Urban Landscape Design Research Articles

Influence of urban surface compositions on outdoor thermal environmental parameters on an urban road: A combined two-aspect analysis

The summer outdoor thermal environment is gradually deteriorating in most cities in low and middle latitudes under global warming, threatening human health and life. This study was conducted to improve this situation, in which urban surface compositions were seen as the main influencing factors at vertical and horizontal levels. Results showed urban surface compositions affected the outdoor thermal environment at both levels. CVI and GVI were the key vertical factors, while NDBI and NDVI were the crucial horizontal ones. More importantly, synergies on the outdoor thermal environment between the two levels were found, and they were higher than any single level; the sums of the independent effects were 27.05% and 64.21%, and the synergetic explanatory powers were 9.10% and 34.37% for air temperature and humidity, respectively. The potential reason for the synergy between the two levels was attributed to their correlation, especially for the CVI and GVI to the NDBI and NDVI. The TVoEs of the CVI and GVI were 0.31 and 0.17, respectively, regulating air temperature at the vertical level, and the TVoE of the NDVI was 0.33, coordinating humidity at the horizontal level. These results provide scientific evidence and data support for urban planning and landscape design.

Smart cultural and political narratives in urban and periurban landscape

Urban space constitutes in general the historical, cultural and politi-cal environment, the important ‘cultural landscape’, correlated not solely to ma-terial indices but, moreover, to immaterial, intangible mnemonic references. The possibility to present this multifaceted info-sense tissue to visitors is usual-ly assigned to guides personifying the description of the city, in a time and space restricted way, delimiting the volume of information and proposing a pre-confined number of guiding narratives only. Furthermore, these conventional guiding itineraries are usually directed to tourists, or to specialized didactic and presentational events; they are not offered to the immediate desire of knowledge or to the game-oriented tendency of the urban ‘flâneur’, of the urban stroller. Behind a conventional guiding tour, extended libraries, or galleries may be con-cealed, many hours of musical references; differentiated ‘ontologies’ of infor-mation, of semantic sequences which could be reorganized and reconnected again and again. Our effort presented in three different projects of urban landscape design, has to do with the correlation of this enormous quantity of interconnected in-formation with real space visiting itineraries, associated to virtual digital guid-ance as well. The scope of the projects presented is the same in all three pro-posals. It has to do with the importance of public urban and peri-urban space as a generator for social identity and cohesion. Considering that identities are basi-cally formed through socializing among members, as well as by exposing col-lective affiliations in public, the primary role of public space and the extended offer of cultural, historical and political information in such a process, is easily understood.

Seasonal effects of urban morphology on land surface temperature in a three-dimensional perspective: A case study in Hangzhou, China

Architecture influences the design of urban landscapes and hence plays an important role in the regulation of urban thermal environment. Studies on the correlation between multi-dimensional building morphology and land surface temperature (LST) have been conducted in many cities around the world. However, general conclusions on their relationship have not been drawn, owing to the differences in climatic, social, and economic conditions between cities. Moreover, the multivariate and nonlinearity of the three-dimensional (3D) indicators also require more robust and specific statistical models. In this study, the random forest (RF) regression model was used to quantitatively analyse the seasonal differences in the responses of nine multi-dimensional building indicators to LST. The results show that the building coverage ratio (BCR), high building ratio (HBR), and architecture height standard deviation (AHSD) always had the most substantial influence. Across seasons, the average relative contribution ratios of BCR, HBR, and AHSD were 13.23–33.50%, 11.37–20.06%, and 9.02–24.12%, respectively. In general, 2D indicators tended to have a higher impact in warmer seasons while 3D indicators showed more impact on LST in cooler seasons. According to the marginal effect analysis, the BCR, cubic index (CI), and aggregation index (AI) were the main heating indicators, whereas AHSD and HBR were the main cooling indicators. Overall, our findings contribute to the understanding of the urban heat island phenomenon, which remains an important issue in the context of sustainable landscape and urban planning.

Tropical bird communities benefit from regular-shaped and naturalised urban green spaces with water bodies

Urbanisation has been linked to habitat loss and degradation with detrimental impacts on native biodiversity. Urban green spaces can provide refuge habitats for less tolerant bird species which cannot survive elsewhere in a dense network of buildings and impervious surfaces that characterise highly urbanised cities. While there is growing research interest in the importance of urban refugia in sustaining biodiversity in temperate regions, studies in tropical cities, particularly in Southeast Asia, are poorly represented. We investigated how bird diversity across 64 urban green spaces in Singapore are influenced by spatial factors at multiple scales. Data was collected via a structured citizen science program spanning five years with a standardised sampling protocol. At the site scale, where each of the urban green spaces represents a site, bird diversity was positively related to regularly-shaped urban green spaces and seminatural vegetation. At the local scale, indicating surveyed points within each site, the richness of several bird functional groups increased in the presence of freshwater bodies. Our results highlight the importance of considering the spatial effects of environmental factors on bird diversity at multiple scales. Aside from increasing the availability of green spaces in urban areas, land-use planners and landscape designers should also seek to provide green spaces that are regularly shaped to minimise the impacts of edge effects, prioritise the retention of more semi-natural vegetation and include freshwater bodies to enhance and sustain bird diversity in cities.

Applying a Systemic Approach for Sustainable Urban Hillside Landscape Design and Planning: The Case Study City of Chongqing in China

Rapid urbanization has led some Chinese cities to extend to hillside sites with recurrent patterns of flattening sloping terrain to erect high rise buildings. This approach usually results in disturbing local ecosystems which protection is an important requirement towards achieving the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Studies examining the special patterns of urban extensions onto hills and the driving forces of behind the deterioration of environmental quality in cities are scarce. This paper aims to answer two questions; “What are the definitions and goals for sustainable landscape design for hillside urban extensions?” and “What are the real causes for the unsustainability of current urban hillside housing developments?” These questions will be approached, first through a literature review, and second through considering the case study of Chongqing Yue Lai eco-city and examining the limitation and remediation through the whole process of the land construction loop within the systemic approach. This article illustrates how sustainable urban hillside landscape design and planning can be achieved by balancing the priorities of four key stakeholders (government, developers, city dwellers, and local ecosystem). This calls for shifting from the central planning system dominated by local governments by including the equally important priorities of its citizens (human actors) and non-human actors (ecosystem).

Urban Landscape Design for Riverfronts in Iraqi Cities a Comparative Study Between Local and Regional Legislation

Iraq has multiple water resources, so it urgently needs legislation to develop its river bank and benefit from its water resources. The purpose of this study is to investigate the shortcomings in the lack of development of the urban landscape of riverfronts in Iraqi cities by reviewing the legislative aspect of the laws regulating them, which are supposed to improve the quality of life for its citizens and achieve better environmental, social, economic and urban exploitation. This research was carried out using a qualitative approach, by analyzing the content of legislation and guidelines for urban landscapes for waterfronts in regional countries, finding urban design principles in them, and comparing them with the current Iraqi laws through the checklist. The results show that there are shortcomings in the Iraqi legislation for riverfronts and that it does not keep pace with the changes taking place in the world. The results were used to present proposals for the development of urban landscape legislation for the riverfront in Iraqi cities, in line with their social, economic and environmental conditions.

Ecological Evaluation of Sponge City Landscape Design Based on Aquatic Plants Application

Urbanization increases the impervious surface of land and disrupts the hydrological cycle of urban water resources. Optimum landscape design based on climatic and geographical factors can reduce the destructive effects of urban development on surface and subsurface flows. The construction of a sponge city is an essential step towards achieving this structure. Aquatic plants are the most important component of the ecological regeneration of urban landscapes. The land cover changes caused by aquatic plants reduce the speed of water and increase the penetration of runoff into the porous environment. In addition, not only can the use of aquatic plants as the main component of water saving for ecological restoration control water erosion, but it can also have a positive effect on landscape architecture. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop a multi-objective urban landscape design model based on the use of aquatic plants. Moreover, the limitations of improving the urban ecosystem with aquatic plants were analyzed based on the theory of ecological restoration in a sponge city. The required area for the cultivation of these plants was calculated according to the flood return periods and the two objective functions of land slope and runoff rate. The results show that surface runoff decreased by 15% and that rainfall and flood decreased by 21% for a 50-year return period.

An analysis of modelling the ecological importance of modern agricultural landscaping

Landscape is an important part of urban ecosystem, and the assessment of landscape ecological importance is important to guide landscape design. The current ecological importance analysis mainly uses the comprehensive index relationship quantification to abstract the corresponding mathematical model, and the sample data interferes with the analysis results. To address the above-mentioned shortcomings, the ecological importance modeling analysis of modern urban landscape design is studied. Based on the calculation of modern urban landscape pattern index, the ecological importance index system of landscape design is established. Using the combination of hierarchical analysis and GIS technology, the index parameters are determined. Using metacellular automata, the ecological importance analysis model was constructed. The results of the case verification show that the constructed analysis model can demonstrate the changes of ecological importance of landscape design more accurately and effectively guide the landscape design.

Healthier and Environmentally Responsible Sustainable Cities and Communities. A New Design Framework and Planning Approach for Urban Illumination

Although sustainability and sustainable development are both considered necessary practices in various fields today, a recent analysis showed that the Sustainable Development Goal SDG11: Sustainable Cities and Communities established by the United Nations does not address urban illumination and its impact. This oversight is of concern because research carried out in the last 20+ years indicates artificial light at night (ALAN) in cities, and the light pollution this generates can have negative consequences on human health and well-being and the entire environment, including ecosystems and the flora and fauna that inhabit them. By applying a literature review, analysis and synthesis method, this work offers a new perspective on lighting and a timeline of key events that established ALAN and light pollution awareness in different disciplines and professional groups connected to urban illumination. It also identifies three fundamental aspects which require further transdisciplinary research and the translation of this knowledge into practice in order to enable the development of sustainable cities and communities at night. Finally, it presents in detail a new, theoretical environment-centred design framework for responsible urban illumination, with four iterative design phases, in order to help guide various stakeholders in cities, along with a four-level pyramid model that can be applied to urban illumination in the form of principles, processes, practices, and tools. This framework is especially relevant for those urban planners, architects, and landscape designers, who are unfamiliar with the subject in order to present the most effective and appropriate lighting design approach and methods that should be taken into consideration with the design of a given urban nighttime environment/situation.

GIS-based land-use suitability analysis for urban agriculture development based on pollution distributions

With recent increases in urban population and development, agricultural lands have been changed to residential areas and industrial settlements. Such urban population growth increases necessitate emerging relatively new strategies and forms in urban parks and landscape designs to meet today's economic, social, and ecological needs toward sustainable development. Urban agriculture is one of the strategies for achieving sustainable development and creating multi-purpose landscapes. Such an approach appears to partially solve the problem of agricultural land reduction and degradation. However, urban pollutants seem to hinder the development of such a sustainable concept in the cities. This research aimed to identify suitable locations for urban agriculture in urban green spaces according to various contamination criteria and the uniform distribution of the green spaces in Mashhad, Iran. In this research, using an Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and a Geographic Information System (GIS) facilitated the decision-making process. It also determined the importance of the land use criteria for urban agricultural development. The results showed that the most suitable areas for urban agricultural development with the least impact of pollutants in Mashhad were the suburbs, especially in the northeast and southeast parts. These research results have practical implications for planning urban agricultural development at the city level across the world.

The Effects of Exercise and Social Interaction in Different Natural Environments on the Mental Health of Urban Residents

Background: Together with the rapid development of China’s economy, the number of urban residents suffering from depression and psychological disorders has been increasing as a result of the general increase in life stress. As a consequence, this study investigates the effects on users’ mental health through exercise and social interaction in three different outdoor natural landscapes, and provides theoretical and practical guidance for urban landscape planning and design. Methods: In this study, pre- and post-DASS21 (depression, anxiety and stress) data were obtained by using the DASS21 scale (used to assess depression, anxiety, and stress) to test a population of users performing simple exercise and social interactions in three natural environments, and the data scale values were statistically analyzed using SPSS. Results: (1) In the natural outdoor environment within the community, there was a relationship between the outdoor environment and perceived atmospheric temperature, with (single) and (group) perceived outdoor temperatures in the community having smaller effects on the mood of community residents; (2) After analyzing the data by descriptive statistics (p < 0.05), it was found that there was a slight change in the mean scores both before the participants climbed Yuelu Mountain and after they reached the summit; the mean scores of stress, anxiety, and depression decreased after they reached the summit, and the condition improved; (3) There was a slight change in the mean of both scores before the departure to and after the return from the Tongguan Kiln attractions, with a slight improvement in the condition after the return of the stress and depression mean scores. Conclusions: Enhancing social relationships through exercise and social interaction in a natural environment in different populations significantly increases the benefits for mental health (depression, anxiety, and stress) and assists recovery from stress-related mental disorders. Different landscape types and landscape attribute characteristics have different effects on urban residents’ preferences and mental health. Rich natural landscapes, providing green exercise environments, and t social interactions have positive effects on the mental health of urban residents. Especially in environments where the change in altitude is around 200 m, climbing is very beneficial to psychological emotions.

Urban Landscape Design Based on Virtual Reality Technology

Different from the western classical stone buildings, China has formed the traditional architectural style with wood as the main body since ancient times. With the progress of the times and the collision between Chinese and western cultures, people put forward higher requirements for the current urban planning and landscape design, hoping that the future urban landscape design can follow the style of “Chinese and new.” Traditional urban landscape design usually adopts solid model, rendering renderings, or three-dimensional animation, but these methods all have some defects. With the development of computer technology and the rise of Internet industry, virtual reality technology appears, and because of its excellent multiperception, immersion, interactivity, and autonomy, it is gradually applied to medical, military, entertainment, virtual city, and other fields of human life. Urban landscape design based on virtual reality technology is an important technical way of urban landscape design at present. It can help designers to better perfect the design details, experience it personally in the design process, find the existing problems and defects in the current design in time, and improve the design efficiency. It can also assist urban planners to make corresponding decisions. However, due to the high cost and the shortage of technical personnel, it is only implemented in a small area at present. Take the virtual Los Angeles project in the United States as an example, which is a typical case of the application of virtual reality technology in urban planning and construction and successfully realizes the interactive function between users and virtual environment. With the continuous development and improvement of virtual reality technology, there are more and more corresponding talents, and this technology will be widely used in the future urban planning and construction, forming our own “middle and new” urban landscape style.

Developing Strategies to Improve the Urban Environmental Structure Resiliency During and After Corona Pandemic: A Literature Review

Purpose of ReviewThe objective of this study is to review the literature on the role of urban environmental structures and to develop proper strategies to strengthen their resilience so that the management performance of the Corona disease can be enhanced.Recent FindingsCities have been severely affected by the Coronavirus pandemic. Changes in the lifestyle of citizens during the pandemic have led urban planners to the realization that the current structure and function of cities do not meet the needs of citizens. Hence, the structure of urban landscape must be transformed so that cities become livable ecosystems for citizens and the urban environment becomes resilient to all kinds of crises. As a result, considering the new standards of life during the pandemic, the question of what changes to the urban planning and design are required to make cities viable and resilient systems arises. Since the year 2020, much research has been published on the impact of Coronavirus on the lifestyle of citizens and the urban environment. These impacts have positively or negatively affected the structure and function of cities in a direct or indirect manner. Similar to all the related studies, the necessity of making changes to the planning and design of urban landscapes has been emphasized here.SummaryThe present study reviews the literature on the effect of the structure of the urban environment on the corona pandemic management. The objective is to develop proper strategies for planning and designing resilient urban landscapes. It is emphasized that in order to realize the dream of resilient cities during and after the pandemic, the need to develop an interconnected network of green and open urban patches, green transportation system, green neighborhoods, and green residential buildings should be met so that urban resilience and livability can be achieved at a higher level.

Spatiotemporal Study of Park Sentiments at Metropolitan Scale Using Multiple Social Media Data

Creating wonderful emotional experiences is the critical social function and cultural service of urban parks. Park sentiment patterns in rapidly urbanizing metropolitan areas need to be understood and interpreted thoroughly. This research aims to systematically study park sentiment patterns in metropolitan areas. By focusing on parks in Shanghai city and using the local mainstream social media data (SMD) of Dazhong Dianping, Ctrip, and Weibo, we created a series of score-related indicators to estimate park sentiment. We then applied statistical analyses to systematically interpret sentiment patterns in the spatial, temporal, and spatiotemporal domains, explored their related factors, and compared the performance of different SMD sources. The results proved that Shanghai parks generally bring positive emotions to visitors but showed uneven sentiment patterns citywide. Park sentiment distributions differed from various SMD sources, but the SMD sets of Dazhong Dianping and Ctrip showed significant correlations. For these two SMD sets, visitors have greater and more stable happiness in parks on a workday than on a non-workday and in spring than in other seasons. Parks with higher positive sentiments are scattered citywide, whereas those with lower emotions are clustered in the downtown area. For Weibo, more positive emotions occurred on non-workdays or in autumn, and the lower mood clustering did not exist. Moreover, the quality-related internal factors of the park itself, rather than external factors such as location and conditions, were identified to influence park sentiment. The innovations of park sentiment methods in this study included using multiple SMD sets, creating more accurate sentiment indexes, and applying statistics in temporal, spatial, and spatiotemporal domains. These enhanced sentiment analyses for urban parks to obtain more systematic, comprehensive, and thorough results. The defects and improvements for urban park construction were explored by interpreting park sentiment patterns and possible causes and effects. This motivates better park management and urban development, and enlightens urban planners, landscape designers, and policymakers.

A Framework for Co-Design Processes and Visual Collaborative Methods: An Action Research Through Design in Chile

With the urgency to adapt cities to social and ecological pressures, co-design has become essential to legitimise transformations by involving citizens and other stakeholders in their design processes. Public spaces remain at the heart of this transformation due to their accessibility for citizens and capacity to accommodate urban functions. However, urban landscape design is a complex task for people who are not used to it. Visual collaborative methods (VCMs) are often used to facilitate expression and ideation early in design, offering an arts-based language in which actors can communicate. We developed a co-design process framework to analyse how VCMs contribute to collaboration in urban processes throughout the three commonly distinguished design phases: conceptual, embodiment, and detail. We participated in a co-design process in the Atacama Desert in Chile, adopting an Action Research through Design (ARtD) in planning, undertaking and reflecting in practice. We found that VCMs are useful to facilitate collaboration throughout the process in design cycles. The variety of VCMs used were able to foster co-design in a rather non-participatory context and influenced the design outcomes. The framework recognized co-design trajectories such as the early fuzziness and the ascendent co-design trajectory throughout the process. The co-design process framework aims for conceptual clarification and may be helpful in planning and undertaking such processes in practice. We conclude that urban co-design should be planned and analysed as a long-term process of interwoven collaborative trajectories.

Analysis and Exploration of the Current Situation of Modern Landscape Architecture Planning and Construction Problems — Taking Zhuhai Yuanming New Garden as an Example

This paper discusses and analyzes the current situation of domestic urban landscape architecture planning and design, and takes the Yuanming new garden, a typical modern landscape architecture in Zhuhai, as an example. Based on the bibliometric analysis and the fund research analysis of Wanfang Data Kehui platform, this paper combs the frontier and development trend of the current landscape architecture planning and design research. Secondly, through the field investigation of Zhuhai Yuanming new garden and the visual analysis of the data platform, this paper discusses the current situation, problems in planning practice, and suggestions to be improved.

Design and Practice of Plant Landscaping in Landscaping

With the continuous development of social economy, many cities pay more attention to the landscape design of landscaping, and put forward various relevant policies for landscaping, laying a solid foundation for landscaping. Especially in the context of the information age, various types of plants emerge in endlessly, and the economic benefits are increasingly prominent, which has virtually improved the economic outlook of China’s cities. As an important part of landscape design, plant landscaping can not only improve the quality of urban construction, but also improve the quality of urban water resources and air, optimize people’s longterm living environment, and create a beautiful landscape for people. At the same time, plant landscaping is widely used in modern urban landscape design. It is necessary to strictly follow the principles of garden landscaping and ecological theory, coordinate the development of cities and nature, take nature as the main optimization goal, promote the sustainable development of cities, and let people enjoy a beautiful environment. Based on this, by analyzing the importance of plant landscaping, this paper makes people aware of the significance of plant landscaping to the ecological environment, and then analyzes the forms of plant ornamental expression from different aspects, which is conducive to the garden staff to design a satisfactory garden plant landscape.

Integrating Point-of-Interest Density and Spatial Heterogeneity to Identify Urban Functional Areas

Accurately identifying and delineating urban functional areas has seen increasing demand in smart urban planning, landscape design, and resource allocation. Recently, POI (point of interest) data have been increasingly applied to identify urban functional areas. However, heterogeneity in urban spaces or the corresponding POI data has not been fully considered in previous studies. In this study, we proposed a new scheme for urban-functional-area identification by combining POI data, OpenStreetMap (OSM) datasets, and high-resolution remote-sensing imagery. A function-intensity index that integrates the quantitative-density index and average-nearest-neighbor index (ANNI) of POIs was built for representing the urban function. The results show that the proposed function-intensity index can balance the impact of the spatial heterogeneity of each type of POI on determining the functional characteristics of the urban units. In Futian District, Shenzhen, China, the method was effective in distinguishing functional areas with fewer POI amounts but high ANNIs from those functional areas with dense POIs. The overall accuracy of the proposed method is about 11% higher than that of the method using the POI density only. This paper argues for considering both the quantitative density and spatial heterogeneity of POIs to improve urban-functional-area identification.

Street Landscape Planning and Design Guided by Artificial Intelligence Interactive Experience.

As an important part of the city, urban streets have always played an active role in carrying public needs and optimizing public living spaces. They are also important to open public spaces in the city. In addition, with technology integration and life, the interactive experience of artificial intelligence (AI) in Street View is gradually increasing. A streetscape planning and design method based on AI interactive experience is proposed. CSiXRevit 2022 software builds street simulation models for better street planning and design. Street digital imaging technology is used to analyze the original streetscape. Landscape features are integrated with the street model. Based on intelligent technology, urban landscape design is studied, and AI interactive experience is analyzed. Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and AI technology evaluate the effect of landscape design. Firstly, AHP is used to construct the evaluation index system of the rural landscape design effect, and the index weight is determined. Back propagation neural network (BPNN) is used to construct an evaluation model of landscape design effect. Three indexes of target, project, and indicator layer are used to evaluate the effect of rural landscape design. The results show that (1) the variety and richness of streetscapes in the survey area should be increased. Interactive buildings should be placed on the street. (2) The comprehensive evaluation score of the street landscape is 0.60, and the design effect is excellent. The comprehensive evaluation values of the three project layers are 0.65, 0.48, and 0.67, respectively. The data show that the carrying capacity index of the study area is the best, and the vitality index is the weakest. Therefore, when designing the street landscape, the economic development has been strengthened by attracting investment, introducing large-scale exhibition shops, increasing street income, strengthening the construction of street public facilities, and paying attention to the public street experience. This work can provide references for related streetscape designs.

A study of subtropical park thermal comfort and its influential factors during summer

Outdoor thermal comfort is significantly relevant to human's quality of life. Thus, it has been frequently studied by investigators. This study explored people's thermal responses to environments and the subjective factors that might affect thermal comforts with respect to two urban parks in Xindu, a satellite city in the Chengdu Plain (CDP). CDP is located at the southwest of China, which has a subtropical climate. The environment from each of the two parks was studied using current micrometeorology and hoped-for landscape changes (tree canopies, artificial canopies, non-canopying plants, and water surfaces); subjective factors included gender, age, body mass index, clothing isolation, and physical activities. It was found that canopies were the most preferred objective cooling elements, while individual thermal perceptions varied subjectively by age. The highest proportion of volunteers voted for tree canopies as their favourite thermal adjusting element. It was observed that those aged above 55 showed low thermal sensitivity. The remaining group's neutral temperatures (indicated by physiologically equivalent temperature, PET) were close, at approximately 25 °C. This study provides significant direction for future urban planning and landscape design.