Development of a cross-scale landscape infrastructure network guided by the new Jiangnan watertown urbanism: A case study of the ecological green integration demonstration zone in the Yangtze River Delta, China

Abstract

• Landscape infrastructure is a socialecological-infrastructural system. • The landscape infrastructure network is a multiscalar and multifunctional network. • The New Jiangnan Watertown Urbanism combines productivity, livelihood and ecology. The Ecological Green Integration Demonstration Zone (EGIDZ) is in the Yangtze River Delta, one of the fastest growing regions in China. With ongoing rapid urbanization, the unique green–blue structure of water townships in the area has experienced severe human disturbance, which has resulted in habitat fragmentation, water pollution, ecosystem function decline, and biodiversity loss. The monofunctional municipal infrastructure lacks ecological efficacy, while the traditional concept of green infrastructure faces many limitations and adaptability in dealing with complex urban environments. In this context, we introduce the emerging concept of landscape infrastructure (LI), a soft engineered social-ecological-infrastructural system, as a wealth of inspiration and multiangle design solutions to address this challenge. As a performative structure medium, LI has the potential to incorporate all infrastructures (e.g., green and gray) across the spectrum of the urban territory. The study was carried out mainly through remote sensing and GIS technology. In the research process, (i) the ecological sources were identified based on morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA) and landscape connectivity, (ii) a resistance model, minimum ecological cost path, and gravity model were used to develop ecological corridors and the green infrastructure network, and (iii) green infrastructure networks were integrated with sociocultural factors to form hybrid multifunctional LI networks. The results mainly show that (i) the green infrastructure network layout is based on ecological sources, especially those extremely important and important cores, and they are mainly located in the western, northern, and central parts of the study area; (ii) the LI network was constructed based on the green infrastructure network by combining sociocultural factors, such as human flows, roads, factories and residential heatmaps; and (iii) through the combination of macroscale planning and microscale design, we propose a multiscale and multifunctional LI network in the EGIDZ. We then put forward a new development model of the New Jiangnan Watertown Urbanism, which consists of the 'Watertown unit' and 'Watertown cluster' that subsequently forms a resilient water-based robust and productive canvas of 'Productivity, Livelihood, and Ecology'. This research provides a basis for future explorations of the sustainable development of a new green–blue system and for context-responsive solutions to these wet and fertile lowlands.