The Edge Space Design Of Landscape Taking The Example Of Providence Waterfront Open Space

The edge space is the most active area of all spaces and the edge effect is a very common force in the world. We can see that: in the convergence of cold and warm ocean current, there is numerous fish; in the convergence of land and sea, there are the most economically developed cities; in the convergence of different landscape spaces, there is wide variety of activities. Through the comprehensive analysis, deduction/induction, and case study, I hope to provide some useful complement to the edge space design of landscape.Taking 2020 Providence city planning project as an opportunity and following the scale from big to small, the paper carries out some research on the planning of waterfront open space and design of one waterfront park.The first part of the paper is waterfront open space planning analysis. Waterfront open space is the edge space where the land and river match with each other, so, the edge effect is obvious. This area is the driving force behind emergence and development of the city, the important carrier of recreational space, and the most sensitive ecological belt. Providence's waterfront space used to be main base for the port and industrial and play an important role in urban economic development. In the post-industrial age, the waterfront has become a run-down place. In this city general planning, waterfront space is urgent to have a reform and restoration. In the re-transformation process, we do not just restore it as a waterfront green belt only full of trees, more importantly, it should be well combined with city, have good accessibility and integrate different levels of meaning, such as economy, ecology and culture.The next part of paper is the park design. I select one park from waterfront open space series. In this part, the edge effect I talk about is based on environmental behavior theory. We can find the high conformity between the edge space and human activity space, because the edge space is equipped with a number of factors stimulating human activities. Following the guidance of theory and specific condition of site, I make a careful choice of tourist activities space. There are three interesting edge spaces which are the skeleton and vigor source of Waterfront park. The focus of design on the edge space is conducive to create a leisure atmosphere, to maintain the integrity of the landscape and to enhance the overall quality of parks.