An Empirical Study Of Wuhan Lakefront Landscape Changes

Known as "the city of hundreds of lakes", Wuhan City is famous for its abundant lakes and water, which constitutes one of the most characteristic landscape elements of Wuhan's urban configuration. Wuhan's natural hill and lake layout carries the history and culture of Wuhan's evolution and development. However, Wuhan's lakefront landscape is facing a daunting challenge. Wuhan has been forced to an embarrassing point where "it is affluent in and worrying about lakes" by various factors appeared in its development. Especially in recent decades, lakes with Wuhan are becoming quite disconcerting because of roaring urban population and increasing urbanization. Specifically, to start with, the number of lakes drops dramatically; their area shrinks quickly; there is serious silt deposit in current lakes. Next, with industrial production waste water and domestic sewage directly dumped into those lakes, water quality of the existing lakes deteriorates gravely. Furthermore, lakefront landscape is isolated and sealed up by large quantities of buildings constructed at a surprisingly high speed; lakefront inhabitants are dispelled by fragmented habitat and solidified embankment; many historical and cultural attractions are destructed by urbanization. Therefore, Wuhan's lakefront landscape is confronted with a grave challenge.On the basis of this situation, the formation causes and evolvement of Wuhan's lakes are analyzed systematically in this study through plentiful field studies, through the collection, classification and summation of related historical literature and through data acquisition, analysis and processing, and statistical output using Geographic Information System (GIS).The author strives to reveal the driving mechanism of the evolvement of Wuhan's lakes from the perspective of landscape planning, to analyze changes in the quality of land used, inhabitant species, human spectacles, and recreation and relaxing facilities and sight at Wuhan lakefront regions by the method of GIS data analysis and grid statistics, and to present related suggestions, expecting to set up a theoretical foundation for comprehensive treatment and protective development of urban lakes and to provide decision-making support for urban building and administration.A great deal of historical literature demonstrate that Wuhan's lakes dates back to the ancient Yunmengze Lake when the changes of lakes in Jianghan Plain (Wuhan lies in the east of Jianghan Plain) are dominated by natural deposition, and demonstrates that human activities that has far-reaching impact on Wuhan's lakes start with the building of Zhanggong Embankment in the Qing dynasty, after which those lakes are continuously exposed to human destruction and Wuhan' lakes changes are ruled by human intervention. The last two chapters of this dissertation, from the perspectives of culture, history, aesthetics and ecology, conduct in-depth analysis of factors influencing Wuhan's lakefront landscape, such as human culture, safety, vision, play and rest, as well as inhabitants, offering relevant planning suggestions and solutions. As a result of continuing urbanization, strong land demand in agriculture and the building sector, such as land for building of road networks, flood-preventing embankment and many lakefront parks, Wuhan's lakes are filled and divided on a continuous basis. With regard to natural disappearance, rapacious nibbling and destructive development of Wuhan's lakes, this dissertation discloses the evolvement tendency of Wuhan lakefront landscape and the laws behind it from a special historical perspective, and presents lakefront landscape optimization advice on the basis of sustainable development.