Study On Rural Residential Planning And Planning Evaluation In Scenic Areas

Currently, traditional Chinese rural settlements are being challenged both by therapid economic development and by the process of urbanization, the quality andstructure of which have been deteriorated significantly. Rural residential landconsolidation is the precondition for the modernization of countryside and the rural-urban integration. There are many ways to realize rural residential land consolidation inrural construction, namely urbanization, industrialization and modification of rural areas,which are especially important for the rural settlements in scenic areas with abundantnatural and cultural resources. As a typical kind of rural settlements, residential arealocated in scenic spot has its characteristics. Many problems still exist in such ruralsettlements as a common rule, for example, lower living standard, poorer public serviceconditions, less unfavorable sanitary conditions and so on. On the other hand, becauseof the gifted tourism resources, they possess tremendous development potential andsplendid future, provided the planning of settlements be combined smartly with thedevelopment of tourism.This study was carried out on the basis of the author’s working experience as aplanning administrator for more than5years, just since Chongqing was approved as thenational experimental zone for overall urban and rural development by the State Councilin2007. Experiences from several countryside construction models were considered,namely Five Golden Flowers rural construction in Chengdu, Qianjiang agriculturalexperiment zone plan in Chongqing, rural construction models in Korea and Germany.Main content of this study can be divided into2parts, details of plan and planevaluation. Based on the actual situation in Changshou lake scenic areas in Changshoudistrict, Chongqing city, both the public participation, which is the essential “frombottom to top” planning requirement, and planning and implementation carried out bygovernment and the administrative, which are the essential “from top to bottom”planning steps, were emphasized. It is aimed to make a reliable and reasonable plan forphysical space construction in rural regions, which should be helpful for the resident toenjoy a wide range of public services and to enjoy their rich and civilized life.On one hand, based on tracing back to theories and experiences of rural settlementconstruction in and abroad China, together with collection of local data, includingcurrent situation of the rural land, agricultural development, infrastructures and public services in the study region, spatial layout of rural infrastructures and public serviceswere improved. Taking advantage of space image and space syntax theory, spatiallayout of integrated rural settlements was determined, which were distributed alongwith infrastructures to maximize the availability of public services and infrastructuresand to make the network structure of integrated rural settlements more reasonable. Asfor the internal part of specific rural settlements, space syntax theory was applied againto optimize the spatial layout of public service facilities, municipal infrastructure andresidences. In the practice of new countryside construction, planning was crucial. Ruralsettlement construction with rational planning may provide rural residents withimproved living and working environment, which should be helpful for rural residentsto enjoy modern civilization and for the creation of pleasant physical space in ruralregions. What’s more, taking advantage of rich tourism resources, together with routesand node design, additional job opportunities in tourist service should be created.On the other hand, planning evaluation was done based on the combination ofanalytic hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy synthetic discrimination, through which,rationality of rural settlement planning in Changshou lake scenic areas was analyzed.Both qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis were used to determine the keypoints in the planning and construction of rural settlements inside scenic area, whichcan be used as the foundation for planning of other similar rural settlements ofChongqing.Firstly, index system for evaluation was established. Many factors act as theindicators of the quality of rural construction. Through case study, a new evaluationindex system for rural settlements planning and construction was put forward andutilized in planning evaluation.There are3layers in the index system, the first layer wasthe overall objective, the second layer was the4judgment criteria and the third layerwas the19evaluating indicators. The overall objective was the reasonable planning fora peaceful circumstance both for living and for working. The4judgment criteria wereecological soundness, living convenience, product development and developmentpotential. The19evaluating indicators were landform and soil, pollution degree, naturaldisaster, condition of infrastructures, per capita settlement land area and so on.Taking advantage of comprehensive evaluation method, crucial items for ruralsettlement planning and construction were identified, which were used as the referenceand basis for reasonable plan, and should be monitored for a lone period in the futuresettlements construction and use. What’s more, expert assessment method was also utilized in the evaluation of planning scheme. What’s more, expert assessment methodwas also utilized in the evaluation of planning scheme.20experts participated in theevaluation.74.17%evaluation results were good and above, consequently this planningscheme was believed to be good.As a conclusion, several rational and practical suggestions were put forwardaiming to improve the feasibility and practice of rural residential planning in scenicareas.