The Coupling of Landscape Pattern and Landscape Esthetics of Urban Traditional Cultural Tourism Destination: A Case Study of Confucius Temple-Qinhuai River Scenic Area in Nanjing City

Study on the relationship between landscape beauty and ecological beauty is an important scientifi c problem that refl ects the nature of man-land relation, and current academic researches on this topic are most based on a single perspective. Therefore, this paper took the Confucius Temple–Qinhuai River Scenic Area in Nanjing City as a typical case of urban traditional cultural tourism destination, adopted landscape pattern indexes and balanced incomplete block comparison and evaluation method as the evaluation standards of ecological beauty and landscape beauty, and analyzed the coupling characteristics and rules of landscape pattern and landscape aesthetics. The results showed that(a) The overall landscape of the study area had higher fragmentation degree, but different landscape groups were infl uenced by different human interventions, landscape patches showed moderate diversity and heterogeneity, patch area, spatial distribution and spatial aggregation degree showed structural differences.(b) The locals and visitors had aesthetic perception of the study area, but preferred the beautiful natural scenery of the Qinhuai River, as well as the historical buildings and cultural landscapes that contain rich memories of the city.(c) Landscape pattern and landscape aesthetics showed coupled complementation and harmonious coexistence. The Confucius Temple–Qinhuai River Scenic Area has profound historical and cultural background, but it has witnessed gradual loss of cultural characteristics and fast "delocalization" against the background of rapid urbanization. As an urban traditional cultural tourism destination, it carries the responsibility of protecting city memories and inheriting regional cultures.