- Ecological Infrastructure as a powerful Instrument for smart Growth: A case study of Beijing    1172 kb by    WANG, Sisi & CHEN, Chundi & YANG, Qian | sisiwang@pku.edu.cn    Short Outline With the case of Beijing City, a typical mega-city in China, this paper introduces Ecological infrastructure (EI) as a strategic instrument for smart growth and smart conservation by planning EI and using EI as a structural framework for urban growth. Abstract Beijing is a microcosm of major shifts and challenges that Chinese mega-cities are experiencing. During the last thirty years, the overwhelming urbanization and uncontrollable urban sprawl in Beijing are the primary threats to the health of regional ecological system, the protection of cultural heritage, as well as urban sustainable development. The integrity and identity of the landscapes have been taken over and destroyed. This paper introduces Ecological infrastructure (abbr. EI) as a strategic concept and approach to achieve smart growth and smart conservation by safeguarding the various natural, biological, cultural and recreational processes across the landscape. Using Beijing City as a case study, this paper systematically proposes the methodology of EI based on the theory of Landscape Security Pattern. Taking the measures of geographic information system data analysis and simulations, critical landscape patterns (security patterns) for various processes were identified. The regional EI was an integration of security patterns and plans for flood control and storm water management, geological disaster prevention, biodiversity conservation, cultural heritage protection and recreation. Three alternatives of EI were developed corresponding to high, medium, and low security levels. Using the three EI alternatives as a structural framework, three scenarios of urban growth patterns were simulated using GIS: ¡°urban growth patterns based on the EI at low, medium and high levels¡±. Comparative impact evaluations for these scenarios show that the urban growth based on EI can effectively maintain the integrity of ecological processes and prevent sprawl. The urban pattern based on medium level EI can provide 5450 Km2 land for construction and agriculture, which fulfills the requirements of competing land uses, and keeps a good landscape structure to safeguard the natural and cultural processes. Keywords Ecological Infrastructure, Landscape Security Pattern, Smart Growth, Urban Pattern Scenario, Beijing Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2008: Urban Growth without Sprawl   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper