Detecting the Characteristics of the Spatial Patterns of Trees Adjacent to Buildings within Changed Settlements of Farmers in Shanghai, China

Abstract

Urban sprawl has resulted in numerous land-lost farmers who must relocate from villages to residential quarters. The spatial landscapes of new homelands have profoundly changed, which is necessary for the succession of settlements. This study explored the spatial patterns of trees adjacent to buildings from traditional villages to relocated farmers’ quarters in Shanghai, China. The stratified systematic method was adopted for 24 samples of 10 traditional villages, six relocated quarters in the late 1990s, and eight relocated quarters in the mid-2000s. Chessboard sampling was used to obtain 258 sample plots. A sketch map of every plot was premade for the investigation, which was conducted in 2009 and 2010. The four factors of tree height, defoliation, direction, and spacing were encoded for quantified analysis. The primary research results are as follows: the quarters had higher defoliation ratios than the villages (1.069 and 0.749, respectively), which means that there were more evergreens in the quarters and more deciduous plants in the villages. Most individual trees were to the north in the villages, but to the south in the quarters. The percentages of trees showed a nearly monotone decreasing trend for spacing in the quarters and near homogenization in the villages. For the villages, a valuable model is given of layered greening with upper deciduous and lower evergreen plants. More trees should be planted to the north as a barrier against cold wind in winter, and there should be open spaces in front of windows for sunshine, ventilation, and views of the outward landscape.