenous”.

(2) The current domestic research about urbanscape feature is mainly focused on built environment, and pays a lot attention on the sense of style and uniqueness. Our study has a breakthrough beyond the boundary of existing frame of theory and approaches. From the perspective of “negative planning” theory, it combined urban ecological infrastructure planning with urbanscape feature planning in line with local conditions, to develop urbanscape feature from multi-scale and multi-approach.

(3) Through studying of the urban macro-structure in depth, the planning has divided feature zones of natural landscape, cultural landscape to fully exhibit the excellence and variety of the region. Within the features zones, it combined the existing problems with the ecological infrastructure planning to work out feasible urbanscape control and management guidelines, whose results can be further integrated with urban regulatory detailed planning, making it the last rigid defense lines of protecting urban ecological security and urbanscape features.