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The anthropocene context of tourism land scapeplanning- the case of
tourism ecology planning and design project of Zhi Ao Stone Village,
Huanglong Township, Shengsi County, Zhejiang.
Geng Huang 1, a, Xinqun Feng 2,b, Feng Lin＊3,c
1,2,3No.1882 Yan’an Road,Chang ning District.200051 Shanghai, China
a hw_1209@126.com, b451496289@qq.com, c591769517@qq.com
Keywords: anthropocene environment, original ecological environment, tourist landscape,
naturalness
Abstract: The original ecological environment in an absolute sense such as climate, geography,
biology, hydrology and others of the earth have been profoundly, thoroughly and permanently
altered by human activities. [1]The earth's environment has been constantly changing for thousands
of years under human activities, and thus forming the present world environment influenced and
created by human being, defined as the new term of anthropocene. In the natural state, the original
ecological environment not impacted by human activities is the background of landscape planning
and design in tourist resorts . The persistent existence of anthropocene environment formed by
human activities can not and shall not be avoided in landscape planning. How to reconcile the
conflicts between the two and to find the landscape planning and design mode aligned with the
sustainable development of the anthropocene in the original ecological environment? A full analysis
of the current situation of material environment formed under anthropocene is required so as to
“take its essence and discard its dregs”. With original ecology design as the main purpose, it is
aimed to realize the preservation and regeneration of the landscape in anthropocene, explore the
unique natural and cultural charm, plan ecological tourist resorts which combine originality and
naturalness and fit the current environment.
Foreword
The Dutch scientist Paul Jozef Crutzen proposed in 2000 the new concept of “anthropocene”, a new
era in the geological history, which defined the influence and creation of human being as a
geological force. Over thousands of years, human activities have imposed interference and impact
on most of the ecological systems on the earth. The change of habitat environmental structure and
type of land exploitation, as well as the material information formed by human forces manifest that,
not exaggeratingly, it is hard to find an original ecological environment on the earth that is not
impacted by human activities. The era of anthropocene” has been developing persistently under an
irresistable natural force.[2]
The original ecological environment is an ecological feature under natural state, which already
exists before change of natural environment by human activities for survival and development. With
the development of human society, and advancing of human civilization, the original ecological
environment, bearing thousands of years of vicissitudes, and the present interaction between human
4th International Conference on Education, Management and Computing Technology (ICEMCT 2017)
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and environment, has already been in tatters. Scenes of inharmony loom up on the surface of the
earth. We are living in the “anthropocene” environment, facing lots of ecological crisis such as lack
of land, air pollution, depleted resources and elevated temperature caused by excessive human
interference. In the future, change of development outlook is the only way out for the survial and
development of human society.
Landscape, as an ecological form sustaining natural force and human impact constantly changes
and interacts. To better reconcile the conflict between ecology and anthropocene environment, our
understanding of the interaction between human factors and non-human factors shall be elevated to
a wider and more constructive dimension. Take development in tourism industry as an example,
rational optimization and exploitation, preservation and management of landscape is the premise of
planning the development of tourist resorts. Reconciling the conflicts between development and
preservation, and the conflicts between economy and ecology, forming an economical mode of
sustainable development of virtuous circle is a key point in planning the tourist resorts. In China,
Shitoucuo, Pingtan Island, Fuzhou, is a paradigm of achieving both the development of ecological
tourism and keeping harmony with local production and living. In its development, the ecological
charm of stone was fully exploited. With the advanced development strategy of excavating the
historical, cultural and market value of the old village, and the mode of forming featuristic
indudstry, the old village stepped onto the road of sustainable development while preserving its
original ecology, aligned with the concept of ecological development. This mode both increases the
economical benefits for the village and promotes the preservation of ecological environment and
elevates the living conditions of Pingtan residents, realizing sustained development of human
activities under original ecological environment. A develoment mode of ecology tourism of
virtuous circle has been formed in the village.
To summarize, the direction and strategy for planning and designing ecological environment
landscape under anthropocene environment has changed. The concept of “ecological” extends
beyond “natural” with “artificial” no longer regarded as destructive. Elastic ecological design is
another path of development that also provides economical benefits to the tourist resorts. The
project of Huanglong Island, Shengsi County, Zhejiang Province has similar cultural background
and strong local ecological features. Facing decreased resources and limitations, the traditional
fishery can no longer have sustainable development. Based on such circumstances, transformation
becomes the only choice for local traditional economy. Both the original ecology and the reality of
local production and living have to be considered in an effort to create fishery cultural tourism and
form the economical chain of ecological tourist resort with original ecological style.
Project Background
Huanglong Island, locatd in the east of East China Sea is a rugged archipelago in Shengsi Islands.
With a land area of 5.51 KM2 and its sublime mountains, bare rocks, and brownish mud, it is
named by its shape which resembles a yellow dragon resting on the sea. Zhi Ao Village, located in
Huanglong Island, is surrounded by sea in three directions, and features exotic rocks and reefs. The
island is famous for its gold-ingot-shaped stone called “Cloud and Draon in East China Sea”. The
Fig.1,
Shitoucuo, Pingtan Island, Fuzhou
Fig.2,
Huanglong Island
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sea fishery work under natural conditions and hazardous working environment form the unique way
of production and wisdom of the local fishermen. Emotions linked to the sea, imbued with faith,
morale, sentiment and value of the fishermen created traditional activities such as Sacrifice Offering
to Sea, Fishing Opening Day and Zhoushan Gong and Drum, etc , which lay the foundation for a
classical ecological fishing village.
Huanglong Island, is an island closest to the Shengsi Island. Its natuaral landscape, relatively
well preserved fishing village life style and relatively well preserved stone house belts in Shengsi
Archipelago, tourist site of gold-ingot-shaped stone, abundant non-material resouces of fishing
village combine to create its unique attration to the tourists.
The problems: transportation in Huanglong Island (ships for tourists and boats of the local
residents not separated), fading out of the overall image of traditional stone house belt of the island,
lack of systematic arrangment of tourism routes, lack of relevant tourist facilities (service center,
map, pension, cultural and commercial activities), lack of tourist features, lack of tourist related
business.
The project design of this phase includes two parts: A) Developing and arranging the one-day
line with Zhi Ao Stone Village and Gold-ingot-shaped Stone as main sites; B) Ecological tourist
resort mainly consisting of the natural reefs and rocks of Chibo Mountain. Each part consists of a
string of sites reflecting local ecological features, forming a platform that maximally preserves the
original ecological environment and elevates the standard of living, production, entertainment. The
concept of local ecology is highlighted in the design. While preserving the current geological
feature and traditional customs, it also highlights continued preservation of ecology and
environment to serve the naturalness. The design aims to align the new plan to the local customs,
culture and environment, to ensure that the theme of ecology is fully embodied, and local culture is
reflected, impressing tourists with strong folk culture. Meanwhile, novelty is also embodied in the
design, to mix the life style of modern people with the ecological fishing village. It aims to remain
loyal to the special feature and keep distance from fashionable practice. Eventually, the picture of
local ecology is drawn by combining landscape, festival, customs, entertainment and fishing,
forming the chain of accomodation, catering, production and sales to boost local tourist economy, to
complete the design of the tourist resort which solves development problems by ecological design.
Design Strategy
Highlight the importance of the concept of local ecology in the design of landscape in tourist resort.
The functional and ecological features of the landscape in tourist resort are not mutually conflicting,
or mutually repelling. Through reasonable design and coordination, it is possibe to balance the
relationship between human and nature in the resort, thus making the design more humanized. The
most featuristic view of Zhi Ao Stone Village is its stone house. This project, mainly aimed at
having a taste of the charm of stones, aims to promote local culture so as to boost its spreading and
development while introducing natural landscape. Chibo Mountain is a natural tourist site mainly
Fig. 3,
Huanglong Island Original style
Fig. 4,
Tourism planning route
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formed by natural reefs and rocks. The design, apart from serving the nature, ensures that the linked
sightseeing platforms and trails are in harmony with geological features, so that the ecological
environment is preserved while sightseeing funtions are added. Design of both sites are based on
naturalness. Local ecology is the highlight in the design of the resort, aimed at interaction and
achieving harmony between human and nature.
It aims to keep the existing site elements in the scope of the design, and re-use the existing
materials, and enhance preservation. Development shall be guided by and based on preservation to
realize sustainable development of ecological environment. While focusing on the economic
benefits, social benefits and nature benefits, the design of the landscape in the resort sticks to the
concept of building ecological tourist resort. In the design, we add viewing platforms, propose
repair of trails and create featuristic sites, etc. The ecological design is to build featuristic landscape
of tourist resort with the ecological concept, utilizing local materials, techniques, nature and culture.
Such ecological design embodies the design strategy of focusing on original ecological
environment.
Promoting the economical development of local community and increasing the income and
living standard of local residents are important functions of ecological tourism. Active participation
of local residents in the planning of the tourist resort helps to make the planning practical and
acceptable to local residents. A) in the planning, it is proposed to renovate some local stone houses
to serve as pension for visitors, which means sharing interest with local residents, while re-utilizing
local old buildings and preserving culture. B) The humanistic view of “knot” is proposed in the
project. It is based on variations of knots in the traditional fishery work and the techniques and
handicrafts of knitting fishing net. This is aimed at creating the knot culture and promoting local
humanistic tradition.
The tourism industry is a complicated and inter-related multi-level, multi-dimensional, and
multi-element system. The planning of the ecological tourist resort shall follow the principle of
combining macro and micro aspects. Functional sectioning for the resort shall be conducted based
on the resource situation and visitor information of the resort. The actual situation shall be
considered and the ecological principles shall be fully embodied in the planning of the infrastructure
of the resort.[3] The designers of the project conduted substantial surveys on the situations in
Huanglong Island, taking into consideration of the needs of the local tourism and construction
authority and residents of Zhi Ao Stone Village, before starting their overall planning and designing
of the ecological project with macro-to-micro approach, which covers accomodation, catering,
production and sales. Different from that for ordinary tourism resorts, the planning and design for
this project embodies solution to development through ecological design.
Fig. 5,
Huanglong IslandTourism design status
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Conclusion
The era of “anthropocene” and the environment in this era has become a reality and an irreversible
natural status. Facing this unprecedented challenge, if the designer mistakenly regards ecological
design as restoring environment or restoring to the status of low human interference, viewed as an
effort to preserve ecology, such opinion is in fact obviously short-sighted. Mere restoration of
environment with big investment, although seemingly solves the environmental problems, will
bring about conflicts between the new environment and the production and living of local residents.
This is not a qualified mode for harmonious development.We need to face the fact that the
ecological system on earth has already been interfered and changed, understanding the current
situation and the upcoming challenges. Mere restoration is not our purpose. Regarding the strategy
of planning landscape, which balances original ecological environment and sustainable
development in anthropocene, we use our wisdom to seek an adaptable new approach to solve
practical problems and rejuvenate the ecological charm of local environment. To be specific, in the
materialistic environment and era of high level human interference, we resort to ecological design
in planning landscape, to reduce damage to natural resources by human activities and perform
ecological restoration to the landscape with differentiated and customized design strategy. This is a
way to gain economic benefit for tourist resorts for sustainable and effective development.
References:
[1]Ellis. Novel Urban Ecosystems [J]. Landscape Architecture Frontiers, 2016,10-21.
[2] Jack Aherm. The anthropocene: the new world we create [J]. Big science, 2011,10-11.(In
Chinese)
[3]J.H. Li, M.H. Dong.Regional ecotourism planning and development trend[J]. Journal of Hunan
University of Arts and Science (Social Science Edition), 2005,27-30.(In Chinese)
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