Journal of Landscape Architecture

ISSN: 1862-6033 (Print) 2164-604X (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rjla20

Living with Water: Flood Adaptive Landscapes in the Yellow River Basin of

Kongjian Yu , Zhang Lei & Li Dihua

To cite this article: Kongjian Yu , Zhang Lei & Li Dihua (2008) Living with Water: Flood Adaptive Landscapes in the Yellow River Basin of China, Journal of Landscape Architecture, 3:2, 6-17, DOI: 10.1080/18626033.2008.9723400 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/18626033.2008.9723400

Published online: 01 Feb 2012.

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Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rjla20 Living with Water: Flood Adaptive Landscapes in the Yellow River Basin of China

Kongjian Yu, Zhang Lei, Li Dihua The Graduate School of Landscape Architecture, Peking University

Abstract Introduction This paper is a report on a research project. It shows how the past expe- Global warming and climate change may increase flood hazards in some rience of adaptive strategies that have evolved in the long history of sur- regions and drought in others. While reducing greenhouse gas emissions vival under hazardous conditions is inspiring for us in facing future un- is a priority, it is of no less significance to develop adaptive strategies to certainty. Based on a study of several ancient cities in the Yellow River lessen the potential hazards caused by climate change. The past experience floodplain, this paper discusses the disastrous experience of floods and of adaptive strategies evolved in the long history of survival under hazard- waterlogging and finds three major adaptive landscape strategies: siting ous conditions is inspiring for us in facing future uncertainty. on high ground, constructing walls and protective dikes, and reserving or The Yellow River, famous for its high sediment yield, is probably the digging ponds within cities. These adaptive strategies create three types most difficult river to regulate in the world. The downstream region of the of water city: water-within-city, city-in-water, and ying-yang-city. It is Yellow River has been inundated throughout history, especially through argued that all these traditional experiences and landscape heritages help major flooding, levee failure, or river diversion. The flooding frequency us to understand the vernacular cultural landscape of cities in the Yellow of the Yellow River is relatively high compared with other rivers around River floodplain, and that they have important value for landscape archi- the world. tecture and urban planning as universally applicable strategies in facing However, during the long history of struggle against flood and silt- global warming and regional climate change as well as practical land- ing disasters, ancient cities acquired much valuable experience of how to scape strategies for better urban design in this region. It is further argued control and alleviate floods, experience which is expressed in the unique that the water-adaptive landscapes are valuable features of the cultural local landscapes. These kinds of landscapes have been mentioned before heritage, and should be integrated into landscape and urban planning (Liu 1936; Li, 1895), and are further explained in modern times (Zheng 1985; for urban development today. Wu 1995; Zhang 2000). Furthermore, there are related studies on specific cities in the fields of archeology, history and geography etc. (Ding 2004; Li 1988; Chen 2002; Zhao 2000). Nevertheless, there is a lack of research on the ancient cities in the Yellow River alluvial plain as a whole, and systemat- Flood Adaptive Landscape / Flood Adaptive City / Urban Water System / ic study on the origin and evolution of this adaptive landscape is also in- Cultural Landscape / Yellow River Basin sufficient. Recently, the unique landscape of these cities has been highly valued, and also used in slogans such as ‘Water city in the north of the Yangtze River’ or ‘Water city in the north country’ in the comprehensive urban plans to enhance city images to boost the development of tourism and at- tract investment. However, the origin of the water-featured landscape in the cities is always misinterpreted as using geomancy or Feng-shui (Chen 2002), while the unique value of the landscaping as an ‘Art of Survival’, is not yet fully appreciated (Yu and Padua 2006). In the face of today’s ecological and environmental degradation around China, it could still be beneficial to consider ‘the art of survival’ which is a unique cultural heritage of the ancient Chinese people, especially in current urban water system management, flood and waterlogging control planning and land use planning.

6 Journal of Landscape Architecture / autumn 2008 115 120

Lijin

Huimin

Jiyang

Jinan

Liaocheng

Dongping

Puyang Yellow River 35 Juye Heze Yuanyang Chengwu 35 Caoxian Shanxian Ningling Yucheng Dangshan Old Course of Yellow River Suixian Pizhou Zhecheng Xiayi Suqian Lianshui Taikang Suzhou Bozhou Sixian Siyang Huaian Huaiyang Mengcheng Xinghua Studied Area Fuyang Studied Ancient Cities

N 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 km 120 115

Figure 1 The studied area: the Yellow River flood alluvial plain

Therefore there is potential theoretical and practical value in studying the the 16th ,17th and 19th centuries, every 4-5 years on average there was a flood-adaptive landscape of the ancient cities. The priority of this paper is diversion. Kaifeng city experienced bank burst 70 times, and between 1180 to give a general introduction of the background and an in-depth analysis and 1944 the whole city was flooded 6 times and cut off by water 15 times (Li of the origin and evolution of the adaptive landscape in theYellow River Al- 1995). Similarly, in the 3,000 years before 1949 AD, the city of Heze was flood- luvial Plain. ed 12 times by river diversion and 164 times by bank burst. It also suffered disastrous waterlogging 224 times in the 614 years up to 1949. Also the city The history of suffering and experiences with floods and waterlogging has been cut off by floodwater many times. The situation is almost the same The Yellow River alluvial plain lies between the Hai and Huai rivers to the in Caoxian and Chengwu Counties, which have been reconstructed many north and south, while the west-east extent is limited by the Funiu and times after devastation by floods (WCRHCC 1994). Taiyin mountains. The area includes the administrative districts of Kaifeng, Disastrous silting always happens with flooding. After a flood, a large and cities and the eastern part of city in Hen- amount of silt is deposited on the land, and this can bury the cities and ruin an Province, Heze and Liaocheng cities in Province, and also the the farmland (Zou 1993). In some cities with a shield of circumvallation and northern part of Jiangsu and Provinces (Fig. 1). As mentioned above, circumvallating levees, the silt carried by floods can accumulate outside the the people living in the Yellow River alluvial plain have suffered greatly levee or circumvallation, which raises the level of the land. This process has from floods throughout history. According to the statistics, between 1000 caused the phenomena whereby a city lies lower than its outskirts, while BC and 1949 AD. the Yellow River had 1,500 floods including overflow, bank the outskirts of the city are lower than the outskirts of the levee (Li 1895); the burst, river diversion etc. and the flooded area was about 250,000 km2. Du­ city looks like a well (Liu 1936) (Fig. 2a,b, Fig. 3). ring this time, the Yellow River had 26 fairly disastrous river diversions. In

Journal of Landscape Architecture / autumn 2008 7 Kongjian Yu Living With Water

City

Figure 2a A typical section of ancient cities in the Yellow Ditch Levee Moat Wall River alluvial plain.

Living on high land In the remote past, when the Yellow River overflowed into the large plain area the soil was enriched by floods. Ancient people then gradually migrat- ed from the highland terraces to the alluvial plain to cultivate the fertile soil in the late neolithic Longshan Period (4350 - 3950 BC) (Wang 1998). To Figure 2b Typical elevation model of cities in the Yellow River alluvial plain (Heze City, GIS visualization of terrain) avoid the floods, the settlers chose high land in the plain to settle on, for this was one simple strategy to stay above the floodwater. In eastern ­ and southwestern Shandong Provinces, there are many widely-scattered relics of this type of ancient settlement from the Longshan Period and the Shang (1700 BC - 1100 BC) and Zhou Dynasties (1100 BC - 256 BC). After the numerous floods some of the relics have been crushed or bur- ied by sediment while others are still visible above ground. These relics are Therefore the relative height of the sites of the ancient cities would gradu- called ‘Gudui’ (ancient mound) in the local areas, and vary in size and shape ally lower as the sediment process continued, with accumulating waterlog- with heights of 2-5 metres in general. These relics indicate that the strategy ging and increased difficulty in flood control. If the levee were damaged or of living on high land started in the Neolithic period and can be regarded as the circumvallation failed it would be a tragedy for the whole city, with con- a unique feature of the local cultural landscapes (Li 1988) (Fig.4). siderable damage to property and loss of life. In the Spring-Autumn (770 BC - 476 BC) and Warring States Periods (476 The large amount of silt itself also has had the power to crush a city. BC - 221 BC), more people migrated to the plains from highlands for agricul- Sometimes the sediment carried by the flood raised land levels by several ture (YRCHSCC 2003; Ban 2005) and the population grew dramatically. Many metres and cities were buried. The common phenomenon that more mod- dikes were built beside the settlements along the Yellow River. Therefore ern cities have been built above former ones is just one illustration of this cities mushroomed in some settlements with convenient traffic. To these force of nature. cities, living on high land is still an important strategy to avoid floods and mitigate waterlogging even today, though new, additional strategies need- The flood- and waterlogging-adaptive landscape ed to be invented to accommodate more people in the cities. Throughout their long struggle against flood disasters, people have acquired much experience about flood control and adapting to this difficult environ- Circumvallation and circumvallating levees ment, through which cities have been able to survive and develop. The adap- Although circumvallation is normally used as for military defence, it also tive landscape of the ancient cities in the Yellow River alluvial plain is ex- has a flood control function in the Yellow River alluvial plain (Liu 1932). The actly one product of this experience. It has 3 main strategies: living on high use of circumvallation for flood control has even been found in the ancient land, building circumvallation and circumvallating levees, conserving and Chinese cities along the Yellow River such as the Pingliangtai city relic of excavating retention ponds (Table 1). Huaiyang city in Henan Province, established 4,000 years ago, the Xihao relic­

8 Journal of Landscape Architecture / autumn 2008 Figure 3 City as a well – the city lies lower than its outskirts. Figure 4 ‘Gudui’ (ancient mound) – the building base is raised above the ground and becomes a unique vernacular landscape element.

of Yanshi city in Henan Province, which was established up to 3,000 years cumvallating levee a life-saving structure. Silt carried by the Yellow River ago under the Shang dynasty, and a similar historical site from the Shang deposited outside the levee formed a valuable buffer zone between the city Dynasty (1700 BC - 1100 BC) around city (Wu 1995). wall and the levee. This buffer zone could become the sink for the rainwater Another common flood adaptive landscape was the circumvallating drained from the inner city, preventing waterlogging. levee outside the circumvallation, which was generally a ring-shaped levee For example, the people of Caoxian County failed to maintain their levee surrounding the city as a double protection. for a long time in the Hongzhi Period (1488 - 1505 AD) of the ,­ In history, circumvallation and circumvallating levees were essential for which led to a silt deposit outside the city wall (circumvallation). Over a pe- flood prevention. In 1855, when the Yellow River had a big natural diversion riod of ten years, the ground outside the city wall rose gradually, almost (the Tong Waxiang bank burst), the whole Heze area was submerged, with as high as the city wall. When people were passing in and out, they could only the cities above the surface as isolated refuge islands. People from near- directly enter the city over the circumvallation, and the semi-buried gates by villages all went to the cities to escape the flood. Heze city survived this were too narrow to allow a carriage to pass through. The inner city was al- disaster solely because of the protection offered by circumvallation, (HZ- ways waterlogged, making living conditions unpleasant, so many people ZHRCC 1993). Yuncheng city would have been almost totally erased from emigrated. In the early Zhengde Period (1506 - 1521 AD) of the Ming Dynasty, the face of the earth had the citizens not repaired their circumvallation and the local official suggested building a new city, but because of the enormous levee in time under the direction of the government during the flood. How- cost they rejected this notion and decided instead to build a new circumval- ever, the villages around the city were all submerged (YRRCOHRRB 1989). lating levee and elevate the circumvallation. The new levee functioned well Similar situations have been recorded in almost every ancient city in the in keeping out many floods, and the silt piled outside the city beyond the Yellow River alluvial plain, and all these proved the effectiveness of circum- levee, so that the city was able to survive (Chen, 2004). vallation and circumvallating levees. However, if a flood destroyed the levee and circumvallation a city would Generally floods could be kept outside of the levee, while the silt also de- be submerged, and when such a tragedy occurred residents could escape posited outside the levee would gradually raise the level of the land there. from the flood on the circumvallation and levee. Records of such occurrences­ This demonstrated the function of the circumvallating levee in controlling can be found in Kaifeng city (Jiang 1987), Kaocheng city (Li 1986), Dongming floods, although the risk increased as silt accumulated outside the levee. city (YRRCOHRRB 1989), Yuncheng city (Wu 1995) and elsewhere. One of Therefore, even more attention had to be paid to this by government offi- the latest records was the ‘once in a hundred years’ flood of Suixian­ County­ cials and residents.. Officers of Suizhou city in the Ming dynasty (1368 - 1683 which occurred in 1957, where both the circumvallation and the levee were AD) pointed out that the land outside their levee was several metres higher­ crushed and the flood poured into the city. Thousands of residents and peas- than the city and that if the levee burst the city would suffer a huge tragedy.­ ants ran up onto the broken levee and circumvallation to escape the flood Not only would the houses be submerged but the residents would all die and wait for rescue (SCRCC 1989). (Wang 1968). This understanding among government officials made the cir-

Journal of Landscape Architecture / autumn 2008 9 Kongjian Yu Living With Water

Adaptive strategies and landscape Description Examples and references

Inhabiting on High Land Choosing natural high land Cities were built on relatively higher places of natural terrain or Huaiyang and Pingliangtai (Wu, 1995), high land formed by the sedimentation of the floods. Kaifeng (Li, 1958), Shangqiu, Zhecheng and Xiayi Counties, Suizhou in Suixian County (Wang, 1968)

Elevating ground for roads, The ground level of the ancient cities became lower-lying rela- Yucheng city (Li, 1895), city blocks, and buildings tively, because of the silt deposited outside the city when flooded. (Xiao, 1911). Therefore utilizing the deposited silt to elevate the ground of the city was an important approach to reverse the situation.

Artificial high land for im- Building a high base for important architecture such as Town Town God Temple of Caoxian County­ portant architecture and God Temples to avoid floods. Terraces was built around the an- (Chen, 2004); The ancient city of refuges during floods cient cities as refuges for the citizens when a flood was coming. Suizhou (Wang, 1968), and more (, 2004; Chen, 2004);

Circumvallation and Circumvallation Circumvallation was used as flood control facility as well as a Pingliangtai city relic of Huaiyang city Circumvallating Levees military defense facility (Liu, 1932). The earliest circumvalla- in Henan Province established 4000 tion was mainly made of consolidated soil, and later bricks were years ago, and the Xihao relic of Yanshi­ used on the outside of the consolidated soil to prevent erosion. city in Henan Province established up Sometimes even the whole circumvallation was build with bricks to 3000 years ago, and a similar histori­ (Wang,1968). City entrances (passes) were strengthened to form a cal site (1700 BC - 1100 BC) around “Wengcheng” (barbican entrances to the city). Setting city gates at Zhengzhou city (Wu, 1995). Shangqiu the back side of the city away from the potential flooding was an “Wengcheng” (SCRCC, 1991), The ancient important principle. city of Suizhou used to have a small gate in the northwest side of the city for day-to-day entrance, because it was found that floods always entered the city through this small gate, it was finally closed (Wang et al, 1968)

Circumvallating Levees Ring shaped circumvallating levees outside the circumvallation Caoxian County (Chen, 2004), Chengwu were built surrounding the city as a double reinforced protection. (Yuan, 2004), Dangshan County (Liu, Some cities had levees built only at the side facing the river, due to 1998), Heze (Ling, 2004), Kaifeng city budget restrain. Segments of levees were connected gradually into (Wu, 1995), Luyi (Lv, 2002), Ningling an integrated one. Multiple levees were built along the river bank city, (Xiao, 1911). Suizhou and Zhecheng section vulnerable to flood to further their flood prevention ca- (Wang, 1968, Li, 1896), pacity. The circumvallating levee was mostly built of consolidat- (An, 1990); Xiayi (Han, 1920) ed earth and trees such as willow, poplar, mulberry and elm were planted to for the sake of strengthening the facility. Woody stakes were planted to prevent erosion.

Retention ponds Ponds and moats formed Ponds, moats and channels were formed when earth was needed Caoxian County(Chen, 2004), Heze and water surface when earth was needed to build the circumvallation and circumvallating levee. Ponds in- (Ling, 2004), Liaocheng (He, 1999), Nin- for city construction side the city were dug out to provide earth for the construction of gling (Xiao, 1911), Shangqiu (Liu, 1932), city walls and residences and public buildings. Suizhou (Wang et al., 1968), Yucheng (Li, 1895), Xiayi (Han, 1920)

Ponds and lakes formed Silting was the most common reason for the ancient cities to have Caoxian County (Chen, 2004), ( Fig. 5). by silting large water features. (Han, 1920). Ningling, Heze, etc.

Lake formed from a In extreme cases, the whole city could eventually be submerged to Suixian County (Fig. 9) submerged city form a huge lake due to the continual silting process outside the circumvallating levee.

Table 1 The flood adaptive strategies and landscape in ancient Chinese cities along the Yellow River flood plain

10 Journal of Landscape Architecture / autumn 2008 Figure 5 Lake formed by silting - the Caoxian Coun- ty Plan (based on 1:50,000 topographic maps of Caox- ian County) Figure 6 Circum-city lake – plan of Shangqiu (based on Figure 7 Circum-city lake – plan of Yucheng (based on 1:50,000 topographic maps of Shangqiu County) 1:50,000 topographic maps of )

Retention ponds A common feature of the ancient cities in the Yellow River alluvial plain was the large water surface inside or surrounding the city. Most of the ancient Figure 8 Circum-city lake – plan of Liaocheng (based on 1:50,000 Topographic maps of Liaocheng County) cities could thus be called ‘water cities’, but this kind of water city differed from the water cities in South China, which were formed with networks of streams and canals. The water city of the Yellow River alluvial plain featured a large body of water or lakes. According to their origin, ponds and surface water in and around the cit- ies can be classified into three types: ponds and moats formed when earth was needed for city construction, ponds and lakes formed by silting, lakes formed from a submerged city. The origin of the surface water was multifaceted (Table 1), collective- ly creating different water features or ponds. The water system in the cit- ies mutated through their long history. The city moat was always the main water feature when the city was initially established, and the moat was dug when the circumvallation was built. The moat and the circumvallation act- ed together as a holistic flood defence system. The lake surrounding the city usually evolved from the moat. Whenever needed, the city moat was extended and many ponds between the circum- vallation and levee were dug to drain rainwater or mitigate waterlogging. The moat would be extended for earth required to build and repair the city Figure 9 Former city lake: plan of Suixian County wall or buildings, and finally became a large lake between the circumvalla- (based on 1:50,000 topographic map) tion and the levee.

Journal of Landscape Architecture / autumn 2008 11 Kongjian Yu Living With Water

Heze city Cao County Chengwu Xiayi Changyuan Feng County Nanle Table 2 The percentage of water surface in some of the flood adap- tive cities (data source: gross calculation by the authors based on the 28.9% 34.9% 23.3% 69.1% 23.7% 19.2% 13.3% 1:50,000 topographic maps of the cities from 1950s-1970s)

It is recorded in Xiayi city that the moat was originally 25 metres wide and Typology of flood adaptive urban forms in the Yellow River alluvial plain bounded by farmland (Zheng 1963). Later, in the Kangxi Period (1654 - 1722 Through the strategies of adaptation in the Yellow River alluvial basin, AD) ­of the Qing Dynasty, it had been extended to 90 - 120 metres wide, a the water adaptive cities in this region have developed very distinct urban huge lake outside the levee. The lakes were also used for food production, forms, which are quite different from the water cities seen in other parts of including cultivating crops and fishing (Han 1920). This kind of produc- China and around the world, such as Suzhou in South China and Venice in tive landscape was very common in the Yellow River alluvial plain, and Italy. Some of these unique features are: water bodies are seen in lakes and other typical examples are found in the ancient cities of Liaocheng, Shang- ponds, not as a connected network as in Suzhou; cities are doubly surround- qiu, Huaiyang, Chengwu, Yucheng etc. (Figs. 6, 7 & 8). ed with city walls forming a square on the inside and circular circumvallat- Ponds inside the city did not usually exist when the city was first estab- ing levees on the outside. While the inner city wall has the double function lished, and they were formed when earth was needed for building the cir- of military defence and flood prevention, the outer levee basically func- cumvallation and houses. When the inner city ground was getting lower tions as flood block. Various combinations of water bodies and city walls and lower every year the ponds were gradually formed and enlarged as an and levees make up different overall city forms, including (Fig. 11): adaptive solution to the flood and waterlogging problem. The water sur- face area of some cities could finally comprise as much as one third of the Water-within-city: Water bodies of various sizes are largely contained whole city, and the water surface area of Xiayi city covered two thirds of its within the inner square of the city wall. This form of city can be found in total area. In 1949 Xiayi city had to develop a new city outside the former Kaifeng, Heze, Chaoxian, Fenxian, Juye and elsewhere. one due to the limited dry land for further development (Tab. 2 ). The ponds’ most important function to the ancient cities was flood re- City-in-water: Water bodies of various sizes are contained between the in- tention and waterlogging drainage. The pond system was the major water ner city walls and the outer circumvallating levee: Examples include the drainage and storage system, and when combined with the circumvalla- cities of Liaocheng, Shangqiu, Yucheng, Shanxian and Tangshan. tion and circumvallating levee, they formed the whole flood adaptive de- fence system (Wu 1995). Even today, the water drainage and storing sys- Ying-yang-city (dead and living city): The city was adjacent to a huge lake. tems still function well in some old cities. This unique type of water-adaptive city comprises the former submerged Many of the ponds in these cities are also famous local scenic spots, city, which was strategically abandoned and became a huge area of water, where the scholars and elites built their gardens or for recreation. Besides and the new city built beside the dead city. It is a form of landscape metab- this, these ponds have other multiple functions such as aquiculture, irri- olism through land-flood-city. This type can be seen in Suixian, Zhecheng gation, firefighting, recreation, military defence etc. (Fig. 10) and elsewhere. From the perspective of the modern sciences of ecology and urban planning, ponds in the cities are important wetlands that help preserve In addition to these basic types, many cities are hybrids of two or three of the regional water balance, act as significant habitats of native species and the abovementioned forms. wildlife, and provide other diverse ecological services.

12 Journal of Landscape Architecture / autumn 2008 Chaoxian Heze Yuncheng

Changyuan Juye Fengxian

WATER-WITHIN-CITY

Weiwu

Liaocheng

Shangqiu

Shanxian Yucheng

CITY-IN-WATER

Figure 10 Typology of flood-adaptive city forms in the Yellow River alluvial plain (1 square kilometer/square)

Cuixian

YING-YANG-CITY

Journal of Landscape Architecture / autumn 2008 13 Kongjian Yu Living With Water

Figure 11 A productive lotus pond: the multiple functions of a pond in a city Figure 13 Waterlogging in the city of Heze due to filling in of the former flood-adaptive pond system

1949 - 1970s 1980s 2000

Figure 12 Ponds disappearing from Heze city

Conclusion and Discussion In history, for example, there were 72 ponds in Heze city that made up Global warming and climate change may increase flood hazards in some 30% of its total urban area, and the pond system functioned extremely well regions, and drought in others. While reducing greenhouse gas emissions for flood control and waterlogging mitigation, ground water recharge, cre- is a priority, it is no less important to develop adaptive strategies to less- ating urban micro-climates etc. But due to urban development in recent en the potential hazards of climate change. Multiple lessons can be learnt years, the area of urban water surface has dwindled annually. By 2000, the from the failures and successes of the flood adaptive landscape of ancient urban water surface accounted for just 16.2% of the total area, a decrease of Chinese cities on the Yellow River flood plain: nearly 50%. (Fig. 12) Due to the loss of ponds and lakes in and around the cities, the rainwater Recovering the art of survival: value the cultural landscape in the practice during the monsoon season – a large water resource which could be used to of landscape and urban design. recharge the groundwater – is lost. In past years, the decreased water body The adaptive landscape strategies of living on high land, building circum- has been proven to be responsible for various water related natural disas- vallation, and the detention ponds system, have played an important role ters, including waterlogging, flooding, drops in the water table, drought in sustaining the cities in the Yellow Rver plain despite the harsh environ- in spring and summer, degradation of wildlife habitats, decreases in bio- ment, and have helped people survive numerous floods. The actual values diversity and the loss of recreational resources and local identity. (Fig. 13) of this ‘art of survival’ are now mostly forgotten. Such ignorance about this Recently many cities in the Yellow River alluvial plain have shown interest adaptive survival has led to the loss of valuable local landscapes and the in protecting or reconstructing the ‘water city’. Unfortunately, more often functional traditional urban forms during the rapid urban development than not ‘water city’ has been misinterpreted and simply become a slogan of the past few decades in China. for a beautiful city.

14 Journal of Landscape Architecture / autumn 2008 Flood control system

Storm water management system Water security pattern of Heze primary city river primary regional water primary regional river branch city river and stream large city water branch regional river and stream primary open-ditch drainageway minor city water outer loop river of Heze city branch open-ditch drainageway

Figure 14 The water security pattern of Heze is the Storm water management system overlap and integration of several systems: By creating storm water management guidelines for Flood control system site development, creating stream and open-ditch By creating a hierarchy of loop floodways and a wet- drainageway system with appropriate network densi- lands-ponds system, the flood water can be drawn ty, and a wetlands-ponds system, storm water can be away and stored. stored, recycled and to recharge the groundwater.

This study, it is hoped, will help people understand the essential meanings of the mediating function of the water system, falling underground water behind the morphology of the ‘water city’ as cultural heritage and cultural tables and the disappearance of biodiversity. landscape, and to understand and care for the flood adaptive landscape as The other aspect of minimum defence approach to flood control is to part of the ‘art of survival’. build an interconnected system that integrates flood control with storm water management and solves the problem on site by reducing surface flow Minimum defence and a systematic approach to flood control and retaining water through landscape design of the site. Using Heze city Due to the limitations on budgets and available technology our ancestors as an example, a holistic water system (water security pattern) was planned learnt how to use the minimum defence approach to ‘make friends with wa- by landscape architects that combines the historic waterscape of the city, ter’ and combat floods. Building levees to surround the city or even only its the flood control system and the storm water management system (Figure strategic sections instead of confining rivers and water is a clever, though 14, Yu and Zhang 2006 ) obvious, strategy to deal with water. This minimum defence approach gives natural processes maximum space while meeting the needs of human safety. Planning landscape as ecological infrastructure The ubiquitous hydrological engineering of river canalisation, building con- Both the failures and the successes in adapting to the floods and waterlog- crete embankments along rivers and water features are a totally different ap- ging in ancient Chinese cities teach us that landscape should be designed as proach, the maximum approach, which expends tremendous energy to pro- an ecological infrastructure that is necessary for a city to survive and be sus- vide excessive security for human beings and the city while giving natural tainable, and provide multiple ecosystems services. These services include: processes minimum space. The results of the maximum approach are obvi- provisioning, related to production of food and clean water; regulating, re- ous, though often ignored: cumulative risk of disastrous floods, destruction lated to the control of climate and disease, mediation of flood and draught;

Journal of Landscape Architecture / autumn 2008 15 Kongjian Yu Living With Water

Water security pattern

Habitat security pattern

Vernacular heritage security pattern

Recreation security pattern

Ecological infrastructure with multi-functions

Figure 15 The Ecological Infrastructure Sys- tem (EI) of Heze is the overlap and integra- tion of the four security patterns: Water security pattern for flood and storm water control; Habitat security pattern for biodiversity conservation; Vernacular heritage security pattern for heritage protection and city identity Ecological infrastructure plan of Heze enhancement; Recreation security pattern for river and stream railway corridor protect area of the reservoir providing citizens with an accessible gutter drainage large park wetland park of Leize lake and pervasive green network. pond, lake and wetland district park forest reserve of lower Zhaowang River inscribed historic tree neighborhood park prime farmland protection area This planned EI system should be the new historic site special park, historic garden and zone main public building green framework to guide the city’s future river and stream corridor large exclusive green space street and road development. By acquiring and conserving street corridor large nursery garden railway the land of EI at the beginning of rapid ur- infrastructure corridor urban forest planned built-up area by 2010 banization process, EI system could be im- highway corridor core preservation area of paeonia plantation planned built-up area by 2020 road corridor peripheral preservation area plemented effectively, then to safeguard the of paeonia plantation critical nature and culture process in land- scape and provide sustainable ecosystem services to the residents.

Acknowledgement supporting, related to nutrient cycles and providing habitat (suitable living This research was co-funded by The Natural Science Fund of China (NSFC, space) for wild plant and animal species; cultural, related to spiritual and #39870147 and NSFC, # 59778010), and by the project of Urban Water and recreational benefits; and preserving, which includes safeguarding against Green System Planning of Heze City, Heze Planning Bureau. In addition uncertainty through the maintenance of diversity (Costanza and Daily 1992; to the authors, many colleagues and students from the Graduate School de Groot et al. 2002; Constanza, et al. 1997; Daily 1997, De Groot 2006 Millenni- of Landscape Architecture participated in this research and planning, in- um Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) 2005). The artificial water systems created in cluding Dihua Li, Lailei Yu, Wanli Fang, Jing Zhou, Chunbo Li, Sisi Wang, the Yellow River flood plain that are adaptive to floods and waterlogging Hui Han, Yitian Wang, Weiwei Zhang, and officials from the Municipal are multifunctional, including alleviation of flood and draught, irrigation, Government of Heze including Liyan Wang, Wenlin Liu, Maolin Ying, Sh- production, and as scenic places for recreation and literature and arts. This anyi Xiao, Chunming Wang, Guoyun Chao, Jing Dong, Chengxiang Zhu, functional flood-adaptive landscape acting as a life support system allows Dongsheng Zhou. The Authors thank all these participants in this re- these cities not only to survive in a harsh environment, but also to create search. The authors would also like to thank Mingdan Zhang for his help productive and beautiful human habitats. with the English edition of this paper. Following this observation, and using Heze as an example, the water sys- . tem was integrated with native habitats, cultural heritage features and rec- reational resources to form an ecological infrastructure (Yu and Zhang 2006 ). This ecological infrastructure will become the framework of urban growth, and shall be left open for multiple ecosystem services.

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