Method And Application Of Landscape Character And Quality Assessment For Town And Village Scale

As an important component of national land space, the development and change of rural landscape relates to the sustainability of small rural area to regional or even larger geographical scope. Many kinds of problems emerged in rural landscape and the national supporting policies for rural development in China, are both increasing the demand for rural landscape assessment and planning, which include landscape quality and character assessment. In such context, this research firstly recognized the problems existed in the construction and development of rural landscape in different regions across China, discussed the possibility of landscape stewardship measures with farmers’ participation; then took Qiaokou Town in Changsha City as study region, applied rural landscape character and quality assessment in town and village scale, identified landscape problems in the concerning area and proposed landscape stewardship principles and measures; thirdly explored the relationship between landscape ecological and aesthetic functions based on landscape quality assessment, and selected key indicators according to such relationship; and finally applied rural landscape planning in village scale based on landscape character and quality assessment, as well as pattern and process analysis, proposed the landscape function division, and the spatial distribution, contents and construction requirements of different landscape enhancement projects.(1) Rural landscape status investigation was conducted on a national scale using questionnaire survey, including rural infrastructure, farmland scale operation, rural character and development condition. Based on this another questionnaire survey was conducted to explore farmers attitudes towards rural engineering projects and their willingness to participate in landscape stewardship measures. Results showed that lacking characteristics was a nationwide rural landscape problem, as well as lack of greening, over hardening and abandonment of rural roads and ditches, lack of landscape maintenance and settlement hollowing, and waste treatment, green space, and hygiene facilities needed improvement. Though farmers were not satisfied with rural infrastructure projects,68.3% of the investigated farmers were still willing to participate in such engineering projects and 98.7% would accept at least one landscape stewardship measure. There was a great possibility to introducing landscape stewardship measures into rural infrastructure engineering projects and managed by farmers while subsidies should be provided as compensation for economic risk.(2) Landscape classification is the basis of landscape assessment. Based on land use classification, landscape classification system was proposed using ecosystem/landscape character type, landscape type and subtype style, combined with features. Spatial database of village landscape was established by field survey and digitalizing based on high resolution RS image. Results of comparison between land use data based on national standard and landscape data based on field survey showed that, the former would loss up to 80% of vegetation area,50%～60% of detailed composition in settlement area, small vegetation and ponds in farmland which could be habitat or corridors accounting for 13.9% and 7.3% of the farmland area respectively, as well as 10% of the small water bodies which could also be habitat or stepping stones. Land use data based on national standard was suitable for larger area or smaller scale of 1:10000 or less, and landscape data based on field survey was suitable for small area or larger scale of 1:2000 or more, especially rural or farmland landscape which was greatly affected by human activities.(3) Identification of landscape character is a premise of landscape planning. Combining indoor preliminary classification and field observation,2 landscape character types and 7 landscape character areas (LCAs) were identified for Qiaokou Town. Landscape character descriptions and key characters for each LCAs were summarized in combination of quality and quantity, including characters of terrain, land use, farmland, vegetation, water body and settlement, and differences among LCAs in vegetation and farmland were compared. Based on landscape character classification and description, landscape problems and related key ecosystem services were analyzed and landscape stewardship principles and measures were proposed for typical LCAs. From application perspective, this study proposed a framework of the entire landscape character assessment process of characterization phase of classification and description, as well as the making judgment phase of problem identification and stewardship measures.(4) Landscape quality assessment framework was established aiming at solving the main landscape problems based on the review of researches on landscape indicators. Application of the framework was performed in both town and village scale. Then the relationship between ecological and aesthetic functions of landscape was analyzed based on village scale assessment, and key indicators which could indicating such relationships was screened using vegetation and landscape structure indices. The results indicated that it was a quick and simple way to establish landscape quality assessment system based on landscape problems and related ecosystem services. Ecological functions of landscape showed positive relationships with the aesthetic concept of coherence, naturalness, ephemera and imageability, and negative relationships with disturbance and stewardship. Based on such relationship,8 key indicators were selected which could indicate the relationship and the ecological functions of landscape to a certain degree.(5) Under the guidance of the results of landscape character and quality assessment, combining with landscape problem as well as the pattern and process analysis, the rural landscape planning process aiming at solving landscape problem and improving ecosystem service was proposed and applied in village scale. The general landscape function division and the spatial distribution, contents and construction requirements of different landscape enhancement projects were proposed.(6) Though the summary and extraction of outcomes of the methods and applications researches, the general principles and methods of rural landscape character and quality assessment were summarized and the overall framework for rural landscape construction to enhance ecosystem services was discussed. The whole research provided theoretical and practical references for rural policies such as rural landscape engineering projects and the "beautiful villages" campaign.