Case study of mountainous landscape planning for metropolitan outskirts

The objectives of this paper were to coordinate the relationship of utilization and protection between urban and rural areas, and landscape and development, and to provide a good balance short cut, when the local community inhabitants determine how to choose industry behavior and protect landscape effects. Those above-mentioned aims are to be dominated by the characteristics of mountainous landscape planning in the outskirts of metropolitan, such as complex relief, special location, and demand transformation. Based on the concept of landscape coordination, basic data obtained from land use maps, TM images, topographic maps, participatory rural appraisal and field survey, were applied to design the best future landscape scenarios that carry out the coupling between landscape mosaic elements and human well-being in mountainous areas. The results show that: the future landscape scenarios emphasize the resource constraints and guide to the economic development in study site. It is in line with the past evolution of landscape patterns, and the demand for the adjustment of landscape patterns, which is suitable for the changing posture of population, rural economy, urban economy and landscape behavior. The quality adjustments of landscape scenarios focus on the connotation potential of land resources. And the relationships between the expansion of urban resident land and the reduction of rural resident land were established. The past expansion modes that were at the expense of agricultural land, in particular cultivated land, were the way from happening again. Moreover, the scales of cultivated land used as orchard land and forest land increased timely. The landscape effects of unused land are also sustained. The spatial distribution of landscape scenarios adopted the coordinating principle of subareas, in accordance with the conditions of micro-plots site. Wide valley, gentle slope or low mountains where the situations of landscape were better are oriented to the protection and natural recovery of landscape effects. Mild or heavy interference areas where the situations of landscape are sub-heathy should reconstruct the landscape pattern with the preferential protection. However, steep slope or bare soil (rock) areas where the measures of landscape effects resort to non-development is the best policy for development. The mountainous landscape planning for metropolitan outskirts must identify the evolution of the past landscape patterns to achieve the coordination among conflicts from the different interest individuals. The coordination relationship among industrial activities, landscape accessibility and ecological protection was considered as the entry point. It meets with the strategic needs of the metropolitan outskirts, which are developed into the coupling mosaic open space with the coordination between the industrial activities and landscape behavior. Under the coordination of urban and rural patterns, the research results are helpful to enrich people’s awareness and understanding of the relations of industry-landscape in the metropolitan outskirts, and the multi-perspective identification is also obtained for mountainous landscape planning.