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Multifunctioning Urban Waterfront: Inspirations from the Ecological Wisdom of Working with Reservoir Flooding in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region

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Ecological Wisdom

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Abstract

This chapter argues for a new ecological-economic vision for flood management through examination of human–reservoir interactions in the Three Gorges Reservoir region, highlighting local ecological wisdom derived from observing, knowing and working with, rather than against natural forces. To make these lessons actionable for contemporary urban waterfront landscaping projects, especially those exposed to natural or manipulated flood , the practical and theoretical inspirations are summarised in terms of landscape structure, components and maintenance that echo with landscape design in the real world. We then provide a design scenario for the lakeshore landscaping of Kaizhou, new city of Chongqing Municipality that demonstrates the wisdom -inspired “doing” process. Based on this full cycle of case study–theory–application, we conclude ecological wisdom is the art of achieving balance between human and nature, grounded on accumulated knowledge of local, traditional and scientific understanding, and being able to adjust according to the changing circumstances.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge support from National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51408584), Chongqing Science & Technology Commission (No. cstc2014yykfC20002). This article was inspired by discussions at the International Workshop on Ecological Wisdom during 2014 and 2015 in Chongqing , Shanghai and Hong Village of Anhui Province, China. We are especially grateful to participant colleagues.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing, 400714, China

    Chundi Chen & Hui Cheng

  2. Centre for Ecological Wisdom and Ecological Practice Research, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China

    Chundi Chen

  3. Landcare Research, Crown Research Institute, P.O. Box 69040, Lincoln, 7640, New Zealand

    Colin D. Meurk

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  1. Chundi Chen
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Correspondence to Chundi Chen .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Landscape Architecture and Planning, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Bo Yang

  2. The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    Robert Fredrick Young

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Chen, C., Meurk, C.D., Cheng, H. (2019). Multifunctioning Urban Waterfront: Inspirations from the Ecological Wisdom of Working with Reservoir Flooding in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region. In: Yang, B., Young, R. (eds) Ecological Wisdom. EcoWISE. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0571-9_12

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