A Conceptual Model for Establishing an Ecological Defense System to Control Rapidly Sprawling Urbanization: A Case Study from Yuelu District, Changsha City, Hunan Province, China

The rapid economic growth stimulates a surprising and uncontrolled urbanization wave in China, and necessarily brings about, in turn, poor environment quality and low life amenity. By what means the situation can be substantially transformed into a healthy track has been a puzzled and considerably difficult work challenging all Chinese. The article attempts to explore the conceptual model for establishing an ecological defense system in Yuelu District of Changsha, Hunan province, China, a rapid urbanized area, primarily focusing on its spatial pattern and adaptable scheme in order to control its continuing sprawl and improve local environment. For achieving the aim, authors first define the concept and its key qualities, then analyze and compare differing schemes with the principal purposes of defending urbanization and resolving prevailing urban ills, in terms of their principal goals, elements and spatial patterns. Finally, three elements are indentified, that is, the eco-base, eco-fortress and eco-corridor, and the skeleton and final scheme are set out, comprising 3 zones enhancement zones, buffer zones and core conservation zones and designing a weblike spatial pattern composing of urban green spaces, greenways, waterways, wetlands, forested hills and mountains, farmlands and villages. The system is designed as an eco-centric, forest-oriented, sustainable network of life support system. In order to accomplish its anticipated functions, it must make every efforts to obtain supports from legislation, administration, residents, enterprises and other institutions, to launch large-scale mass propagations and specific training, and ultimately to compete a high level priority over so called "gray" planning processes, at lest concurrently.