Focus on nature-based cultural programs

The Forbidden City in Beijing is a world cultural heritage site. In 2022, on the east side of the Forbidden City, a small ecological green space began to be built against the wall. Covering an area of 150 square meters, the "Jianting Green Space" recorded a total of 37 species of designed planting plants, 42 species of autogenous plants and 29 species of animals.

The creation of biological living space is the field of urban ecology. In the high-density residential environment, the micro-green ecosystem of native plant communities is constructed to provide living space for birds, insects and other creatures. However, the most noteworthy phenomenon in the "Jianting Greenland" project is that the designers actively and massively integrated into cultural resources, corresponding to the principle of authenticity of world heritage, and logically and responsibly combined the "authenticity" of restored landscape with the "artistic conception" of garden construction. Ecological workers identify "plants" in the paintings in the Forbidden City, investigate the "patches" of native plants preserved in imperial gardens such as Yuanmingyuan within the scope of "three mountains and five gardens", and then combine the list of zonal plants in the literature of phytogeography and vegetation ecology-next, focus on corresponding reproduction. The content combination of "Jianting Green Space" goes further than the conventional and traditional idea of "garden flower border", adding native plant elements, and also meets the requirements of heritage sites for the inheritance of historical context and the new expectations for the protection of urban biodiversity.

So, is this a matter of "nature" or should it be attributed to the overall space of "culture"?

In recent years, the concept of "natural-based solutions" has played an important role in coping with global challenges such as climate change, disaster prevention and mitigation, food security, water security and ecosystem degradation. In 2021, the Ministry of Natural Resources of China and the World Conservation Union jointly published the Typical Case of China’s Practice of Nature-based Solutions, which involved the types of ecosystems such as nature, agriculture and cities and the main functions of national land space. Under the background of ecological civilization construction, the restoration means based on nature will gradually and profoundly affect the interpretation of the value of great sites, the continuation of the style of famous cities and even the reproduction of the authenticity of heritage parks.

If the "Jianting Greenland" project is simply summed up as a whimsical biodiversity practice and only focuses on "creating an interesting ecological landscape", it obviously underestimates the efforts and wisdom of all parties. "Jianting Greenland" is the crystallization of cultural heritage protection, natural restoration and public ecological concept, and it is a shining cultural spark in the "natural-based solution", which effectively extends the system path to the establishment of "natural-based cultural solution".

What objectives should be included in the "Nature-based Cultural Program"? One is to reflect the interaction between "nature" and "culture", especially to expand the position and function of natural science in cultural projects; The second is to understand and describe the wisdom and social progress of human beings in sustainable development from the perspective of "culture" of world heritage. This means a brand-new theoretical cross-system, and it is impossible to simply combine or pile up various fields. The knowledge structure and implementation steps of "cultural scheme based on nature" must come from practice test. Thus, the emergence of one "Arrow Pavilion Green Space" after another has a positive significance worthy of attention and encouragement.