Study on Ecological Characteristics of Regional Urbanization in Hubei Province of China

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1 Ekoloji 27(106): (2018) Study on Ecological Characteristics of Regional Urbanization in Hubei Province of China Liyuan Li 1,2*, Mengting Ren 1,2, Jianian Liang 1 1 School of Art and Design, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, CHINA 2 New Rural Construction Research Center, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, CHINA * Corresponding author: @qq.com Abstract The research is designed to emphasize the importance of reserving local ecology in the urbanization of Hubei. Field study and statistics analysis are applied to the study of potential problems existing in the process of urbanization in Hubei, including insufficient motive force, over-emphasis of economical development in the cost of environmental pollution, faulty ecological infrastructure, neglect and damage of vernacular landscape heritage, insufficient exploitation of natural and human resources and the lack of unique feature among cities. Based on the analysis of these problems, the study proposes that to make sure the smooth progress of urbanization Hubei government should work out appropriate strategy to carry out urbanization in accordance with its local characteristics, strengthen ecological infrastructure, form landscape network for vernacular landscape heritages, strengthen the sustainability of overall landscape, and accelerate the Practice of City Betterment and Ecological Restoration. Keywords: urbanization, ecological civilization, regional characteristics Li L, Ren M, Liang J (2018) Study on Ecological Characteristics of Regional Urbanization in Hubei Province of China. Ekoloji 27(106): INTRODUCTION In Report of the 19th CPC National Congress, it is clearly pointed out that ecological civilization is very significant and should be greatly promoted. At the same time, the report defines the concept of new urbanization and emphasizes the importance of the constructive interaction and mutual coordination between urbanization and industrialization, and urbanization and agricultural modernization as orientation in hope to promote the integrated urbanand-rural development, and finally build up a new harmonious relation between city (industrial economy) and countryside (agricultural economy) in which industry will help to accelerate agriculture and urban development will stimulate the development of countryside, and finally both industry and agriculture will benefit from the interaction and form an organic whole. In addition, in Opinions of CPC Central Committee and State Council on Accelerating the Construction of Ecological Civilization, it is further stressed that green urbanization should be greatly promoted in accordance with National Plan on New Urbanization from 2014 to 2020, in which many principles are listed as guidelines for Chinese urbanization, including building environment-friendly civilization with low carbon consumption and embodying unique features based on traditional heritage. The plan especially emphasizes the significant role of ecological civilization in the process of urbanization to strengthen the environmental protection and ecological restoration. The plan also holds that urbanization should be in line with local characteristics, take advantage of the natural, historical and cultural resources, and give top priority to the natural and cultural individuality to make beautiful cities and towns with historical and cultural memory and unique regional and ethnic features. The documents mentioned above are critical since they play a guiding role for the study of how to embody the ecological and regional characteristics in the urbanization of Hubei province. EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS Problems in the Urbanization of Hubei Province To achieve the rise of central region, the government of Hubei province is accelerating its urbanization and places it as one of the most important development strategies. With a continuous increase, the urbanization rate in Hubei has risen from 46% in 2009 to 59.3% in The rate is above national average level and ranks first in the central areas of China. While Foundation Environmental Protection & Research-FEPR Received: 2 Jul 2016 / Accepted: 7 Oct 2018

2 Li et al. showing a rapid progress, the urbanization of Hubei also witnesses some problems waiting to be solved, which is mainly reflected in the following aspects. Lack of Motive Force in Government-dominated Urbanization Due to a huge population in the rural areas and wide economic gap between city and countryside, the model of urbanization is different from that of western countries. First, Chinese government plays a dominating role in the process of urbanization, while the urbanization in western countries is mainly motivated by market, which plays a dominating role in the process. Second, Chinese urbanization is promoted mainly by government in leaping-growth ways, for example, setting up new towns and new zones, while the urbanization of Western countries is mainly based on the mode of continuous urban sprawl (Li et al. 2012). Government-dominated urbanization shows great advantages in stimulating domestic demand and promoting large-scale agricultural production, and even accelerating urbanization rate in a short term. However, there are many problems exposed in the process. First, there arises contradiction between the urbanization of living condition and the way of life and production. Forcing rural people to live in multi-storey buildings has become a powerful weapon to reach the target of rapid urbanization. However, the form of centralized residence brings farmers many inconveniences. These multi-storey buildings are not designed for the holding of large farm implements and the air-drying of grain. Moreover, the prolonged distance between home and farming land makes them hard to engage in agricultural production. Second, the large-scale land-ownership transfer promoted by the government only increases farmers income in a short period but ignore the security of sustainable income in a long period, which adversely decreases the capability of farmers to cope with life risk in the future (Wang 2016). Third, governmentdominated urbanization is mainly driven by the promotion of large projects and infrastructure. In the process, government will lead the development pace and direction, so the private economy is restricted and thus market vitality is weakened to some extent. In conclusion. The driving force of governmentdominated urbanization is not sufficient for continuous development in spite of its economic benefit in a short term. Over-emphasis on Economical Development in the Cost of Environmental Pollution Good-conditioned ecological infrastructure facilities and system can provide urbanization with enduring sustaining power. However, the high-speed urbanization at present is bringing many serious side effects to the ecological infrastructure and system, including fragmented landscape, waterlogging, urban smog, etc. Based on the investigations on the urbanization of Hubei province, a conclusion can be made that to some extent the existing deficiencies in ecological infrastructure have become impediments to the progress of urbanization, including crudely-made facilities on lake shore, seriously-polluted water due to free discharge of domestic sewage, improper disposal of garbage, etc. Aging and Crudely-made Facilities on Lake Shore Through field research, it was found that in Jiangling, a county in Hubei, a newly-built public square accompanies an internal lake with rough revetment, bare water inlet and outlet and exposed pumping station. Due to the aging and lack of maintenance, the lake shore appears deserted with outgrown grass and weeds, which spoiled the overall aesthetic impression and posed as a security threat. Therefore, we should not only emphasize the development of new area, but also pay close attention to the protection and restoration of original ecological infrastructure. Seriously-polluted water due to free discharge of domestic sewage With accelerating pace of urbanization, urban economy is flourishing. However, since people s awareness of environmental protection is relatively weak, water pollutions are frequent cases and aquatic ecological system in urban area is far from satisfactory. Some enterprises pay little attention to installing environment-supporting facilities and their industrial waste is poured into river without being strictly treated, which brings temporary profits for them but causes serious damage to the environment. In addition, many urban residents also discharge domestic sewage freely either for insufficient drainage system or for poor awareness of environmental protection. In investigation, it is found that inland rivers have been seriously polluted in Tianmen and Gongan. Industrial waste and domestic sewage floods into the rivers and is destroying the local environment. The malodor from the rivers is affecting the local people s living standard and physical well-being. 678 Ekoloji 27(106): (2018)

3 Study on Ecological Characteristics of Regional Urbanization in Hubei Province of China Improper disposal of garbage Rapid urbanization sustains and accelerates the expansion of urban size and entails a soaring population, which produces more garbage. Garbage siege is not an unusual phenomenon nowadays, but it is obviously contradictory to the goal of building an environmentfriendly society and moreover exerts a negative impact on physical and mental health of citizens. The problems are caused by a host of factors, including the absence of related policies about garbage disposal, and people s weak awareness of environmental protection and garbage classification (Ding 2016). In the investigation, it was also found that a lot of garbage piled up like a small hill on the one side of a street in Gongan. A host of local residents was rallying in front of local government to demonstrate because of the construction of garbage dump in neighborhood, which made a great trouble to the government s operation. Therefore, we should realize serious impact caused by improper disposal of garbage and work out some effective measures to solve the potential and existing problems. Only by this can a stable and satisfactory urbanization be reached. Neglect and Damage of Vernacular Landscape Heritage Vernacular landscape can be defined as the landscape that represents or reflects the local natural environment and social conventions, including settlement, village, field, field path, forest, uncultivated land, river, manmade channel, ancestral temple, well, mill wheel, bridge, wooden cottage, etc. Vernacular landscape heritage refers to the vernacular landscape important for the people s mental satisfaction but not well-protected by the related laws and regulations (Yu 2006). Thus, vernacular landscape heritage needs to be protected since it is very important to vernacular landscape. Ming Dynasty, collapsed and only the outer wall and gate house is left due to the lack of preservation although it is in the preservation list of cultural relics. Damage to the Integration of Natural Landscapes The layout of urban landscape is usually based on the elements of its natural scenery, including mountains, lakes, rivers, seas, etc. It deals with the relation among city, mountain and water area and thus its designer must consider many factors, for example, the relative position between water and mountain, the size and trend of water and mountain, combination and permutation methods and the morphogenesis so as to transform and supplement original natural landscape. The research on the layout of urban landscape is comprehensive and systematic and the research field consists of internal and external landscapes, geographic features, the proportion of city and natural scenery, and moreover its cultural connotation and humanistic spirit. The worsening urban water resources From ecological perspective, city is just a tiny spot located among natural landscape, without which city will cease to exist. Therefore it is pivotal to balance between city, mountain and water and construct a sustainable and integrated ecological environment to keep pace with rapid urbanization. However, with the crazy sprawl of expressways, city is expanding recklessly, which has vandalized and fragmented original landscape. By comparing the waters map of Wuhan in 1945 with that in 2016 (Fig. 1; Fig. 2), we will clearly see that original mountains were ruthlessly separated and the rivers were arbitrarily intercepted. In the process of New Urbanization, vernacular landscape heritage does not attract enough attention, which results in lack of protection and restoration. For example, In Zhujia Village of Hong an County, from the record of local people s family history it can be found that there existed an ancient beautiful park named Chrysanthemum Garden. However, there is no hint in the plan of New Rural Construction. If we can integrate the spiritual elements of Chrysanthemum Garden into the plan to design new landscape, its cultural connotation can be saved and cherished by local people. It is universal that ancestral temples around Hubei province are being undermined. For example, Yanshi Shine in Jiufanggou, which was built in the late Ekoloji 27(106): (2018) 679

4 Li et al. Fig. 1. Waters map of Wuhan in 1945 Fig. 2. Waters map of Wuhan in Ekoloji 27(106): (2018)

5 Study on Ecological Characteristics of Regional Urbanization in Hubei Province of China Fig. 3. The proportion of different purposes for reclamation from lakes Fig. 4. The changes of lake area from 1987 to 2013 The vandalized landscape cannot resist natural threat. Wuhan suffered a big loss in 2016 when several heavy rains hit the city in a short period. The traffic was almost interrupted and in some areas there are even interruption of power and telecommunication. A very famous villa district by Tangxun Lake was cut off by the flood and most of the owners suffered a great financial loss. Frequent inland inundations are caused by many factors. many experts believe, apart from backward design and aging of related infrastructure, the diminishing water body is the leading cause since there is no place to contain huge amount of water. Wuhan was once called the City of a Thousand Lakes and there were 127 lakes in the central Wuhan in 1950s, but nowadays there are only 38 left. Due to years of lake reclamation for urban development, the total area of lakes has shrunk rapidly. Wang Fang of Wuhan University, in Study on Lake Changes of Wuhan Based on RS/GIS, divides the reclaimed land into agricultural area, construction land, land for transportation and land for other use according to the purpose. She further compares the proportion of the four types and their variation trend during 1986 to 2002 and draws the following table, from which it can be clearly found that the proportion of construction land was keeping the main part although it experienced minor fluctuation during 17 years (Fig. 3). However, the proportion of agricultural land was declining in these years (Wang 2005). In 1950s, the total lake area in Wuhan was about 879 square kilometres, but now it is only square kilometres, only about 30 percent left. In about 60 years, over two thirds of lake area has been destroyed for reclamation of land (Fig. 4; Fig. 5). Natural reservoirs was seriously vandalized and its water-holding capacity has been weakening, which is regarded as the main reason why the frequency of inland inundation is continually increasing. Ekoloji 27(106): (2018) 681

6 Li et al. Fig. 5. The evolution of lakes in Wuhan in 1989,2000 and 2009 The Disappearing Mountain Area Wuhan is a city with diversified geological features, including mountains, rivers, lakes. The total number of mountains reaches 287, of which 58 are located in central city and 229 in the suburb and developing zones. However, with the development and sprawl of urban area, the cityscape has experienced a dramatic change. New landmark buildings are erecting and segmenting the overall layout of urban landscape, some unique landscape and landmark buildings are swallowed among the rising new skyscrapers. Especially in central urban area, mountains and water bodies are disappearing and its traditional uniqueness is dying. New landmark buildings are not well-integrated into the tradition and thus make the whole landscape segmented. In his Environment Aesthetics Professor Chen Wangheng write there is a mountain range arising from Ma an Mountain beside the East Lake, stretching along Luojia Mountain, Xiaohongshan Mountain, and Snake Hill in the central urban area, and finally crossing the river to Tortoise Hill. Along the mountain range, there are many famous attractions, such as Baotong Temple, Changchun Temple, Yellow Crane Tower, Monument to the Northern Expedition, Shi Yang martyr s Tomb and etc. However, the mountain range is seriously damaged since the rising skyscrapers have drawfed the surrounding landscape. Walking along Wuluo Road, we can just occasionally appreciate the existence of the mountain range. (Chen 2007) From the above words, we can witness the disappearing mountains in Wuhan. Insufficient Exploitation of Natural and Human Resources and the Lack of Unique Feature among Cities Generally speaking, natural resources are resources that exist without actions of humankind. This includes all valued characteristics such as magnetic, gravitational, electrical properties and forces, etc. On earth it includes: sunzlight, atmosphere, water, land along with all vegetation, crops and animal life that naturally subsists upon or within the heretofore identified characteristics and substances. Human resources are total achievements of human civilization, both physical and spiritual, including language, historical heritage, ideologies, traditional concepts, science and technology. Besides, all capital and relation between powers in real world can be regarded as human resources. Natural and human resources keep in pace with the evolution of a city, so they are precious wealth for the city. Only by taking full use of these resources can historical heritage be saved and will the unique charm of the city can be fully demonstrated. However, in the urbanization of Hubei province, human resources are not sufficiently exploited. The negligence of local uniqueness is not an uncommon phenomenon. Local government often overemphasizes the importance of urban construction and economic development but pays little attention to cultural preservation, along with the weak awareness of 682 Ekoloji 27(106): (2018)

7 Study on Ecological Characteristics of Regional Urbanization in Hubei Province of China the importance of cultural heritage, which often results in the serious and irreversible damage to the local cultural heritage. In addition, the preservation programs of historical towns, villages and interests in Hubei and the lagged policy-making and management can not meet the demand nowadays. A lot of human resources are wasted and similar and the same characteristics are shared among different towns with different local cultures and landscapes. The problems can be mainly concluded in the four aspects. First, spatial and environmental landscape lacks unique characteristics. The architectural space and planning morphology of some cities are appropriately managed. While focusing on constructing the benchmarks as symbols of successful urbanization, the planner have ignored the old city and the original historical relics. Open landscapes, including streets, public buildings, landmark squares, residential areas, are not well-designed and their colors often overemphasizes the visual impact and fashionable attraction, which is undermining and destroying the artistic uniqueness of traditional Jing-Chu culture. Second, the natural landscape is not well-protected. In some cities, mountains and wetlands are seriously damaged and water bodies are diminishing and badly polluted due to unchecked exploitation, which need to be solved very urgently. Third, vernacular vegetation is not fully utilized. In the urbanization, a large amount of exotic vegetation is introduced but local vegetation is often neglected for its size and shape, which is against ecological value. Fourth, there also exists problems in public landscape facilities. Since public facilities are assigned to different government departments to design, make and place, there is no unified guideline of the development and maintenance of public facilities, which results in the fact that there is usually no coordination or complementation among neighboring public facilities (Liang 2015). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Formulating Appropriate Urbanization Promotion Strategy in Accordance with Local Characteristics In government-dominated urbanization, most of government officials tend to blame the lag of development as the main cause for various complicated problems, and they believe the long-term economic increase owes a great deal to the government-driven urbanization. It can not be denied that government plays and should play a leading role in the process of Chinese urbanization. However, governmentdominated urbanization is by no means an optimal choice since executive orders from government often control the size and direction of population without considering the transitional problems of the economy in the process of urbanization, which often makes beautiful statistics decorated in many Vanity Projects. Simple city-building only brings the population mobility and land trade but not industrial upgradation, which is not the goal of urbanization and against the laws governing socioeconomic development. The pace of urbanization is decided by the local social-economic development and should follow the intrinsic law. Various factors should be taken into account, such as population, land area, industries, transportation, natural resources, etc. Therefore, urbanization should be carried in accordance with local characteristics, and government should take into careful consideration the regional conditions and its economy to work out appropriate plans to avoid the appearance of Vanity Project and pursuit for beautiful statistics. Supporting industry and substantial economy are fundamental to the sustainable, rapid and sound urbanization. Industrialization is the primary drive and agricultural modernization is the reliable guarantee. So to some extent, urbanization can be said a necessary result when society and economy develops to a certain level. In the process of urbanization, the construction should be kept in pace with local characteristics and government should take into account regional conditions and advantages to develop the related industries and substantial economy and choose a government-guided and market-oriented way to develop. Enhancing the Construction of Ecological Infrastructure Ecological infrastructure, consisting of important ecological systems and providing city and citizens with natural products and the related services, is a basic element of sustainable landscape and the key to the formation of eco-city. In the process of urbanization, ecological infrastructure should be protected and strengthened. First, we should take full advantage of the original terrain and geomorphology and make minor changes if necessary. Second, the transformation should allow the citizens to have an access to the mountains and waters, which is not only a respect for nature but also a psychological and aesthetic need from citizens. Also landscape should be well-combined with culture, which is the soul of the former. Taking Wuhan for example, we can unveil the mountain range from Ma an Mountain, through Luojia Mountain, Xiaohongshan Ekoloji 27(106): (2018) 683

8 Li et al. Fig. 6. The landscape design of combining waters, mountains and historical interests Mountain and Snake Hill, to Tortoise Hill and integrate the range with the places of historical interest, including Baotong Temple, Changchun Temple, Yellow Crane Tower and the Monument to Wuchang Rising of 1911 Revolution, which will greatly magnifies the ecological, cultural and aesthetic values (Fig. 6). Constructing Landscape Network for Undeveloped Vernacular Landscape of Hubei Province There are plenty of undeveloped vernacular landscape in Hubei province, such as ancient roads and post houses, springs and rivers, and holy tombs for our ancestors and great heroes. If these heritages can be systematically protected and managed to form a serial of incorporated landscape network, it will not only pose as a permanent memorial for childhood education, but also provide citizens with places to play and relax and speed up the development of city tourism. The specific suggestions are listed as follows: first, the related government departments should compile protection plans for undeveloped vernacular landscape in order to avoid irreparable harm caused to the landscape in the urbanization in Hubei; second, the related government departments should start systematic investigations and studies on the undeveloped vernacular landscape in Hubei. Strengthening the Sustainability of Overall Landscape in Hubei Province Urban landscape pattern, in a broad sense, is defined as the original terrain and geological features that laid a certain influence on the development of city, and the supplementing products made by human being. Landscape pattern has three characteristics. First, landscape pattern plays a great role in human evolution and city development; second, landscape pattern is based on the 3-demensional space decided by local terrain and geological features, so it is more tangible than man-made green field. Third, landscape pattern can be divided into 2 categories in the long-term evolution of a city, namely natural landscape and human landscape. In another word, landscape pattern can be understood as a combination of human landscape and natural landscape, in which natural landscape plays a major role. Landscape pattern plays a very important role in creating urban environment with its unique regional culture. Man-made urban environment based on natural landscape displays integration of nature and human power, and is also the most effective way to embody the city s image. Compared with natural landscape, urban landscape give prominence to the influence on the evolution of city. The specific suggestions are listed as follows: First, the integration and sustainability of landscape should be kept. Urban construction should not progress at cost of the destruction of the city s original landscape. The balance between human and nature guarantees a balanced ecological system, so keeping balance between city and landscape is the foundation of building a healthy urban landscape pattern and necessary condition for human survival and development. Urban development planning should leave a buffer space between natural landscape and man-made architecture, which allows the independence and fusion of city and natural landscape. At the same time, natural landscape with different geological features should be reformed in different ways. For example, if a river in the city has to be cut off because of the need of urban development, we should divert the river to another surface river or underground river. Second, landscape should be open to and shared by the public. Urban landscape pattern is the fusion of city and mountain and water, of which the sightfulness of 684 Ekoloji 27(106): (2018)

9 Study on Ecological Characteristics of Regional Urbanization in Hubei Province of China natural landscape enriches man-made landscape. Also man-made landscape helps to make full use of natural resources, from which city gains ecological and landscape benefits. The urbanization led by government is not to preserve natural landscape by isolating it from modern civilization but to connect city with nature in an ecological and balanced way, so facilities should be installed to help the public have a real access to the nature. In a word, the planners should consider different historical evolutions and characteristics of natural landscape, and they should integrate the original landscape into the urban landscape pattern and come up with appropriate methods to maintain the urban landscape and show its unique characteristics. Accelerating the Practice of City Betterment and Ecological Restoration The existing problems in environment, landscape and resources can be fixed or improved through protecting the original natural resources and reforming the urban space. Practice of City Betterment and Ecological Restoration, a method of urban renewal in accordance with the development characteristics of transitional city in China, is an effective way to sustain urban development. It is a new method to better reform and recycling the existing urban ecological resources in New Normal economy and also an effective choice to perfect urban development model and transform governance mode. Through the practice, the quality of urban ecology can be greatly improved and city becomes more energetic and characteristic. The practice of City Betterment and Ecological Restoration is an important action to control urban diseases and improve people s living environment, a necessary result of overcoming the disadvantages, and a key sign showing the transformation of the urban development model. The practice of ecological restoration is based on the protection of ecological resources and the restoration of ecological environment, focusing on the restoration of mountain, river and coast. We can notice the effective results in the construction of Sponge City. City betterment is mainly based on the repairing of urban infrastructure and the adjustment of urban spatial environment, focusing on the transformation of urban morphology, urban vegetation, the color and layout of architecture, urban billboard, city skyline and urban night lighting. In 2017, Jinmen was chosen as a pilot city in the second batch of list of National City Betterment and Ecological Restoration, the only one in Hubei province, which will help to strengthen and quicken the city betterment and ecological restoration promoted in Hubei. The specific suggestions are listed as follows: First, reconstruct the urban spatial environment through optimizing and integrating the spatial pattern and relation among mountain, forest, water, farmland, road and architecture. Second, create an image for the urban environment. Intercity road and urban symbolic image should be combined and advantages of various natural landscape should be taken to restore natural ecology along intercity road, highway and water route. Third, strengthen the construction of human landscape. Based on the construction of traffic signs and outdoor advertisements, city betterment should emphasize the construction of public facilities and eye-catching images on the main entrance of city, the design of forms and colors of bridges, revetment architectures and tunnels, the creation of local features of public art landscape, and the improvement of name system of intercity road, street, architectures and places to better display the city s cultural connotation and humanistic spirit. Forth, actively carry out the design of visual identity system for the city and take advantage of the unique historic and humanistic culture and integrate Jing-Chu culture into the urban visual identity design. Fifth, start the planing and integration of city colors in Hubei. Cities should has their own main tones, interface colors and logo colors, and color system for the location and direction. Through distinguishable colors, the unique characteristics of the city can be shown and the environment image can be improved. CONCLUSION The results show that to make sure the smooth progress of urbanization Hubei government should work out appropriate strategy to carry out urbanization in accordance with its local characteristics, strengthen ecological infrastructure, form landscape network for vernacular landscape heritages, strengthen the sustainability of overall landscape, and accelerate the Practice of City Betterment and Ecological Restoration. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Financial supported by Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People s Republic of China (Grant NO.16DG62) and the Hubei Federation of Social Sciences (Grant No.HBSXK201630). Ekoloji 27(106): (2018) 685

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