Landscaping in Mountain Foothills by Using Native Vegetations (Case Study: Jamshidieh Valley)

Mountain as a ring in the chain of living nature, regardless of its toughness and resistibility, is by itself one of the most delicate and fragile ecosystems on the earth. In recent years, impacts of urban sprawl, road construction, and uncontrolled exploitation of resources as well as recreational uses have caused a number of problems in mountains such as climate change, soil erosion, flooding, destruction of native vegetation cover and their replacement by alien plants. Therefore, present research is aimed to achieve design principals and criteria in mountainous environments (particularly in mountain parks), their preservation, restoration of their sustainability and natural landscaping through an ecological approach and based on certain identification and analysis phases. Since using native vegetation is the most significant principle in the mentioned approach, field surveying and studies on the native vegetations of southern foothills of the Alborz mountains ecosystems (in macro scale) and those of Jamshideh Valley ecosystem (in micro scale) have been carried out based on the following criteria: aesthetics, durability and sustainability in the environmental condition, resistance against dryness, pests and vermin and capability of easy maintenance. The outcomes of this study provide sustainable design solutions for mountain foothills and development of mountain parks that both are required by cities; and in the meanwhile, prevent destruction of vegetation cover ensuring sustainability of natural habitat and vegetations of the valley. Finally, design for the extension of the Jamshideh Mountain Park is presented by using native vegetations of the valley and observing principles and patterns of natural landscaping, with an emphasis on shades (forest) and sunshine (meadow) features. As the result, a natural landscape sustainable and compatible with the environment is developed that could provide a repeatable pattern for designing mountain parks in other valleys of the southern Alborz range. These sorts of parks not only have low maintenance cost, but also act as proper settings for preserving native vegetation due to their compatibility with mountainous areas.