Findings

urban units and urban structure

In the first phase of the project, between 2007 and 2008, over 70 urban units have been examined.
The urban structure of the megacity Guangzhou in the south Chinese Pearl Delta River reflects the consequences of decentralised Chinese economic policy and settlement policy. The morphological pattern mix consisting of settlement and work units of different developmental periods are typical – expression of political and economical history of the region since the late 1980ies. The coexistence of classical industrial residential centres, such as the Danwei of the communist era, multi storey residential blocks, 1-2 storied rural courtyard house structures, modern business districts, urban agriculture and small trade firms coin the cityscape.
The interaction of functional and structural diverse urban units, which constitute the urban landscape, the relevance for the complex mega-urban system and its influence on the dynamics of development and on the flow of resources are of crucial importance for the deeper understanding of the functioning of megacities.

Urban effects on groundwater and surface water hydrology

Transferability to the macro level

The concept of urban units is a matter of an integrated line of research for the ascertainment of dynamics in fast growing urban areas, which takes on the additive urban landscape and defines on this basis urban units. Alltogether the concept of urban unit is good to be applied in Guangzhou, since the above described morphological city structure consisting of settlement and working areas of different phases of the urbanisation process makes a good definition and delimitation of urban units possible.
Classified and generalised the urban units are to be transferred now into the second phase of the project. In a further step the concept is supposed to be transferred to another city on the basis of the before mentioned analysis. As the concept is deliberately formulated as a simple approach, the transferability and by that a further generalisation seems to be possible after an adaption of the concept to another city.

Partial results water quality and quantity

Previous examinations have shown explicit consequences of urbanisation on the resource water:

• direct conduction of waste water via open waste water trenches into the receiving water medium (pollution of surface and ground water)
  
• high surface sealing affects the natural new growth of ground water
  
• a main part of the urban ground water recharge comes from waste water
  
• strong interference of ground water quality by means of coliform bacteria and Ammonium (missing
• infrastructure of sanitary plants and adequate waste water disposal)
  
• tap water shows contaminations with coliform bacteria over limit value
  
• the main cause of water pollution is untreated domestic waste water
  
• detected pollutants are primarily colifom bacteria and Ammonium