Hindawi Scientifica Volume 2017, Article ID 6967145, 12 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/6967145 Research Article Improving Urban Water Environment in Eastern China by Blending Traditional with Modern Landscape Planning Jiajie Cao, Junjun Yu, Yuan Tian, Cai Zhao, and Hao Wang College of Landscape Architecture, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China Correspondence should be addressed to Hao Wang; [email protected] Received 25 November 2016; Accepted 6 February 2017; Published 12 March 2017 Academic Editor: Liandong Zhu Copyright © 2017 Jiajie Cao et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. As a fundamental part of greenspace, urban water landscape contributes greatly to the ecological system and at the same time supplies a leisure area for residents. The paper did an analysis on the number of aquatic plant communities, the form of water spaces, and water quality condition by investigating 135 quadrats (90 at amphibious boundary and the land, 45 in the water) in 45 transects of 15 urban and suburban parks. We found that water spaces had monotonous forms with low biodiversity and poor water quality. In addition, urban water landscapes hardly provided ecological functions given excessive construction. Accordingly, a proposition to connect tradition with modernism in the improvement and innovation of urban water landscape planning was put forward, and further, the way to achieve it was explored. By taking Qinhu Wetland Park as a case, the principles and specific planning methods on macro- and microperspectives were discussed to guide the development of urban landscape in eastern China. 1. Background: The Condition of Shuiyang River, including 564 rivers in total among which 57 2 Urban Water Landscape in China rivers cover more than 50 km .Inthe1950s,theamountof lakes and ponds in urban area reached over 300. However, it According to “2015 Report on the State of the Environment decreased dramatically since then: Xuanwu lake, Yanque lake, of China,” the result of surface water quality monitoring and Mochou lake have degenerated into inland lakes after in 967 sites distributed in 423 main rivers and 62 lakes ∼ rounds of landfill; few water landscapes were left and lots of and reservoirs showed that water quality in I III category, ponds and lakes became none-penetrated surface destructive IV∼V category, and V category accounted for 64.5%, 26.7%, to water systems as well as urban geological landscape at the and8.8%respectively.Sincethe13thfiveyearplan,Chinese end of 1990s. Nowadays, most water landscapes in Nanjing government has been investing heavily on water environment belong to closed or illiquid small systems that get easily treatment. For example, Wuxi city plans to put 6 billion RMB on more than 26 rivers including the ancient canal, polluted with low water environmental capacity and poor Huancheng river, the grand canal, and Liangxi river to self-purification capability [1]. build urban water tourism landscape; Baotou city invested At present, two aspects are worth considering in water over 18 billion RMB in the improvement and utilization of environment treatment. Firstly, the construction and reform urban water ecosystem; Shantou city invested around 10.8 of urban water system in close touch with people need to be million RMB to treat black and foul water. However, serious taken as seriously as the treatment of large rivers and lakes. conditions of water environment still remain although great Secondly, how to construct water landscape in a scientific way achievements of water environment treatment have been should be considered given the shortage of relative researches made compared with the past. and standards [2]. In this case, this paper investigated means Located in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze, to build attractive landscape with sustainability in urban Nanjing is a city with rich water resources. Four water systems areas based on the perspective of ecological restoration and can be divided as the Yangtze, Chu River, Qinhuai River, and aesthetic functions of landscape. 2 Scientifica 2. Conditions of Urban Water at 38% (the same with Spirogyra in floating-leaved plants). Landscape in Nanjing Potamogeton crispus ranked the highest in relative coverage at 0.95 in all species, followed by Spirogyra at 0.68, Iris tectorum 2.1. Research Location. Locatedinthemiddleandlower at 0.41, Arundinella anomala at 0.32, Lemna minor at 0.32, reaches of the Yangtze, Nanjing is a land mainly with low Persicaria lapathifolia at 0.2, and Phragmites australis at 0.19. mountains and gradual hills. Rich in the water resources Table 3 showed that 26 species could be found in central (learned from “Nanjing water introduction”); it owns alto- city parks. Persicaria lapathifolia also ranked the highest in 3 gether 564 rivers with average volume of 1.8 billion m , frequency at 79.2% in all species, followed by Alternanthera among which surface water resources reach up to 22.1 billion philoxeroides at 66.7%, reeds at 63.4%, Potamogeton crispus 3 m . at 58.3%, Spirogyra at 58.3%, and Iris tectorum at 50%. We collected data on 15 wetland parks in Nanjing (Fig- Potamogeton crispus ranked the highest in relative coverage at ure 1, 8 parks in the urban area and 7 parks in the suburbs). 0.93 in all species, followed by Iris tectorum at 0.48, Spirogyra Three urban wetland parks as Qinhuai River, Xuanwu lake, at 0.43, Lemna minor at 0.38, and Phragmites australis at and Mochou lake belong to main river systems in Nanjing. 15 0.34; Persicaria lapathifolia at 0.22, Nymphaea tetragona,and plots are as follows: Xuanwu lake (Xuanwu men), the Couple Alternanthera philoxeroides at 0.19. park, Xianlin lake, Yueya lake, Qinhuai lakeegret island park, AsitisshowninFigure3,bothurbanandsuburban Yangshan park, Nanjing seven-bridge urn ecological wetland parks had a tendency that hygrophytes and emerging plants park, Jiulong lake, Foshou lake, Mochou lake, Xiuqiu park, were widely distributed, but much less submerged and Dongshuiguan heritage (Qinhuai lake), and Qianhu. floating-leaved plants appeared. In addition, aquatic plants were concentrated on certain types as Persicaria lapathifolia, 2.2. Methods and Results. We used typical sample method Alternanthera philoxeroides, Spirogyra, Potamogeton crispus, to collect data. Three transects (1 meter wide and 4 meters and Iris tectorum. long) perpendicular to the amphibious boundaries were Comparatively speaking, plants showed higher Simpson arranged in each location. In each transect, three quadrats diversity in urban parks than those in the suburbs (Fig- at 1 m × 1mweresetupatthewater,amphibiousboundary ure 4). Comparing with urban parks, suburban parks show andtheland,respectively(Figure2).Theintervaldistance a decrease in the proportion of hygrophytes with growing between each quadrat varied from 0.5 to 1 m depending on number of submerged and floating-leaved plants (Figure 3). the specific landform; for example, quadrats at the two ends Specifically, Simpson diversity was the lowest in Huashen lake of a clear amphibious boundary could connect. Quadrats in and Foshou lake parks in the suburbs, while it reached the the water extended to the threshold covered by water vascular highest in Dongshuiguan heritage at 0.65 in central city. plants, while those in amphibious boundary and the land were arranged on moisture gradient until the appearance 2.3. Analysis and Suggestions. In this paper, we made a of massive typical xerophytia or road edge. Altogether 135 surveyontheplantsofurbanandsuburbanwetlandparks quadrats (90 at amphibious boundary and the land, 45 in the in Nanjing. Main findings are as follows. water) were arranged in 45 transects of 15 urban and suburban Firstly, diversity of aquatic plants needs to be enhanced parks. Survey in position was used to make records on the through human intervention. Generally speaking, the results number of aquatic plant species, their frequency, and plant showed that Simpson diversity in urban parks was higher coverage (the proportion of area covered by crown geometry than those in the suburbs. It may greatly be attributed to shade to that of the quadrats) sorted by importance calcula- the government policies advocating plant configuration and tions (relative plant coverage as the coverage of one species maintenance in urban parks. However, limited choices of to the area covered by all species). After 15 days, data in 45 aquatic plants in landscape building are a problem. High fre- transects were collected. Table 1 showed the longitude and quency of certain species brings negative effects to ecological latitude of one transect as an example at each location. functions. In addition, the weak vertical stratification result- The research showed that sixty species were usually ing from unbalanced proportion of hygrophytes, emerging seen in Nanjing wetland parks: 3 as submerged plants, 4 plants, submerged plants, and floating-leaved plants can as floating-leaved plants, 12 as emerging plants, and 41 as hardly bring aesthetic experiences to the audience. hygrophytes. In the suburbs, we collected 23 aquatic species Second, considering the ecological and aesthetic func- in total, among which 2 were submerged plants, 2 floating- tions of wetlands, frequency of plant species needs to be taken leaved plants, 14 hygrophytes, and 5 emerging plants (Table 2). into account with plant coverage