Analysis of Landscape Changes in an Urban Fringe Area for Sustainable Landscape Planning

Abstract

The worldwide conversion of natural lands into urban land uses is the most significant process affecting landscape character and ecological conditions. The aim of this research was to analyze the changes of landscape character and ecological conditions to provide comprehensive information to assist policy makers in meeting wider sustainability objectives in an urban fringe landscape. The result indicated that the landscape experienced the decrease in woodland cover (-22.70%) and agricultural land cover (-10.30%) between 2002 and 2014. However, the urban land cover sharply increased from 5.07% in 2002 to 38.07% in 2014. Due to their location on the edge of the core urban area, this landscape character unit had been under increasing pressure from new built developments. Development pressures include housing expansion from adjoining urban areas, and business developments particularly associated with key road intersections and expansions of public infrastructure. Furthermore, the landscape had been changing rapidly as massive high-rise apartment developments were built as the core urban area expands, with the removal of woodlands and arable fields. These landscape changes in the study area had a strong impact on landscape character for this period. The index of landscape heterogeneity declined from 0.802 in 2002 to 0.712 in 2014. The index of area weighted mean woodland patch shape was decreased from 3.196 in 2002 to 2.784 in 2014. The result suggested that it became a more homogeneous landscape and had less species and a less stable ecological structure for this period. This research only used the index of landscape heterogeneity for landscape ecological analysis. For more ecological information, a more comprehensive analysis based on landscape ecological metrics is needed in future researches.