Planning Strategy of Tourism Service Towns under the Land and Space Planning System: A Case Study of Taiping Town in Nanchang City

Xulin LIU, Qi LUO

College of City Construction, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang 330022, China

Abstract In May 2019, the construction of the land and space planning system was officially launched. The Ministry of Natural Resources of the State Council issued the Notice on Comprehensively Implementing Land and Space Planning, which clearly requires all regions to comprehensively launch the land and space planning and puts forward specific work requirements[1]. Later, in order to guide the preparation and implementation of land and space planning, various technical standards were successively issued. The dual-assessment technical guidelines, land use classification standards, and the compilation guidelines for provincial, city and county planning were gradually submitted for review and trial implementation. In this context, there have been more and more planning theories and practical studies based on the background of land and space planning. For tourist service towns, how to protect the style and features of the towns under the land and space planning system and preserve the local characteristics is a problem that needs to be solved urgently[2].

Key words Land and space planning, Tourist service towns, Style and features of the towns

1 Introduction

Tourist service towns, as an important part of the scenic area, have formed distinctive urban styles and features with their rich natural ecological environment, historical and cultural resources, and the integration of regional and local culture. In the present construction of tourist service towns in scenic areas, due to the lack of in-depth understanding of the traditional values of the towns, under the leading of leadership and capital operation, there is the disorder and loss of the towns’ styles and even the original regional cultural characteristics. The disappearance has destroyed the overall landscape atmosphere of the scenic area, thus it is not favorable for the sustainable development of the scenic area[3]. The style and feature of a town are a complex system. The key to the construction of a tourism service town under the land and space planning system lies in how to shape the image characteristics of the town, establish a planning framework with regional and cultural characteristics, and implement it in the space construction. At present, township style planning mainly continues using the methods of controlling and guiding the landscape elements, spatial pattern, and urban design, but there is little exploration of the current style and characteristics of the township and its regional cultural characteristics. Due to the diversification of the construction entities of the towns in the scenic area, the style system is more complicated, which increases the difficulty of spatial coordination and style shaping[4-5].

2 Overview of Taiping Town

Taiping Town, developed from a commune, was established in 1958, and found a township in 1984, and a town in March 2010. Taiping Town, located in the Meiling National Key Scenic Area, is the political, economic, cultural center and transportation hub of Meiling National Scenic Area. Taiping Town is 22 km away from Nanchang City and covers an area of about 48 km2. With pictureque scenery, beautiful ecology and pleasant climate, Taiping Town has the honorary titles of national civilized village and town, national ecological town, national characteristic tourist landscape town, national beautiful livable town, and national characteristic town. Near to downtown of Nanchang, Taiping Town is the first choice for Nanchang urban residents climbing, leisure, and escaping summer heat. Taiping Town has annual average temperature of 14.5-17.6 ℃, rich mountain forest and vegetation, and the forest coverage rate is as high as 83.2%. There is a national 4A Lion Mountain Scenic Spot in the town. The diverse natural resources make it a natural leisure and health treasure and the first choice for Nanchang residents to go sightseeing and take leisure.

3 Survey and analysis of the present situation of Taiping Town

In this study, we analyzed the characteristics of the present situation of Taiping Town in detail, and came up with some pertinent renovation and protection recommendations based on relevant conditions under the guidance of relevant theories of land and space planning.

3.1 Overall pattern

3.1.1Landscape pattern. Taiping Town is located in a valley surrounded by mountains. It develops along two rivers. At the intersection of the two rivers, Taiping Bridge forms the center of the town. The two rivers mainly flow to Meiling Town and Taiping Town. The river flows to Meiling Town is the development direction of the old town area. This area is dominated by old buildings, and the buildings basically continue the black-red tone of the traditional buildings in Meiling area. The other river flows to Taiping Town, which is the development direction of the new town area. New buildings are the mainstay and absorb certain characteristics of traditional buildings, whitewashes the walls, and add wharf wall to the mountain walls. Affected by the topography, Taiping Town will still develop along the river.

3.1.2humanistic pattern. Influenced by the topography of the river, the center of the town is formed at the junction of the two rivers. The current main vitality space gathers here, and the flow of vehicles and people is frequent. Due to its inconvenient transportation and not many historical and cultural relics, Taiping Town is positioned as a slow life town in leisure tourism, and the town is mainly built on this principle. Taiping Town Heart Street and Lion Mountain, nature and humanities echo each other. The Heart Street is a characteristic cultural and artistic block integrating the styles of Gan (former name of Jiangxi) and Hui (former name of Anhui). Heart Street means the core of the scenic area, away from the hustle and bustle, and relaxation. Taiping Town adopts a decentralized development model based on its leisure tourism positioning.

3.1.3Key regional pattern. The waterfront space of Taiping Town is an important open space. It is adjacent to the main traffic passage County Highway 004, which increases the insecurity of walking to a certain extent, and is far away from the building, making the porch of the semi-open space of the building more dynamic to a certain extent. The gateway space of Taiping Town is not well-built, lack of space definition, the public center is separated from the function center of the town, and the centrality is weak, mainly showing the linear development of the road economy.

3.2 BuildingsTaiping Town is located in a scenic area, and its building height is limited by the mountain. Old buildings are relatively low and new buildings are also low, but are still higher than the old buildings. The height-to-width ratio of the building street is about 1.5, which leaves a certain impact on the mountain background. At the same time, the large volume of the newly built building blocks the penetration and interaction between mountains and waters, destroys the natural landscape pattern, the penetration relationship between the building and the environment is weak, and the space lacks the rich layers of water-building-mountain. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the building height and the building volume, and increase the sight corridor between the mountain and the water. In addition, the new buildings did not follow the spatial texture of the original buildings, destroyed the original township structure, and did not respond to the topography.

In terms of architectural style, traditional buildings are dominated by ordinary residential buildings in the mountainous area of northern Jiangxi, and the overall color is gray, while new buildings are dominated by Jiangxi style residential buildings, and the overall color is white. The overall integration of the town’s architectural colors with the environment is good. Whether it is the gray of traditional buildings or the white of new buildings, the relationship between the buildings and the landscape is good, but there is also a problem of lack of bright colors.

3.3 Landscape greeningThe greening in Taiping Town can be divided into three main categories, namely residential area and courtyard greening, street landscape greening, and surrounding mountain greening. In the respect of greening of residential areas and courtyards, it is mainly manifested in the planting of various flowers in the courtyards of some residential houses, restaurants, and homestays, which form a good visual effect with the building; in terms of street landscape greening, most of the greening along the street is mainly arbors and flowers, but some streets have less greening; regarding the surrounding mountain greening, Taiping Town often plants colored leafy plants such asAcerpalmatum‘Atropurpureum’,Acerbuergerianum, andAcerpalmatumThunb., which not only enrich the visual landscape level, but also form a variety of ancient town background styles. In terms of landscape elements, the town area mainly has elements such as pavilions, seats, flower beds, street lamps, and garbage bins.

4 Recommendations for protecting the styles of Taiping Town

4.1 Protecting the landscape features of Taiping TownTourist service towns are an important factor in natural environment scenic spots. Due to differences in natural environment and geographical features, different towns have different characteristics and patterns. In the analysis of the traditional style of towns, we found that the characteristics and spatial pattern of towns reflect the good relationship between the towns and the natural environment. Protecting the landscape pattern of the towns is an important idea of land and space planning. The style and features of towns are an important part of the local culture inheritance system of tourism service towns. The style and features of tourism service towns are rooted in the natural environment in which they grow, and they form a good interactive relationship between the town and the natural topography and landscape environment. From the original topography to industrial development, the pattern of towns has had a huge impact on the formation of their space. Making clear the relationship between the landscape, and promoting the natural integration of the township pattern and the landscape environment are important parts of protecting the characteristics of towns under the land and space planning system.

4.2 Inheriting the orderly historical and cultural features

The social relations and historical and cultural precipitation formed in the long-term development of the town are an important part of the characteristic culture of Taiping Town, and an important content of Taiping Town’s inheritance of orderly historical and cultural features within the framework of the land and space planning system. After the development of tourism, characteristic crises and hidden worries of de-lifestyle appeared in the construction of township style, and symbolization is prevailing. The continuation of the town style and features is an inheritance of history and culture and an exploration of the continuation of life. The historical and cultural environment, historical and cultural relics, customs, and intangible heritage of the township are the historical culture left by the long-term development of the town. With the changes in the needs of residents in different eras and their yearning for life, these cultures provide a steady flow of power for the renewal of township space[6].

4.3 Developing the coordinated characteristic spacesWith the historical changes and the rise of tourism, the style of towns and villages has begun to turn towards openness. In the process of industrial development, the construction of townships and styles has the hidden worry of autonomy and spatial differentiation. In the context of land and space planning, the integration of style and township is an important content. Developing the coordinated characteristic spaces includes the guidance and coordination of the industrial space and the design control of the theme elements. The guidance and coordination of the industrial space is to coordinate the industrial functions of the towns and villages with the aforementioned landscape pattern and features from a macro perspective, so as to achieve a spatial quality with high integration with the towns, making the overall style adapt to the development of the industry on the basis of demand, and realizing coordinated and orderly development. The control of the theme elements is the creation of the details of the style and culture of the township, and good style details and atmosphere are also appealing[7].

5 Planning strategies for the styles of Taiping Town

The characteristic style planning of tourism service towns should be based on land and space planning, land use master plans, and other upper-level plans. At the same time, it must be well connected with the planning of historical and cultural towns and short- and long-term construction, to ensure the feasibility of the design and construction guidelines for township characteristics, so that the village construction project can be implemented according to the plan. In particular, in the process of building characteristic features of towns and villages, it is necessary to improve the construction of supporting facilities and improve the living environment. In view of the relevant research and analysis of the land and space planning and the style of towns and villages, it is recommended to plan the style of Taiping Town from the following aspects and provide transformation cases for other towns, mainly including the following aspects: style pattern planning strategy, open space planning strategy, and architectural style planning strategy.

5.1 Style pattern planning strategyIn view of the complexity and systematicness of the town style, in the structure of the style system, the important elements of the style structure play a decisive role in shaping the style. Combining the related theories of land and space planning and the theory of urban space image, it is found that there are also some decisive structural elements in the pattern of towns, including the core, nodes, and belt of town style.

5.1.1The core of town style. The core of the style is the more compact style element in the spatial form, and it has higher efficiency in the reference of cultural connotation. It is a concentrated expression of the characteristics of the town. It occupies an important position in the structure that constitutes the style, and plays a more important role in the experience of cultural connotation and the shaping of the spiritual and cultural atmosphere of the town. It is often expressed as an important public space or landmark building in the town space. Due to the different development characteristics and stages of the towns and villages in the scenic area, the core of the style may be the same as the core of the original towns, but still retains the characteristics of the local culture; some towns have undergone changes in the development of tourism.

5.1.2The belt of town style. The style belt refers to the continuous linear space with features and connotations in the town. It mainly takes the water system and the town road as the carrier, and pays attention to the construction of architectural interfaces, skyline outlines, open spaces, green facilities and other landscape elements. The town style belt is an important form of the formation of the style of the town. The main and secondary roads in the town are clearly divided, and the river also has an important influence on the formation of the settlement form of the town, so that the town style is often the most representative and becomes a most distinctive and dynamic area of the town.

5.1.3The node of town style. The node of style is an efficient element in the rural heritage inheritance system structure of the tourism service town style, and it has the characteristics of concentrated and efficient expression of the rural cultural characteristics of the town. For example, ancestral halls, squares, and township entrances are important node areas. The node of style is the material carrier of the imageability and recognizability of the town style, and it is also the point of interest for people in the experience of the town space. Therefore, the theme control at the town style node can guide the flow of people, and it is also conducive to displaying the town style in many aspects and angles.

The town style was originally in a slow and closed development. In the development of township culture, the town style has turned towards opening. The diversity of functions has caused the original homogenous town style to differentiate, and the concentration of capital elements to advantageous locations further promotes this process. Different industrial functions dominate the style of different areas and become the basic form of town style structure. Through the positioning of its overall style and characteristics, the determination of main functions, the planning and guidance of buildings, roads, open spaces and environmental characteristics, it is expected to form a unique and overall coordinated regional style and characteristic landscape.

5.2 Open space planning strategyOpen space is the main channel and space for people to live and visit, and it is also an important place for multi-level and multi-perspective display of township cultural characteristics. Through the mountain, water, square, park, green space and walking system, all parts are connected with each other to form an open space system of urban and rural towns.

5.2.1Important open space. Important open space is the public space in the town, such as the public center, landscape portal, functional core and other elements, providing the residents in the town to communicate and the tourists to experience, to strengthen the vigorous and interesting place space that exists in the town style and pattern, and providing a high-quality living environment for the town together with the township landscape.

5.2.2Control of sight landscape corridor. The style of tourist service towns in scenic areas should be shaped in harmony with scenic areas. In terms of the control of the contour line of the style construction, it is necessary to set aside sight corridors in the scenic area first, and promote the communication between the town and the scenic area using the methods of "comparing, borrowing, and framing the scenery". These are also the style and features of the tourist service towns in the scenic area.

5.3 Architectural style planning strategyThe architectural style mainly refers to the control of the height, volume, layout, style, and color of the town buildings in the three levels of the overall, area and plot. Building control at the plot level is a specific control oriented towards the implementation level and requires in-depth research from the following aspects:

5.3.1The height control. Height control is mainly used to control the height of the building to create a harmonious and orderly vertical spatial form of the town, and create a beautiful outline of the town. To guide and control the outline of the township, the height of the building should conform to the situation of the mountain and water, and lower from the mountain to the water, so as to obtain a good landscape sight. The building and the mountain background should be co-constructed at the same bottom. The building situation direction should be in harmony with the mountain background. The side elevation of the building should present the ups and downs and trend similar to that of the mountain topography, highlight the "state" of the mountain, namely, either gently, or rising, or fragmented, or as a whole, forming an echo and co-construction with the mountain.

5.3.2The building volume control. The building volume control is an important part of style control, and it can avoid the appearance of those buildings going after the grandiose in the space environment of the town. The building volume should be in line with the environment, neither too long nor too wide, and should promote sight exchange and communication between the built-up area environment and the landscape pattern. Buildings should reduce the shelter of the mountain, avoid the phenomenon that tall buildings block the natural space of the mountain and block the connection between the mountain and the water. If it is necessary to build high-rise buildings, the scattered point distribution is preferable to the rigid board layout.

5.3.3The layout control. The group layout of the buildings embodies the wisdom of building space in the local culture. The design and guidance of the plane layout of the building group should be based on the control of building height and volume. When the building plane is parallel to the contour line, the building group should conform to the mountain terrain to allow good communication between the building and the mountain environment. The building form should respect the natural topography, avoid excessively transforming the topography and presenting a state of interlaced fingers on the plane. Besides, the consideration of soft environments such as waterscapes and forests can enhance the abundance of the building group environment and make it better integrate into the surrounding environment. In addition, in order to improve the integration of buildings and natural forms such as vegetation, water bodies, and terrain, it is necessary to minimize the use of geometric figures, avoid confrontation with the natural environment, and promote the organic symbiosis between the architectural form and the natural environment.

6 Conclusions

The style of town is an important part of urban construction. Under the land and space planning, it is necessary to pay attention to the differences in resources and environment, lifestyles, industrial structure and cultural customs of towns, to better lead, guide and standardize the planning and construction of tourist towns, and build beautiful towns and villages based on rural society, rich in regional characteristics, carrying the pastoral nostalgia, and reflecting the modern civilization[8].