Research on the Spatial Pattern Characteristics of the Taihu Lake “Dock Village” Based on Microclimate: A Case Study of Tangli Village

Abstract

Dock Village" terrain is, as its name implies, a region that contains settlements reminiscent of docks, in terms of their elongated shape, their outward upward tilt, and their location in the center of low, wide valleys. Dock village terrain features deep, fertile soil suitable for farming. Taihu Lake contains a number of classic examples of dock villages. Dock villages are relatively independent and hidden, characteristics that not only play a role in security and defense, but also, more importantly, are associated with enhanced climate adaptability, a relative lack of cold weather, and equable levels of heat and humidity. The dock village reflects the wisdom and distillation of traditional Chinese ecological practices and is highly valued as a research topic. Based on microclimate theory and ENVI-met software, four microclimate indices, namely, air temperature, wind speed, wind direction, and relative humidity, were simulated and analyzed in this study. The correlation between spatial characteristics and microclimate was studied from four perspectives: plane space, cross-section space, vertical section space, and linear development space. This research summarizes the historical context and evolution of the dock village spatial form in the construction of contemporary human settlements. It also provides scientific suggestions for the protection and sustainable development of ancient villages.

Ecological Wisdom Research Trends Over Decade

“…Most of the primary studies (14 studies) attempted to learn from the ecological wisdom of the built environment proven over time to solve landscape problems. Some of the landscape issues that have been revealed from an ecological wisdom perspective are flooding adaptation and drainage systems Wagner et al, 2016;Zhang et al, 2016;Long et al, 2020), practical solutions for landscape limitations in woodland and urban areas (Yang and Li, 2016;Forester, 2019), and the promotion of landscape sustainability (Yuan et al, 2017;Chu et al, 2018;Zheng et al, 2018;Zhou et al, 2018;Ma et al, 2019;Akbar et al, 2020). All these studies tried to analyze and acquire the ecological wisdom of the site case using various contemporary methods until they gained an understanding of the ecological process that happens onsite as an effect of the ecological wisdom underlying those physical features.…”

“…The way that the community shows respect for their landscape creates sustainability in the living environment. Landscapes with unique spatial features have encouraged communities to adapt to them and generate ecological wisdom; therefore, some primary on-site studies have represented communities' reverence to nature and revealed the interaction of landscape features with people's adaptation (Ma et al 2019;Saboonchi and Fard 2020;Yuan et al, 2017))…”

Impacts of Water Bodies on Microclimates and Outdoor Thermal Comfort: Implications for Sustainable Rural Revitalization

“…The outdoor thermal environment can be improved by adjusting the building orientation away from the traditional south direction, increasing the sunshine spacing coefficient, dislocating buildings, or adopting a peripheral-type building layout (Su et al, 2022). Ma et al simulated and analyzed air temperature, wind speed, wind direction, and relative humidity of the Taihu "Dock Village", and examined the correlation between spatial characteristics and microclimate from four perspectives: plane space, cross-section space, vertical section space, and linear development space (Ma et al, 2019). Sayad et al optimized outdoor thermal comfort through vegetation parameterization in a boulevard, finding that planting Washingtonia palm trees along the center of the boulevard can maximize the shaded area within the boulevard, with a maximum reduction of 1.8 °C (air temperature) and 3.5 °C (UTCI) at 16:00 (Sayad et al, 2021).…”

Thermal-comfort evaluation of and plan for public space of Maling Village, Henan, China

“…As such, the relationship between a village’s spatial form and microclimate has most neglected. The state of thermal comfort in the village outdoor space is bad, which has lowered villagers’ willingness of outdoor activities [ 5 – 7 ].…”