# Environmental Modelling of Coastal Cities: Urban Landscapes as Complex, Vulnerable and Dynamically Developing Structures

Polina Lemenkova

► To cite this version:

Polina Lemenkova. Environmental Modelling of Coastal Cities: Urban Landscapes as Complex, Vulnerable and Dynamically Developing Structures. Natural Resource Management and Environmental Protection. Theory and Practice of the Economic Regulation, Kazan Federal University, Institute of Management, Economics and Finance, Jul 2015, Kazan (Tatarstan), Russia. pp.636-642, 10.6084/m9.fishshare.7211558. hal-01986777

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Submitted on 28 Jan 2019

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МОДЕЛИРОВАНИЕ ОКРУЖАЮЩЕЙ
СРЕДЫ ПРИБРЕЖНЫХ ГОРОДОВ:
ГОРОДСКИЕ ПЕЙЗАЖИ КАК СЛОЖНЫЕ,
УЯЗВИМЫЕ И ДИНАМИЧНО
РАЗВИВАЮЩИЕСЯ СТРУКТУРЫ

Леменкова Полина Алексеевна,

аспирант, Карлов Университет в Праге, естественнонауч-
ный факультет, Институт экологических исследований,
г. Прага, Чехия

**Аннотация.** Область исследования сосредоточена на при-
брежном городе Тайбэй. Экологические изменения города были
обнаружены с помощью геопространственного анализа спут-
никовых снимков. Площади, занимаемые различными типами
ландшафта, были проанализированы. Было обнаружено, что
разные части города развиваются с разной скоростью и ин-
тенсивностью из-за сложного сочетания антропогенных и
природных факторов. Результаты показали урбанизацию, де-
градацию зеленых ареалов, увеличение площадей застроенных
территорий с 1990 года.

**Ключевые слова:** урбанизация, Тайбэй, экология города, модели-
рование.

ENVIRONMENTAL MODELLING
OF COASTAL CITIES: URBAN LANDSCAPES
AS COMPLEX, VULNERABLE AND DYNAMICALLY
DEVELOPING STRUCTURES

Lemenkova Polina,

PhD Student, Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Science,
Institute for Environmental Studies, Prague, Czech Republic

*Abstract.* The study area is focused on the coastal city of Taipei.
The environmental changes of the city were detected by geospatial
analysis of the satellite images. The areas occupied by different
landscape types were calculated and analyzed. It was detected that
various districts were developing with different rate and intensity
due to the complex factors of both human and ecological origin. The
results showed urban development, decline of green areas, increase of urban spaces since 1990.

**Keywords:** city development, Taipei, urban ecology, modeling.

The study area is located in the city of Taipei, Taiwan. Recently, the process of urbanization has become more notable in the East Asia. Since past decades, Taipei undergone serious urban changes as residential structure of the vacant land areas is developing and requires modifications. The development of urban landscapes in Taipei has unique feature; that is, the Taiwan's exceptional economic and industrial growth since 1980s, which is often referred as «industrial wonder of Taiwan». The country quickly transformed from an agriculture-based traditional economy into a highly industrialized society.

As a result, Taiwan has now a new face of high-technology oriented, economically restructured economy, which is a part of the global network of economies and capitals, playing important role both in the Asia-Pacific region and in the global production chains. Necessarily, this caused notable changes in the face of the country, modifying both its social and natural landscape patterns. Thus, Taiwan is nowadays a highly urbanized country with almost 80% of the total population of Taiwan living in urban areas. However, intensive urbanization necessarily create new conditions for human-nature co-existence, since rapidly growing city and high urbanization rate affect biodiversity and ecosystems sustainability in the coastal area. The process of urbanization includes transformation of landscapes: natural land cover types, typical for the area are being modified into artificial surfaces and the area of city enlarges.

Anthropogenic pressure increased rapidly due to the expansion of the city area. Intense urbanization affects complex interrelations of natural and urban ecosystems, changes their structure, size and shape, which gradually became a serious environmental problem. At the same time, Taipei has unique coastal landscapes with high environmental value, outstanding natural beauty, rare and extinct species. In vies
of this, environmental monitoring should be considered for
effective city management and nature conservation on the
island. Various research publications were reported on the
environmental and anthropogenic interactions on Taiwan
Island. In an overview of these studies on the environment in
various regions of the island and consequences of the urban
growth on the ecosystems were extensively used as substantial
reference books, journals and textbooks. Analyzing the
most recent research finding on Taiwan landscape studies,
following papers were given particular attention. Studies
of the urban structure of Taipei city have been performed
recently using applied methods of space syntax measurement
to assess accessibility of street configuration and city public
transportation networks [12]. With the essential infrastructure,
roads, properties, housing and building construction, business
and administration structure adopted from the Japanese urban
town planning system, the capital Taipei is a highly complex
multi-functioning and planned urban system. It includes a
highly developed artificially planned street configuration and
a dense public transportation networks with metro lines and
buses [12]. According to the energetic intensity, the urban
landscapes in Taipei metropolitan area are divided into
several types: urban core, residential districts, service and
manufacturing districts; agricultural areas, newly developed
suburbia and natural areas. This division also indicated the
intensity of the human pressure on the urban landscapes.
Accordingly, the surroundings of the Taipei metropolitan
region have the least anthropogenic pressure. Nevertheless,
suburban areas are often notable for their valuable natural
environment and resource bases, which provides essential
energy and resources for the balanced ecosystem functioning of
urban ecosystem.

The landscape diversity is the most clear attribute of the
landscape health and stability in the landscape ecology context
since it responds to the urbanization and its relationships with
other aspects of landscape. Therefore, the landscape diversity is
considered as a crucial criterion in the planning and evaluation
of the landscape [6], [2]. For instance, the landscape diversity was used to detect correlation between changes in landscape diversity and spatial pattern of landscape elements caused by land cover changes [11]. Moreover, there is a significant correlation (75%) between the landscape diversity and degree of urbanization in Taipei city. Predictably, the landscape diversity is higher in the rural and less urbanized areas, while it increases in the urban areas due to the domination of the human-induced landscape types and reduced number of natural patches within the city.

<table><caption>**Table 1: Calculated changes in land cover types within the city of Taipei. comparison of landscape changes in urban area, 1990–2005.**</caption><thead><tr><td>Regions land cover types</td><td>1990, %</td><td>2005, %</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Region I: "urban areas"</td><td>17,1</td><td>21,9</td></tr><tr><td>Region I: "urban vegetation"</td><td>5,7</td><td>4,1</td></tr><tr><td>Region I: "forests"</td><td>19,8</td><td>18,6</td></tr><tr><td>Region I: "grasslands"</td><td>21,4</td><td>18,3</td></tr><tr><td>Region II: "urban areas"</td><td>79,3</td><td>83,2</td></tr><tr><td>Region II: "urban vegetation"</td><td>4,3</td><td>5,2</td></tr><tr><td>Region II: "forests"</td><td>32,7</td><td>31,8</td></tr><tr><td>Region II: "grasslands"</td><td>15,9</td><td>14,7</td></tr><tr><td>Region III: "urban areas"</td><td>24,3</td><td>38,2</td></tr><tr><td>Region III: "urban vegetation"</td><td>3,7</td><td>4,3</td></tr><tr><td>Region III: "forests"</td><td>42,4</td><td>41,8</td></tr><tr><td>Region III: "grasslands"</td><td>13,8</td><td>12,1</td></tr></tbody></table>

The patch size is important both for landscapes sustainable functioning and for the landscape management and planning. Thus, patch configuration is a crucial criterion for such applications as habitat design, watershed management, forestry, setting of electoral district boundaries and local authority planning [1], [8]. It is demonstrated recently [7] that bird diversity in the Taipei basin shows different distribution patterns for urban and suburban bird communities, respectively. Thus, metropolis and consequences of urban
space cause changes in the spatial characteristics of bird
communities at the landscape level, which proves that
urbanization cause decrease in species diversity, in general.
Natural land cover types, typical for the given area are being
transformed into human-affected artificial surfaces [3]. The
landscape fragmentation indicates loss and significant damage
of the habitat patches, reduced size and modified shape of the
selected patches.

The urban system of Taipei metropolitan region can be
clustered into six homogeneous urban zones of ecological
energetics demonstrating that urban center of Taipei is notable
for the high level of consumption of non-renewable energy
sources (water, petroleum, natural gas, fertilizers, electricity,
etc.), high anthropogenic, economic and industrial impacts.
Other consequences of urbanization include significantly
altered aboveground net primary productivity and soil
respiration rates, compared with natural ecosystems [5],
air pollution and decreased water quality. The uncontrolled
urbanization causes also gradual limitation of the land and
water resources, which leads insufficient infrastructure within
the city and consequently, contributes to the development of
densely concentrated mixed types of land use. About 45% of the
Taipei city is categorized as restricted with regard to availability
and usage due to its topography, while only 14% (46.30 sq.km)
is available for residential and commercial development [12].
Nowadays, new city face consists of built-up new apartments,
buildings, office centers, residential areas, re-structured
districts. This process is reinforced by the average structure
age of the buildings and modernization [8]. Overall, the city
structure, such as streets configuration or public transportation
networks, have a substantial impact on the face of urban
landscapes. For instance, modification in the city planning in
Taipei causes redistribution of the urban activities which, in
turn, affect landscapes [10].

At the same time, Taiwan Island has unique natural
landscapes with high environmental value, outstanding natural
beauty, rare and extinct species. In vies of this, conservation
efforts initiated starting 1980s which, however, mainly focused
on natural ecosystems outside cities. Green spaces, located
in the urban areas, create habitats for diverse floral and fauna
species and contribute significantly to the conservation of
urban diversity. Therefore, a balance between man and nature
should be strictly maintained in the city and urban landscapes
protection actions should be taken. The Cultural Heritage
Preservation Act enacted in 1981, replied to this need by
selecting nature reserves and listing protected species [4].
Nowadays there are several Natural Parks and reservation
zones existing in the island which contain unique land cover
types and strictly protected areas for nature conservation.

Taipei urban landscape consists of different types of
patches, including built-up areas and natural landscapes. The
structure of landscape, shape and configuration of different
land cover types change significantly according to the urban
district location and the level of urbanization in this specific
area. The classification of the land cover types in the Taipei
metropolitan area includes following 10 major types: 1) Forests;
2) Wetlands; 3) Grasslands; 4) Open fields with little or no
vegetation; 5) Rivers, channels; 6) Lakes, ponds; 7) Cultivated
lands 8) Livestock farms, agricultural facilities; 9) Parks and
squares; 10) Urban built-up areas. Using physio-geographic
and social data on Taipei, the region was divided into three
distinct regions, as follows: Region I located on the left bank
of Tamsui river, "agricultural" area; Region II the core, old city
of Taipei; Region III the region located southwards from the
core city. The calculation of the changes in the landscapes were
performed for each area and each land cover type respectively.
Using calculations of the land cover types that belong to
the assigned areas on the classified images in 1990 and 2005
respectively, the results have been received and summarized in
Tab.1.

Acknowledgements: Current research was funded by the
Taiwan Ministry of Education Short Term Research Award
(STRA) for the author's two-month research stay at National
Taiwan University, Department of Geography. Taipei, Taiwan.
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