According to the characteristics of the distribution of green space in rural settlements in Shanghai, greening includes the following types:
2.3.1 Entrance greening
Mainly divided into three categories: 1. settlements directly connected to the main road; 2. settlements and the outside world have a natural water system as a barrier, the bridge as the main channel linking internal and external; 3. between settlements and the outside world is a large area of farmland.
In the first case, settlements are directly linked to major roads. This type of situation is generally less frequent. However, due to the acceleration of municipal construction and the transformation of many suburban roads, it
sometimes undermines the original features of settlements and enables settlements to directly connect with roads. Then, the entrance space is relatively narrow, and it generally plant a large piece of bamboo as the main vegetation, and some giant trees, such as Metasequoia and Fragrant Plum, are planted around the site, together to separate the interior and exterior spaces.
Meanwhile, the entrance can be covered to ensure safety.
In the second case, water systems act as barriers between settlements and outside. Such settlements have a unique geographical advantage and generally have higher security and privacy. Some of the water systems around the settlements are natural, and some are artificial. Natural water systems generally have strong landscape efficacy, relatively clean water, and rich aquatic species on the shore. Due to the limited scale of artificial water systems, the water system is more turbid and the plant species are less.
However, due to the presence of water systems, both of them have variety types of plant, trees brushes, grasses and aquatic species. The overall landscape efficacy is strong. In addition, since such entrances usually use bridges as the main channel, the importance of the green landscape of the bridge naturally goes without saying. Among them, there is an entrance bridge where two rows of Metasequoia are densely planted on both sides, forming a long and narrow see-through landscape, forming a relatively closed landscape effect which is quite artistic. Landscape examples are shown in Fig.20 to Fig.22.
Fig. 20 water landscape of theFig. 21 The water belt between Fig. 22 The Metasequoia entrancewith rich greening settlement and road on both sides of the entrance bridge
The third situation is that there is a large area of farmland between settlements and the outside world. This kind of settlement is also relatively common. From the main entrance, it is a large area of farmland which is first introduced into the eyes, and a settlement after the farmland. This kind of settlement is also more intimate because it is in the innermost part. Meanwhile, a large area of farmland provides an open field of view. However, such entrance greening is not particularly landscape rich.
2.3.2 Settlements center greening
Settlements center greening, that is, the center greening area inside settlements. In the investigation, there was a discovery in Yi Village of
mainly a dense forest of Camphor which forms a square array embedded in the settlement patches to form a rich landscape element.
2.3.3 Courtyard greening
Almost all of the rural settlements in Shanghai have green courtyards, but mainly for vegetable cultivation, and there are few trees and shrubs.
Usually there is a small piece of land in the corner of the courtyard, as a vegetable garden, and there will usually be one or two trees such as Camphor, Metasequoia and so on. The fruit trees are mainly loquat trees, peach trees, jujube trees, and the shrubs are mostly sweet-scented osmanthus. The overall species is relatively simple.
Fig. 23 Different landscape in the courtyard of settlements
2.3.4 Riverside greening
The riverside greening has the most abundant types of landscape in the rural settlements. Due to Shanghai's unique geographical location, there are extensive water systems, and water systems around settlements are also abundant. Usually there are one or two ponds around the settlements, and the pond side is usually planted with rich greening, such as mulberry, locust trees, Broussonetia, fragrant plum, Metasequoia and so on forth. On the one hand, greening along the waterside can block wind and fix soil, and on the other hand it can conserve water sources and preserve water quality and cleanliness.
2.3.5 Farmland greening
The types of farmland greening are comparatively simple and basically consist of two to three rows of shelterbelts as a green isolation belt between farmlands. The tree species is relatively simple, mainly fragrant plum and Metasequoia, when the array is relatively wider or longer it appears spectacular. Sometimes there are also single tree or three or five trees clustered in farmland, which is also very artistic.
Fig. 24 Different landscape on the farmland
Generally speaking, large areas of greening are mainly distributed in the northern part of the settlements and near the pond side close to the settlements as shown in Fig. 25. There are sometimes small patches of greening inside the settlements, and at the front and back of the houses, there are sporadic distributed Metasequoia and fruit trees.
Fig. 25 The plants distribution around the settlements
Greening mainly has the following functions: 1. Windshield to protect houses, as greening is mainly distributed in the northern part of the settlements, so that the invasion of northwestern wind towards the entire settlements can be weakened in winter; 2. Water conservation, the greening at the waterfront is mainly to prevent water and soil loss around the pond, as well as clean water source; 3. Protect the territory, dense greening can be used as an effective barrier, divide the land between settlements and settlements, as well as can reduce the interference of outside; 4. Beautify the environment, induce the scenery at the front and back of the house full of seasonally change.
3 Conclusion and discussion