EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ON THE LANDSCAPE PERFORMANCE OF DESIGNED ECOLOGIES THROUGH A FIELD OBSERVATION OF SALINE-ALKALI SOIL IMPROVEMENT IN QIAOYUAN PARK OF TIANJIN

Abstract

The current rapid urbanization leads to a degeneration in natural ecosystems whose regulating, purification, and production services have been seriously damaged. Landscape architecture focusing more on landscape functions and processes in this context is significant to urban environment improvement, by creating more urban parks and green spaces to provide ecological services as benefits rather than cities' burdens. Therefore, Yu Kongjian defined Designed Ecology as a constructed ecosystem or a system of interactions between living creatures (including human beings) and nature by human design, also ecological processes formed by landscape architecture and planning, and an interdisciplinary, cross-scale, and empirical research in a form of landscape. This research examined the landscape performance of saline-alkali soil amelioration in Qiaoyuan Park designed with the Designed Ecology principles by ecological experiments. The results prove that through micro-topography design, the park's constructed ecosystem significantly drains away salt and alkali to the lower areas of the site, both within the pond and across the whole pond system, achieving its design goal. This case study provides models for similar ecological landscape design of urban parks and green spaces.