Urban Land-Use Zoning Based on Ecological Evaluation for Large Conurbations in Less Developed Regions: Case Study in Foshan, China

With the accelerated worldwide urbanization process, land-use zoning has been playing an increasingly important role in urban planning and development. Ahead of detailed planning, regional land-use zoning provides significant guidance to subsequent design and constructions, especially for large conurbations in less developed regions. Foshan, lies in the south of China with an area of 3,813.64 km2 and a population of about 3.36 million, is a typical Chinese city with a relatively well-developed industry. This paper studies how land-use zoning diagnose the present urban land use, optimize the landscape pattern, as well as improves urban development sustainability. On the basis of integrated evaluation of ecological capacity, ecological suitability, ecosystem services, and ecological footprint, this paper designs the three-level land-use zoning for Foshan. Four areas, 11 sections, and 78 cells have been designed within four main classifications of function zones: ecological conservation area, ecologically sensitive area, ecological construction area, and ecological regulation area. Accordingly the overall land-use pattern of Foshan has been clearly improved in terms of urban sprawl control, landscape pattern optimization, industrial layout redesign, and ecological conservation.