In ancient China, urban construction emphasized the unity of heaven and man, integrating ancient landscape culture and pastoral culture into the choice of residence. The ideal city in the hearts of ancient people had a simple ecological connotation; Starting from the 1990s, the Ministry of Construction of the People's Republic of China began to promote the creation of national garden cities. The construction of national garden cities inherited and promoted classical garden ideas, integrating cities into nature and making everything seen green; In 2004, the Ministry of Construction of China issued the Implementation Opinions on Creating "Ecological Garden Cities", which were an upgraded version of garden cities. In early 2016, seven cities including Suzhou, Nanning, Xuzhou, Kunshan, Baoji, Shouguang, and Zhuhai were awarded the first batch of "National Ecological Garden Cities". It can be seen from this that the evolution of urban construction in China is a process of constantly moving towards an ideal city.
The transition from a "garden city" to an "ecological city" reflects a change in philosophy and a rethinking of human survival. The integration of the word "ecology" is not simply a superposition, but rather a shift from focusing on urban landscaping indicators to focusing on the common development of natural environment, ecological environment, and human settlement environment, until a virtuous cycle is formed in the urban ecosystem. The digital indicators of greening are no longer being pursued, and the construction of cities requires a holistic ecological perspective. Cities not only need to achieve harmonious coexistence between humans and nature, but also need to achieve comprehensive and coordinated development of nature, environment, society, and economy.
Professor Li Xiong from the School of Landscape Architecture at Beijing Forestry University said that the reason for such a change in philosophy is firstly to meet the needs of people's livelihoods. The construction of ecological garden cities can promote the harmonious development of urban living environment and is a livelihood project closely related to the lives of urban residents; Secondly, this is to meet the inherent needs of urban development and China's urbanization process. China's current urbanization is in a critical period of economic transformation and upgrading, and at the same time, resource and environmental constraints such as land and ecology are becoming tighter. The requirements for the quality of urban spatial environment, the level of garden and green space construction, and the comprehensive level of urban construction are further increasing. In this situation, ecological garden cities have gradually become one of the main directions for the construction of new urbanization; Thirdly, ecological garden cities are powerful measures in response to ecological civilization and the construction of a beautiful China. We must establish the concept of ecological civilization that respects, conforms to, and protects nature.
The creation of ecological garden cities is a fundamental task for the reproduction of green mountains and rivers in cities, and is a practical action to implement ecological civilization. The transformation from a garden city to an ecological garden city is also timely, and the vast urban system requires a reasonable and healthy guidance for the construction of an ecological garden city. In the future, the development of ecological cities will also incorporate more modern development concepts, and in this process, our ideal home will become closer and closer.