Analysis of the impact of ancient city walls on urban landscape patterns by remote sensing

Abstract

As the most important construction features of ancient Chinese cities, the city walls nowadays have lost their function of enemy defense and turned to affect the urban structure and development. To clarify the impact of ancient city walls on modern urban development, this work was conducted to measure the differences of landscape types and levels between the inner and outer walls of three typical ancient Chinese cities with the help of geoinformatics materials and landscape ecology indices. The results of this research proved that city walls have great impact on landscape pattern. Specifically, the aggregation, fragmentation, diversity and evenness of landscape were strongly affected by well-preserved ancient city walls. By sorting out and consulting historical documents and China's “City Walls Protection Regulations”, we also found that city walls help the old city to retain its original style and design characteristics. The findings of this quantitative-analysis-based historical study can provide a theoretical basis for the protection of historical heritage and landscape design.