Hopes for the New Year

Prof.Dr.-Ing.WANG Xiangrong Chief Editor

Like the cold weather outside,the discipline and industry of landscape architecture seem to have reached a long winter,with the status of the discipline,education development,design market,and construction funds facing difficulties never encountered since the rapid development of society and economy.Everything has a cycle,and the blossoming scenery will not last forever.Winter represents silence and hibernation,but also symbolizes nurturing and expectation.As the New Year approaches,it is time to look to the future.The theme of a recent landscape architecture forum I attended was ＂The Future of Landscape＂,and in my speech I shared my understanding of the development of the industry: the fading of flowers is waiting for next blooming,and there is still plenty of room for the development of landscape architecture.For the four different scales of territorial land,city,high-density urban area,and site,I talked about one area and direction for future research and practice of landscape architecture respectively.

Firstly,at the scale of territorial land,the natural characteristics and cultural values of territorial land should be continued and strengthened.

China has a vast territory,complex geomorphology,and diverse climate zones,with humid,semi-humid,semi-arid,and arid regions,as well as a wide range of vegetation types and different natural ecosystems.The complex geographic environment and climatic conditions are the natural basis for the uniqueness and diversity of China's landscape.China is also an ancient civilization with a long history,and after thousands of years of transformation in a unique way that is compatible with the land,China's territorial land has formed a unique landscape structure with environmental resilience in which the artificial and the natural are intertwined,and mountains,rivers,lakes,canals,fields,and cities are integrated.

The natural features and cultural values of the territorial land space are a record of China's long history,a carrier of the profound culture,and of great significance to the country.On the territorial land scale,an important future research and practice area for landscape architecture is to conduct overall and in-depth research on territorial land space,to understand the generation,evolution,current situation and future development trend of territorial landscape,to seek for a more optimized land use mode adapted to the development of the modern society,to satisfy the people's growing needs for a better life,and at the same time,to maintain the special qualities and diversities of territorial landscapes that have been accumulated over thousands of years,and to perpetuate and strengthen the natural characteristics and cultural values of China's territorial land.

Secondly,on the city scale,the construction of a nature-oriented city should be promoted.

Chinese cities in the agrarian era were closely related to the geographic environment of the region and the shape of the mountains and water,and the support systems for agricultural production,such as ponds,irrigation channels,canals,and sea ponds,were in fact also the environmental support systems for cities.The city was a city in nature and a city in landscape,the natures inside and outside of the city were connected to each other,and the city was closely integrated with the mountains,water,and fields of the region to form an overall spatial structure.

Today's cities are completely different from the ancient cities,but the gene of mankind's deep dependence on nature has not changed,and life in nature is still the basis for ensuring mankind's physical and mental health.On the city scale,an important topic for future research and practice of landscape architecture is how to build a nature-led city -a compact city that utilizes land intensively,realizes the city to be compact and efficient in function,scale and structure,and leaves more land to nature;a regional city that integrates into the geographic environment,and has its own natural genes on which to grow;an ecological city that follows the natural process,and has a complete natural system and strong resilience;an organic city that integrates all kinds of engineering facilities with the natural system and gives life to the gray city;a shared city that transforms the natural ecological network into the social life network and makes the citizens get close to the nature and enjoy the nature;and a poetic city that places emotions,carries the life,and transforms the nature into the picturesque conception and upgrades it into the poetic realm.

Thirdly,the expansion and quality improvement of ecological space should be realized in high-density urban areas.

High-density urban area is a highly artificial system,in which a large area of ground is hardened or occupied by buildings and infrastructure,the proportion of natural ground area is small,the living space of organisms is seriously squeezed,the cyclic process of water and organisms in nature is blocked,and the balance between artificial construction and nature is often lost.

The expansion and quality improvement of ecological space in highdensity urban areas has unlimited potential,such as converting the surfaces and overheads of buildings and infrastructures into spaces of certain ecological value if conditions permit;reducing the area of urban hard surface and expanding the soil surface space under the premise of fulfilling a variety of necessary functions;setting up a system of surface runoff management to maintain soil moisture and preserve the groundwater table;giving urban green spaces more natural attributes and vegetation closer to zonal plant communities;and taking measures to allow the fallen leaves of plants to return to their roots and the withered branches to return to the soil,to promote the health and biodiversity of soil and its functions.

One of the important areas for future research and practice in landscape architecture is how to expand the scale of ecological space in high-density urban areas and make the distribution of ecological space more even and the structure more diverse;and how to improve the quality of ecological space,so that rainwater and soil material in high-density urban areas can have a certain degree of natural recycling capacity,thus establishing a healthy ecosystem and urban ecological resilience.

Fourth,at the site scale,the designed site should be transformed into a place.

With the adjustment and change of life,production and ecological functions,there will always be sites that need to be designed or renewed,and site design is the most active field of landscape architecture practice.

Site design needs to solve site problems,such as meeting the needs of outdoor life,managing nature,creating habitats,and enhancing artistic and cultural qualities,which is multi-objective,multi-path and multi-result.Each site is an objectively existing material space,subject to multiple factors such as nature and culture,and each site is special,unique,and comprehensively complex.Different designers will have different understanding of the site and adopt different design strategies.However,the core of site design lies in the fact that in the face of a site,how the designer can keenly discover,interpret,respect,and highlight the qualities of the site,and perfectly integrate the artificial construction with the site environment,to make the designed site more meaningful in terms of natural and cultural continuity and enhancement,thus reflecting the ＂spirit of place＂.On the site scale,one of the important areas of future research and practice in landscape architecture is how to transform the physical space of the site into a place of spiritual significance through design.In this process,it is necessary to determine the objectives,choose the implementation methods,create aesthetic forms,reflect the regional and ethnic cultures,and meet the social,economic,ecological,and cultural requirements.

Over the past 30 years,China's landscape architecture has developed rapidly,and has made remarkable contributions to the construction of Beautiful China and the harmonious development of human and nature in terms of research and practice at different scales of territorial land,region,city,high-density urban area,and site.Although the landscape architecture industry is currently facing many difficulties and challenges,there are also great opportunities.Landscape architecture is closely related to the surface space ecosystem and human life.Although the natural and social environments are constantly changing,the harmonious coexistence of human and nature is the eternal theme of human society,so the development of landscape architecture never ends.

The silent winter is the time for thinking and nurturing,and we are looking forward to the continuous emergence of profound ideas,systematic theories,and outstanding works in landscape architecture.