Abstract

This study shows that an integrated ecological and cultural corridor network can help guide city development strategies to better preserve ecological and cultural assets. Traditionally, protection zones and suitable development areas are often identified by separately considering natural elements of the ecosystem and elements of cultural significance. To achieve the purpose of cohesively protecting areas of ecological and/or cultural significance, we have developed a corridor-based spatial framework by integrating ecological and cultural assets. Ecological sources are identified by combining protection prioritization, nature reserves, and water bodies. Ecological corridors are delineated by using the minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) model on a resistance surface constructed from land-use data to connect ecological sources. Ecologically important areas are then delineated by creating a 5-km buffer zone from ecological sources and ecological corridors. Cultural corridors are historical routes and rivers surrounded by abundant cultural nodes. Like ecologically important areas, culturally important areas are delineated by creating a 5-km buffer zone from cultural corridors. Comprehensive regions are the overlap of ecologically and culturally important areas. Finally, the integrated network connects all comprehensive regions following ecological corridors and cultural corridors in such a way that the largest number of ecological sources and cultural nodes are reached. We applied this framework in Beijing, China, and the results show that there are 2011 km2 of ecological sources, 30 ecological corridors, 423 cultural nodes, seven cultural corridors, and 10 comprehensive regions covering 2916 km2 in the integrated network. The framework adds new insights to the methodology of considering ecological and cultural assets together in developing protection and development strategies.

Highlights

  • IntroductionThe world population has increased exponentially under this massive urbanization

  • We address a few important gaps in the knowledge: (1) in the context of rapid urbanization, which leads to the disappearance of indigenous cultures and ecologically sensitive areas, comprehensive research on the combination of the ecological corridor and cultural corridor is not enough, and (2) current protection studies and practices of ecologically sensitive sites and cultural sites are not linked

  • We found that a total of 83% of the cultural nodes are Network within 5 km of the cultural corridors, and these cultural nodes show significant spatial

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Summary

Introduction

The world population has increased exponentially under this massive urbanization. Nations predicted that the world population will have increased to 9.7 billion by 2050 and. 66% of the population will reside in urban areas [2]. The rapid influx of popular culture from developed countries into developing countries and the widespread homogeneity of cultural practices have marginalized or even led to the disappearance of many indigenous cultures. These factors are the cause of many serious problems in the world today, such as air and water pollution, cultural invasion, biodiversity loss, food insecurity, and rising crime rates.

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