Establishing Landscape Networks Based on Visual Quality and Ecological Resistance: A Case Study in Tianmeng Scenic Spot, China

Abstract

Forest-based scenic spots have received widespread attention for their landscape aesthetics and ecological value, but the rapid growth of tourism and landscape exploitation make it challenging to balance human recreational needs, landscape quality, and ecological stability. This study aimed to evaluate, quantify, and grade landscape quality from the point of view of subjective human aesthetic needs as well as objective landscape visual sensitivity. After the selection of high-quality landscape viewpoints as sources, the minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) model was used to screen the optimal paths for connectivity among viewpoints with consideration of ecological resistance. High-quality landscape viewpoints, optimal paths, and ecological-resistance surfaces constructed the landscape network for sustainable development. The results showed that the landscape quality of viewpoints in Tianmeng Scenic Spot was not good; only 32.4% of these viewpoints had good performance of both landscape aesthetics and landscape visual sensitivity. In the analysis of ecological-resistance surfaces, the proportion of very-high resistance areas and high resistance areas was 32.9%, and these were mostly distributed in the main tourist roads and their buffer areas around the northwest of Tianmeng Mountain Scenic Spot. Eleven landscape core viewpoints and six secondary viewpoints, all with high landscape aesthetics, were selected as high-quality visual landscapes, and then based on the ecological-resistance surfaces, 11 core landscape-dissemination paths and 6 secondary landscape-dissemination paths were identified, respectively, using the MCR model. This method could provide scientific decision support to enhance the effectiveness of viewpoints as well as sustainable landscape planning for development.