Research On Protection And Development Of Rural Settlement Landscape In The Southeast Of Chongqing

Landscape of rural settlement is not only an important part of the living environment, but also an implication of the traditional way of rural life and profound cultural tradition. So the study of the landscape of rural settlement is important, especially in our country which is such a large agricultural nation. The level of urbanization in the southwest of Chongqing is very low, and the rural population accounts for about 90%of the total population. So the rural settlements are the main forms of living environment in the southeast of Chongqing. In addition the southeast of Chongqing has unique mountain terrain and karst landform, in which 76%of the surface is the middle mountains and the low mountains. The southeast of Chongqing has its unique natural environment characteristics. What is more, the southeast area of Chongqing is the habitat of various nations, where 28 minorities live together and have created colorful ethnic cultures. To sum up, the rural settlement landscapes of the southeast area of Chongqing are of unique regional characteristics, in the conditions of the unique terrain and diverse cultures.But since the 20th century, with the urbanization process and new rural constructions influencing, the traditional way of life and folk customs in many villages gradually fade, and rural landscape also be negatively affected:the ecological environment has damaged, the "model villages" emerge in succession, and the "hollow villages" appear... The landscapes of rural settlements of the southeast of Chongqing also encounter such problems when developing, so the protection and development of rural settlement landscape is particularly important.The author analyzes the rural settlement landscape of the southeast of Chongqing, including the locations of the settlements, the general layouts of the settlements, and the elements of settlement landscape, after consulting a lot of relevant references and investigating many villages in the southeast of Chongqing. Through the research, it shows that the traditional rural settlement landscape in the southeast of Chongqing highly adapts to the local natural environment.The natural environment and human environment of the rural settlement in the southeast of Chongqing have typical regional characteristics. The natural environment factors include topography, climate conditions, water distribution and plant resources, etc. The human environment factors include morality, traditional cultures and religious beliefs, etc. The natural environment and human environment function together, impacting on the formation and development of the local rural settlement landscape. After that, the paper analyzes the formation and development of the rural settlement landscape from the aspects of the selections of location, the layout and the landscape elements. The natural conditions, production and living needs, ideas of geomancy and other factors have influences all on the selections of location. The locations of settlement can be divided into the types as follows:the villages besides the water, the villages on the top of the mountains, the villages on the hillsides, the villages at the foot of the mountains, and the villages in the valleys. The overall layouts of the rural settlements also are influenced by the local terrain conditions, which can be divided into the types as follows:the linear layout, the grouping layout and the punctiform layout, indicating a highly adaptability to the landform. In addition, the paper analyzes the regional characteristics of rural settlement landscape of southeast region of Chongqing, from the landscape elements such as the buildings, the roads, the water system, and the plants and the public spaces, etc.But the author in research found some deficiencies:the natural environment destroyed, the humanities environment fading, the locations and the overall styles of the villages badly affected, and the landscape elements destructed especially the residential architecture. The paper discusses how to protect and develop the rural settlement landscape in view of the shortcomings above. According to the shortcomings above, the paper put forth two proper measures to protect the rural settlement landscape, which are taking measures of preservation in situ and moving to another place to rebuild and reform to realize the target of protection.This article researches from macroscopical to microcosmic on the environment of the rural settlements of the southeast of Chongqing, the whole style and features of the settlements, and the landscape elements. Then it discusses the general shapes and the regional characteristics of the local landscapes of rural settlements of the southeast of Chongqing, and finds out some shortcomings in the present local villages. After that, it set forward the reasonable protection and development ways to support references, in hope of protecting the regional features of landscapes of rural settlements, and developing the countries vigorously. At the same time, it also hopes that the paper can have some inspirations to modern rural landscape designs, and offer some guidance and references to the protection and development of villages.