构建新时代的城市生态基础设施——以北京为例

Constructing a New Era of Urban Ecological Infrastructure: A Proposal for Beijing

关键词:  风景园林  城市生态基础设施  蓝绿交织  气候韧性  三产融合  本土植物与误区规避

Key words:  landscape architecture  urban ecological infrastructure  blue-green integration  climate resilience  production-ecology-living integration  native vegetation & aesthetic pitfall avoidance

摘要:

以北京为例，呼吁以生态文明理念推动城市“绿化、彩化、立体化”升级，构建蓝绿交织、清新明亮的生态基础设施网络。指出北京需应对气候变化、 水安全、老龄化、城市灰色空间等多重挑战，转变传统园林绿化思维，发展以本土生态系统服务为核心的新模式。核心措施包括河流“去硬还生”、立体绿化、 屋顶绿化、农业与绿化融合、制度与部门协同等，形成韧性城市与人民美好生活之间的生态连接。

Abstract:

This paper is an expanded version of my proposal to the leadership of Beijing Municipality. It addresses the urgent challenges shared by many Chinese cities today: how to renew urban spaces, enhance climate resilience, and improve livability in an era of accelerating ecological crisis. Rooted in the philosophy of Ecological Civilization and informed by nearly three decades of theory and practice in landscape architecture and urban planning, the proposal outlines a strategic framework for constructing a new generation of urban ecological infrastructure. Like many global metropolises, Beijing is increasingly vulnerable to the compound threats posed by climate change - more frequent heatwaves, intensified flooding, prolonged droughts, and the urban heat island effect-all exacerbated by the overreliance on grey infrastructure and the disruption of natural systems. To survive and thrive in this climatic transition, the city must move beyond decorative landscaping and embrace a multifunctional, adaptive, and locally grounded ecological infrastructure. The proposal envisions a blue-green woven system that integrates natural processes into the urban fabric - reconnecting the city with its geomorphological and hydrological foundations. Key strategies include naturalizing rivers by replacing concrete embankments with living shorelines; establishing multilayered green networks through vertical greening, green roofs, and interconnected greenways and ecological corridors; and transforming roads, overpasses, and parking lots into climate-positive ecological spaces. At the heart of this vision lies the Sponge City model - an urban system designed to behave like a sponge, capable of absorbing, storing, purifying, and gradually releasing water through ecologically designed landscapes. Instead of depending solely on hard-engineered drainage systems, we must harness nature's own capacity to manage water. Treated wastewater and stormwater - once dismissed as waste - can be reclaimed as vital resources to restore wetlands, replenish groundwater, and irrigate urban green spaces. Nature-based cleansing systems such as constructed wetlands, bioswales, and permeable surfaces filter pollutants through soil, plants, and microbial activity, transforming urban runoff into clean, usable water. These systems serve not only as buffers during floods and droughts, but also as living infrastructure that supports biodiversity, cools the city, and reestablishes a healthy urban water cycle. This approach embraces the principle of "letting water stay where it falls", reshaping Beijing from a rigid, hard-surfaced machine into a living, breathing sponge. To further strengthen urban resilience, the proposal calls for embedding urban agriculture within the green infrastructure, advancing a "production-ecology-living" model that reinforces both ecological services and economic livelihoods. It warns against the excessive use of exotic, non-resilient species, and advocates instead for a palette of native plants that reflect Beijing’s climate, soils, and seasonal rhythm - supporting both ecological adaptation and a sense of place. Institutional transformation is essential. We must dismantle the rigid silos that separate planning, water management, forestry, and agriculture, and revise outdated technical standards that obstruct ecological thinking. By embedding nature-based and climate-adaptive design into the core of urban renewal, fostering public engagement, and enhancing cross-sectoral leadership capacity, Beijing can construct infrastructure that not only reduces climate risks but also elevates urban equity and long-term livability. Ultimately, this vision reimagines the city not as a manicured garden or ornamental showcase, but as a resilient, dynamic organism - one that breathes with its rivers, pulses with its vegetation, and adapts in rhythm with natural cycles. Through the systemic spatial integration of mountains, rivers, forests, farmland, lakes, and urban areas, Beijing can emerge as a leading example of a climate-resilient ecological metropolis, and offer replicable inspiration for other Chinese cities striving toward the national goal of a "Beautiful China