Ecological and Intensive Design Tactics for Mountain Cities in Western China: Taking the Main District of Chongqing as an Example

Abstract

To continuously increase urban space, it is quite unlikely for mountain cities to be able to expand their boundaries. With the lack of natural, ecological land resources and the unrecyclable nature of such resources, the only way out for them is to make the most of their existing resources and to find a new development mode that focuses on the internal renewal of those cities. As one of the largest mountain cities in Western China, faced with a series of grave problems in city development such as economic remodeling, functional updating, and resource reorganization, Chongqing is taking a development tactic focusing on optimizing and integrating resources, which may become a good model for other mountain cities in the same region. In view of the characteristics of the natural ecological and land resources in the mountain cities, the urban design tactics for these cities emphasize two aspects. The first is constructing hierarchical and systematic natural resource protection mechanisms, strengthening the dominant position and restrictive role of natural elements in the mountainous urban landscapes and maintaining the urban spatial texture of cluster growth; at the same time, in light of urban industry restructuring, exploiting the functions and tapping the potentials of the riverside belt as an urban landscape area open to the public, seeking a new model which is fit for the development of the riverside belts in cities. The second is taking resource integration as the main approach to efficient use of the land resources in downtown areas and by constructing three-dimensional public pedestrian systems in the cities, combining the cultural landscape and commercial facilities with urban street spaces so as to save these spaces from isolation; and by forming a compact, land-efficient, and multifunctional urban pattern, which is at the same time adapted for the various transport modes, shifting the mountain cities from an old pattern towards a new, intensive, resource-rich, and economizing pattern.