THE IMPORTANCE OF COASTAL CITY MORPHOLOGY IN TERMS OF ECOSYSTEM AND NATURAL ENVIRONMENT

Abstract

Ecosystems have a vital importance for all living since they are providers of life support systems. Degradation of the ecosystems resulted in destruction of biodiversity, excessive consumption of resources, contaminating water resources, rising up sea level, and climate change. In the last decades, degradation of ecosystem has been received growing interest and have become increasingly focused on attention. If urban development is not implemented in harmony with natural environment, urbanization will continue to threaten the functioning of ecosystems. Demands for different urban land use, cause to deteriorate surface water drainage lines, increase the amount of impermeable surfaces, and break the connection of ecological corridors unless sustainable planning principles are not applied in a city. This study is an attempt to address the current issue of sustainable urban development patterns in coastal cities. It is known that both the pattern of urban spatial growth and the features of natural areas are widely considered to be important in terms of sustainable development. This study has been argued that urban development should be in harmony with the topography, ensure to sustain the hydrological cycle, promote pervious areas and establish ecological corridors. Otherwise, the coastal cities will be inevitably faced with natural risks, such as flooding, heavy storms, loss of biodiversity and sea level rise. Therefore, sustainable planning principles had to be implemented in the coastal cities to diminish the effects of the natural risks.

Keywords

• Ecosystem,sustainable planning,hydrological cycle,urban pattern,coastal city

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