An eco‐city design methodology for hilly areas of western China

Abstract

Zigong City, Sichuan Province, is a typical hilly area, and relatively rough land leveling was carried out in the pre-development of its aviation industrial park, which has caused some damage to the ecological environment. In this study, the Delphi method was used to determine the degree of influence of four ecological factors, namely elevation, slope, woodland and surface water, on the site. Based on the comprehensive scoring of various indexes and the superposition analysis of elements such as current buildings and water systems, the analysis of ecological sensitivity and site suitability was obtained, and a more optimal development and construction plan was proposed accordingly. Based on the GIS model, the area with ecological sensitivity index below 4 is identified as about 167.4 hectares, the valley area along the water system has the highest sensitivity and should be avoided for development and construction, and the mildly sensitive area should be developed and constructed with the principle of minimum interference. The unsuitable construction area is about 65.7 hectares, except for the river mostly for the area where the slope of the site is more than 25 %. Combining the topographic features to determine the low-impact road selection and building layout, different design strategies are proposed for hilltops, ridges, valleys and saddles, and the elevation difference of the site is solved by using staircases to carry out the building layout of a high building on high ground and low building on low ground. This study is a development strategy proposed for the ecological damage caused during the construction of the new area in Zigong City, which has been approved and put into practice by the local government to obtain a better overall urban environment and can provide a reference for other urban developments in hilly areas.