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Article

Research on the Construction and Application of Rural Digital Design Ecosystem under the “Dual Carbon” Goal—Take the Carbon Sequestration Benefits of Street Trees in Nanjing’s Bulao Village as an Example

by
Yueru Zhu
1,†,
Siyu Wang
2,†,
Qingqing Li
1,2,*,
Qianqian Sheng
2,3,4,*,
Yanli Liu
4 and
Zunling Zhu
1,2,3
1
College of Art and Design, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
2
Jinpu Research Institute, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
3
College of Landscape Architecture, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
4
Jinpu Landscape Co., Ltd., Nanjing 210037, China
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Forests 2024, 15(2), 315; https://doi.org/10.3390/f15020315
Submission received: 30 December 2023 / Revised: 31 January 2024 / Accepted: 1 February 2024 / Published: 7 February 2024
(This article belongs to the Section Forest Meteorology and Climate Change)
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Abstract

:
By constructing a rural digital design ecosystem, this paper develops ecological villages through design empowerment, enhances the carbon sequestration benefits of plants in rural areas, and strengthens rural vitality. Combined with the carbon sequestration benefits of street trees in Bulao Village in Nanjing, the feasibility of the digital design ecosystem in rural planning was verified, and the ways and methods of rural environmental renewal were explored. Through the existing literature, the possibility of constructing a digital design ecosystem was deduced, the theoretical framework was derived, field research was carried out in the village of Bulao, the carbon sequestration benefit of street trees was quantified by the i-Tree model, and a structure chart of street trees, including breast diameter, tree height, type, etc., was formed. There were 35 species of street trees in Bulao Village, belonging to 33 genera in 22 families, including 19 species of trees, a total of 312 trees, and 16 species of shrubs. The street trees’ total carbon sink benefit was equivalent to RMB 30,327.47, a single street tree’s average carbon sequestration benefit was RMB 96.86, and the average CO2 absorption was 164.64 kg. The average CO2 absorption and single benefit of elm trees were the highest, reaching 465.48 kg·plant−1 and 186.81 RMB·plant−1, respectively. The CO2 absorption (185.13 kg) and the average benefit per plant (RMB 109.48) of the camphor tree were lower than those of the elm. However, because their number far exceeded that of elms, their total carbon sequestration benefit contribution was the highest, reaching RMB 25,837.28, accounting for 85.19% of the total benefit. In addition, the contribution rates of elm and willow’s total annual carbon sequestration benefits were also relatively high, reaching RMB 747.24 and RMB 710.04, respectively, accounting for 2.46% and 2.34% of the total benefits. This paper uses the digital design ecosystem’s theoretical framework to quantify street trees’ carbon sequestration benefits through field research. It optimizes and improves the plant allocation of parking lots in Bulao Village from the ecology and carbon sink perspectives. Practice shows that inheriting the connotation values of rural culture, improving the quality of the rural environment, and increasing residents’ and tourists’ sense of belonging and identity to the countryside are conducive to jointly promoting sustainable rural development against the background of “dual carbon”. Combining art design with quantitative scientific methods of ecological environment indicators provides a reference for future rural development.

1. Introduction

Under the trend of the new era, the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed a rural revitalization strategy. The imbalance and inadequacy in urban and rural development have promoted digitalization as an essential engine for this rural revitalization strategy [1]. The world has entered a new period of digital technology empowering rural ecological development. The Strategic Plan for Rural Revitalization (2018–2022) puts forward that the development of digital villages should start from ten essential tasks: accelerating the construction of rural information infrastructure, developing the rural digital economy, strengthening the supply of agricultural and rural science and technology innovations, building smart green villages, developing a prospering rural network culture, promoting the modernization of rural governance capabilities, deepening information services to benefit the people, stimulating the endogenous driving force of rural revitalization, promoting the in-depth development of network poverty alleviation, and comprehensively promoting the integrated development of urban and rural informatization [2]. The development plan emphasizes that digital technology leads to the modernization of agriculture and rural areas and promotes overall coordination and integrated urban–rural development [3]. In the new stage of development, examining how to reshape the rural digital ecosystem through design intervention, support the stable operation and smooth development of rural revitalization digitalization, and design means to couple the digital ecosystem to empower the rural revitalization path is of great significance to promotinge the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas and the enhancement of rural value.
The connection basis of an “ecosystem” is value proposition [4], which is a value co-creation system with the participation of ecological owners and multiple ecological partners [5], and its degree of interdependence is higher than that of network organizations [4,6]. The digital ecosystem is a complex adaptive system composed of digital elements and their providers and users. It can achieve efficiency improvement and system innovation through the interactions between digital agents. In the context of digitalization, digital factors replace traditional production factors as innovation factors and take root in the soil environment of digital ecology. There are relevant studies in the literature on digital finance [7], rural governance [8], rural competent service platform design and application, rural cultural tourism [9], and other aspects of research and interpretation. The digital ecosystem involves many types and scopes, covering all directions of rural development. (1) Rural industrial development. There are many industrial developments in digital ecosystem design, mainly focusing on enterprise transformation [10], institutional entrepreneurship [11], agricultural innovation [12], new technologies [13], etc., and these driving factors influence and depend on each other. (2) Integrated development of factors. The wave of technology brought about by digitalization is reflected in the ecosystem in terms of technology [14], efficiency [15], digital economy [14], and industrial policy [14]. (3) Platform ecosystem development. Through the standardized supply-side interface and the demand-side interface of brand building as the starting point, the enabling architecture outputs commodity services, and data, talent, and technology are the cornerstones [16]. (4) Innovation system development. Based on traditional innovation system theory, this includes technology [17], industry [18], national systems [19], regional systems [20], innovation systems, and innovation ecosystems [21], combined with data lemmatization and digital empowerment [22].
According to Eisenhardt and Martin [23], dynamic capability is “the process by which an enterprise uses resources, particularly the process of integrating, reconfiguring, acquiring, and releasing resources to match or even create market changes.” Furthermore, we follow Teece’s [24] classification of dynamic capabilities: perception, capture, and reconfiguration. Jacobides et al. [6] introduced dynamic capabilities into ecosystem-level research, identifying which specific resources and capabilities are valuable to ecosystems in a changing environment. The shared value proposition and deep interdependence of ecosystems [4] determine that different ecosystem members can contribute to an ecosystem’s value proposition by providing resources and capabilities [6]. These studies all highlight the importance of dynamic capabilities in ecosystems. However, the following gaps still need to be addressed in the existing literature. (1) Existing dynamic capability research mainly focuses on resource allocation and restructuring at the enterprise level [25]. In the digital design ecosystem, high quality of life [26] and green and low-carbon environments [27] need to be considered. The allocation and reorganization of design-related resources also need to be further studied. The demand for digital villages has shifted from building competitive advantages to the sustainable development of the villages themselves. (2) Lack of dynamic ability research for design intervention. Previous scholars have deepened the second-order capability of dynamic competence under the Teece [24] classification framework. The dimension of perception includes screening opportunities and risks [28], discovering scarce resources [29], networking with stakeholders [30], concept generation [28], experimentation [28], etc. The dimension of capturing capabilities includes establishing business models [31], defining strategies [32], structuring assessments [33], resource leverage [34], joint ventures [35], etc. In the dimension of allocation capabilities, which includes knowledge circulation [34], resource reduction [36], organizational restructuring [37], organizational culture change [38], etc., studies have presented little analysis of the digital design ecosystem. (3) Lack of micro-basic research. Recent research has begun exploring dynamic capabilities’ role in coordinating ecosystems [39,40]. For example, Gueler and Schneider [39] pointed out that dynamic capabilities must be related to the ecosystem’s shared value proposition to achieve positive outcomes from ecosystem collaboration. The interdependence, complementarity, and configuration logic of different dynamic capabilities in the digital design ecosystem deserve further exploration.
There is a contradiction between improving the rural pattern and protecting the natural ecological landscape in the renewal of the rural landscape. The rural digital design ecosystem was born due to the contradiction between meeting the actual needs of villagers and inheriting history and culture. This transformation method has little impact on the natural pattern of the village itself; its, main functionly to solve the spatial problems that affect the lives of residents and tourists, reduce the interference with the daily life of the locals, and realize micro-renewal of the countryside through scientific calculation methods, which is less challenging to implement, which and is conducive to protecting the resources with historical and cultural value in the community and retaining the urban memory.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Overview of the Study Area

Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, is located in eastern China, in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River (31°14′~32°37′ N, 118°22′~119°14′ E) [41]; it is an essential city in the Yangtze River Delta radiation driven by the planning and positioning of the State Council and is also a critical node city at an intersection position. Nanjing Bulao Village is in Baima Community, Jiangpu Street, in the southern foothills of Jiangsu’s largest national forest park—Laoshan National Forest Park. To the north and south are mountains, and the slight central depression is a mountain valley, rich in water resources. Given this natural environment and geographical location, Bulao Village, as a national rural tourism key village, is among China’s 50 most beautiful villages and towns and Pukou’s top 10 cultural tourism symbols. The forest coverage rate of the village is 80%, and the number of negative oxygen ions in the air is 500 times that in the main urban area. The village is far from the city center but not far from the city, and the travel time is about 1 h; although it is in the middle of the mountains, it is just ten miles away from the bustling city (Figure 1, Figure 2 and Figure 3).
At present, under the administration of the Jiangpu Subdistrict Government, Bulao Village has attracted a large number of investment groups, cultural entrepreneurs, and cultural and creative organizations to join, forming a phenomenon of integrated development of the urban middle class and rural inhabitants. With the concept of “Beautiful Countryside 3.0”, Bulao Village has become a high-end complex for short vacations, attracting tourists from Nanjing through the combination of its natural rural landscape and urban aesthetic culture.

2.2. Data Analysis

i-Tree (Table 1) provides all types of users with up-to-date, peer-reviewed models of urban forestry analysis and eco-efficiency evaluation from the USDA Forest Service through free tools and web support [42]. In the tool for assessing individual trees, models such as My Tree, i-Tree Street, and i-Tree Eco are used to estimate the benefits of individual trees, and i-Tree Landscape and i-Tree Canopy are used to estimate land cover and the canopy and its benefits in canopy area assessment, to determine priority plantings and protected areas for climate and landscape equity. Covering CO2 capture and storage, stormwater mitigation, aesthetic benefits, etc., it can also show the impact of the study object on building energy consumption, indirect reductions in CO2 emissions, and the removal of air pollution.

2.3. Establishing a Theoretical Framework for Rural Digital Design Ecosystems

In practice, in recent years, the government has issued relevant documents such as the Rural Revitalization Strategic Plan (2018–2022) and the Digital Village Development Strategy Outline to promote digital village construction and digital village governance in rural areas where development is lagging. Guided by classical theories such as collaboration theory, information visualization theory, endogenous development theory, and autonomous governance theory, and composed of rural digital infrastructure construction, data resource development and management, digital industrialization, industrial digitalization, and governance digitalization, digital rural governance is also the development trend of rural governance modernization.
From a theoretical point of view, the British ecologist Tansley (1935) first formally proposed the concept of an “ecosystem”, indicating that the entire system, including the complex composition of the organism and the complex composition of the physical elements we call the environment, together forms a physical system. Subsequently, Darwin Porter (1997) proposed the concept of “digital ecology”. The digital ecosystem is an aggregation space formed by the media, communication, and IT industries, consisting of users, companies, society, and communication platforms that promote digital interaction. The digital ecosystem is structured to support the flow of data between different independent entities in the environment and to promote the development of an open, flexible, and interactive information environment. The digital ecosystem is a complex adaptive system composed of digital elements and their providers and users. It can achieve efficiency improvement and system innovation through the interactions between digital actors. We can use the digital ecosystem to incorporate art design to empower rural revitalization and form a digital design ecosystem for rural revitalization that supports the co-prosperity and symbiosis of multiple organizations by digital technology.
Based on the current logical relationships, such as the conceptual framework of an ecosystem, platform ecosystem, and innovation ecosystem, Qian PF and Chen GH [43] believe that the architecture of the platform ecosystem can be divided into three levels: cornerstone, basic architecture, and interface. Scholars have a unified understanding of the essence and architecture of the system:
Fully tracked, anytime connection = interface + enabling architecture + cornerstone [16].
Based on this, this paper constructs the framework of “rigorous, scientific and beautiful design intervention = service object + empowerment path + resource” (Figure 4). The left side of the equation is the essence of the digital design ecosystem, which has changed from patterned and rigid planning to artistic expression and beautiful design intervention. In the countryside, this is reflected in the restoration and innovation of traditional cultural carriers, ecological environment improvement, rural style design, architectural space environment design, public service design, product design, and marketing to achieve rigorous, scientific, and beautiful design interventions. The demander of the system can save their own time, energy, money, and other elements by directly selecting the required information from public data, and the provider of the system can more conveniently and quickly display their resource advantages, including basic information, various professional talents, technical methods in the system, etc.
On the right side of the equation is the organizational form of the digital design ecosystem, which consists of service recipients, enablement pathways, and resources. Specific to design, the service object is equivalent to the interface of the ecosystem. The combination point of integrated suppliers, demanders, and stakeholders, which can be government subjects, village democracies, etc., is the outer layer of the digital design ecosystem. The empowerment approach is the embodiment of the enabling architecture in the design ecosystem, which has a design function based on the resource layer to achieve value co-creation between demanders and suppliers. The professional knowledge of different professionals on how to build a low-carbon spatial structure system, build low-carbon public square facilities, and build a low-carbon digital village ecology are the core elements and the middle layer of the digital design ecosystem. Resources are the cornerstone of the digital design ecosystem, including information, talent, and technology. For example, using the i-Tree model developed by the U.S. Forest Service to analyze the carbon sequestration benefits of Cinnamomum camphora shows that the carbon sequestration benefits of Cinnamomum camphora in the current year and in the next 20 years differ under the conditions of different directions relative to buildings and different light intensities (Table 2); this is a quantitative scientific method that helps in the rational planning of rural landscape design and is the bottom layer of the digital design ecosystem.

3. Results

3.1. Street Tree Structure of the Bulao Village

Due to the limited space in this article, this paper only uses the i-Tree model in the digital design ecosystem to quantify the carbon sequestration benefits of street trees in Bulao Village from the perspective of plant design. It puts forward optimization suggestions for parking lots.
There are 35 species of street trees in Bulao Village, belonging to 22 families and 33 genera, including 19 species of trees, 312 trees, and 16 species of shrubs. Camphor is the dominant tree species among the street trees, accounting for 75.16% of the total, and the dominant species of shrub is heather, accounting for 62% of the total. The breast diameter distribution of the street tree species was divided into five groups (Figure 5); the proportion of trees with a breast diameter of 1–10 cm was 7.99%, the proportion of trees with a breast diameter of 10–20 cm was 7.03%, the proportion of trees with a breast diameter of 20–30 cm was 5.43%, the breast diameter of most trees (76.04%) was between 30 and 40 cm, and the remaining 3.51% of trees had a breast diameter of ≥40 cm. The breast diameters of Malus halliana, Prunus serrulata, Osmanthus fragrans, Magnolia denudata, and Acer are mainly concentrated between 1 and 20 cm, and the tree species with a breast diameter of ≥30 cm are mainly concentrated within the backbone tree species of street trees. Metasequoia glyptostroboides, as a unique plant in China, is also among the first batch of plants listed as having national I protection in China, which is of great significance.
The height distribution of the street tree species was divided into five tree height groups. The tree height distribution of the tree species is scattered (Figure 6). There were more trees with heights of 1–5 m and 5–10 m, accounting for 27.47% and 31.87% of the total, respectively, while 17.58% of the trees had a height of ≥20 m, and these were Metasequoia glyptostroboides. In general, the structure of the height of the street trees in the village is reasonably well distributed, which is in line with the growth law of rural tree species. Malus halliana, Prunus serrulata, Acer, and Osmanthus fragrans with a height of less than 10 m are relatively significant and an integral part of the lower community structure of the street trees in Bulao Village. The large trees with height above 10m, such as Cinnamomum camphora, Ginkgo biloba, and Metasequoia glyptostroboides, are the main tree species of the middle and aquatic community structure and forest edge line of the street trees in Bulao Village.
The existing trees on the main tourist routes in Bulao Village show a large proportion of deciduous broad-leaved trees, accounting for 55.06%. The seasonal changes on the main roads are abundant (Figure 7). Among them, medium-sized deciduous broad-leaved species account for the most significant proportion, 39.33% of the total, while small deciduous broad-leaved species account for 21.35% of the total. Large deciduous broad-leaved species account for 4.49% of the total; the overall distribution of street trees is relatively uniform, the vertical design distribution across the tree species is reasonable, the overall plant community structure is relatively stable, the proportion of coniferous species is relatively small, and the number of evergreen and deciduous coniferous trees only accounts for 10.11% of the total.

3.2. Carbon Sequestration Benefits of Street Trees in Bulao Village

As plants are essential carbon sinks, the i-Tree model can quantify the ability of plants to absorb CO2 and calculate the carbon sequestration benefits, which are also determined by the economic value generated by the total amount of CO2 absorbed by trees. The annual increase in carbon storage in the form of biomass of village street trees was calculated through big data. Then, the carbon sink capacity of village plants was estimated.
The results show that the total carbon sink benefit of street trees in Bulao Village is equivalent to RMB 30,327.47, a single street tree’s average carbon sequestration benefit is RMB 96.86, and the average CO2 absorption is 164.64 kg. The average CO2 absorption and carbon sequestration benefits per plant of Ulmus pumila L., Salix, Pinus, and Cinnamomum camphora are higher than the overall average (Table 3), among which the average CO2 absorption of Ulmus pumila L. is the highest, reaching 465.48 kg·plant−1; the efficiency per plant of Ulmus pumila L. is also the highest, reaching 186.81 RMB·plant−1. The CO2 absorption of Cinnamomum camphora (185.13 kg) and the average benefit per plant (RMB 109.48) are lower than those of Ulmus pumila L. However, because their number far exceeds that of Ulmus pumila L., they contribute the most to the street trees’ total carbon sequestration benefits. Their contribution reaches RMB 25,837.28, accounting for 85.19% of the total benefit. In addition, the contribution rates of Ulmus pumila L. and Salix’s total annual carbon sequestration benefits are also relatively high, reaching RMB 747.24 and RMB 710.04, respectively, accounting for 2.46% and 2.34% of the total benefits.

4. Discussion

4.1. Structural Characteristics of the Digital Design Ecosystem

According to the above theoretical model construction and the practical investigation of Bulao Village, it was found that the digital design ecosystem is a digital ecosystem that uses art design to accelerate ecological environment improvement, rural style design, and architectural space environment design. It has the essential characteristics of a digital ecosystem to achieve ecological governance through monitoring. It can be understood as a digital ecosystem formed around the design subject. It builds a more scientific, beautiful, and rigorous design path based on the previous fixed mode of digital ecology. Therefore, the digital design ecosystem continues the essential characteristics of convergence, scalability, self-growth, and modularity of the digital ecosystem [44] and has its structural characteristics.

4.1.1. Subject Virtualization

China is in a critical period of rapid economic growth to high-quality development, and infrastructure construction, such as digital government, digital supervision, and digital industry, plays a vital role in promoting industrial transformation and upgrading [45]. The main body of the rural digital design ecosystem includes demanders, suppliers, and stakeholders. The communication between the above subjects is virtualized through the system, giving these subjects virtual identities, which is of great significance in the rural digital design ecosystem and is conducive to the iterative innovation of rural industrial product technology. The emergence of bilateral or multilateral platforms gives full play to the connection and functionality of the system subjects, and the design efficiency is improved in rural construction and development [44].

4.1.2. Digitization of Elements

Agricultural big data constitute a critical element of digital transformation and innovation in agriculture. In 2020, the State Council proposed to expand the scope of market-oriented allocation of factors, accelerate the cultivation of data element markets, and promote the construction of factor market systems [46] The digitalization of rural elements constitutes the interconnectedness and intelligence of the micro-world. It plays a vital role in creating production value, showing the characteristics of virtuality, sharing, accuracy, and low cost [47]. For example, the development of precision agriculture in the United States combines the information collected through intelligent agriculture with big data to make detailed records of land, weather, crops, and other elements. This highlights the use of technology to support the digitalization of agricultural elements and realize precision in agricultural input and output control.

4.1.3. Systematization of Relationships

On the one hand, digital technologies can help improve the sustainability of rural land by enhancing productivity, services, and livelihood security through sound predictions. On the other hand, digital transformation will also bring specific adverse effects, such as economic, technological, and ecological differences, leading to the differentiation of stakeholders and widening of the digital divide [48]. The design effect of digital technology determines the complexity of the ecosystem, including the interaction between social, network, and physical domains, and affects the coordination between subjects. Systematization is also reflected in the distribution of costs, benefits, and responsibilities of the digital design ecosystem, which is of great significance to the high-quality development of rural areas and the effective development of rural ecological sustainability.

4.2. Plant Optimization and Improvement Strategy of a Parking Lot in Bulao Village

Taking a parking lot as an example, the street tree survey data obtained from the field investigation were input into the calculation model of plant carbon sinks, and the results are as shown above. The designer has an in-depth understanding of the village and designs the village scientifically and beautifully according to the calculation model results and the actual needs of the locals; the specific process is shown in Figure 8.
The parking lot near the main entrance of Bulao Village has a rich plant configuration including not only Prunus serrulata, Acer palmatum Thunb, and Malus halliana but also the dominant tree species camphor in the vertical configuration of plants, forming a “big joe-small joe-shrub-herb” model. Its ornamental and carbon sink ability are relatively good (Figure 9). The plant configuration near the parking lot in the east of the village is less aesthetically pleasing, the design space is larger, the current existing terrain in the east is slope-like, and the geographical location is the farthest point on the tour route in the village of Bulao. The degree of plant wilderness is high, which is not in harmony with the overall landscape of the village (Figure 10).
Through the logical derivation of the digital design ecosystem and the experimental determination of the carbon sequestration benefits of the above different plants, the high-carbon-sequestration plant species were screened out, and a high-carbon-sequestration plant community model was formed after optimal configuration. Different configuration modes are classified according to their primary functions. They are mainly divided into functional plant groups based on plant carbon sequestration ability, ornamental plant clusters dominated by seasonal plants, and fusion plant clusters with functional and ornamental properties. Table 4 shows the recommended plant configuration patterns for shrubs and ground cover.
The overall design is mainly regular, using the combination of “tree-shrub-grass”, echoing the dominant tree species in the village. Three different plant configurations were obtained.
The first design involves functional plant clusters based on the plants’ carbon sequestration capacity (Figure 11). According to the i-Tree calculation results, large trees can be selected from Ulmus pumila L, Salix, Pinus, and Cinnamomum camphora, which provide CO2 absorption of more than 185 kg·−1 per plant, and the rest of the plants can be selected from Osmanthus fragrans, Ginkgo biloba, and Prunus serrulata, which are medium-sized trees with CO2 absorption of more than 92.74 kg−1. These tree species can be seen to have high carbon sink benefits in the quantitative results of this study.
The second design involves ornamental plant clusters dominated by seasonal plants (Figure 12). From the perspective of plant color, the digital design ecosystem selected the Koelreuteria paniculata Laxm and Ginkgo biloba as large trees. Osmanthus fragrans, Prunus serrulata, Prunus cerasifera Ehrhart, Malus halliana, Acer palmatum Thunb, and Prunus cerasifera as small ornamental trees according to the existing tree species in the village of Bulao; and flowering plants such as Iris tectorum Maxim to improve the ornamental nature of plants on both sides of the road. The landscape of the street trees on both sides changes accordingly with the season.
The third design is a fusion of plant clusters that are both functional and ornamental (Figure 13). The giant trees are mainly evergreen broad-leaved trees, using Cinnamomum camphora, with a full canopy. The middle trees are mainly colored leafy plants to create a colorful seasonal landscape, such as Ginkgo biloba, Koelreuteria paniculata Laxm, Prunus serrulata, Prunus cerasifera, etc. Increasing the types and numbers of shrubs on both sides of the road is Photinia with the heather planted in large quantities in the village, and Nandina domestica can be planted on the slopes. Shrubs such as Buxus megistophylla and Ligustrum quihoui Carr are resistant to pruning and have good resistance and strong ornamentation value. The ground cover choice must be highly resistant to trampling, such as Festuca arundinacea, Zoysia matrella, etc.

5. Conclusions

In the rural digital design ecosystem, designers should consider multiple value propositions, such as high -quality people’s lives of life [26], green and low-carbon environments [27], etc. The core appeal of digital villages has shifted from building competitive advantages to sustainable development, so it is necessary to further explore the dynamic relationship between comprehensive rural construction and sustainable development. Designers may need to collaborate and combine different technical systems to maintain core competitiveness in digital village construction, using each other’s capabilities to identify opportunities and put forward ordinary value propositions to reshape the rural polymorphic space through digital technology, form a digital design ecosystem for rural revitalization supported by digital technology and multiple symbioses, and realize multi-field, multi-level, and full-scope digital design empowerment for rural revitalization. In addition, in future research, the rural digital ecosystem should be considered with other functions, not only focusing on art and design but also related to multiple ecosystem service functions, to meet the various needs of users and promote the sustainable development of urban ecological diversity.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, Y.Z.; Methodology, Y.Z. and Q.L.; Software, Y.Z. and S.W.; Investigation, Y.L.; Resources, Q.S.; Data curation, S.W.; Writing—original draft, Y.Z.; Writing—review & editing, S.W. and Q.L.; Visualization, Q.S.; Supervision, Q.L. and Z.Z.; Project administration, Z.Z.; Funding acquisition, Z.Z. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research was funded by the Science Foundation of National Natural Science Foundation of China: 31770752; the National Social Science Foundation of China Art Project, grant number: 22BG110; and the Postgraduate Research and Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province, grant number: KYC22_1039.

Data Availability Statement

In this paper, only publicly available data from international data portals were used.

Conflicts of Interest

Author Qianqian Sheng and Yanli Liu were employed by the company Jinpu Landscape Co. Ltd. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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Forests 15 00315 g001
Figure 1. Guide map of Bulao Village.
Figure 1. Guide map of Bulao Village.
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Figure 2. Landscape of entrance plants.
Figure 2. Landscape of entrance plants.
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Figure 3. Entrance square.
Figure 3. Entrance square.
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Figure 4. Construction of rural digital design ecosystem.
Figure 4. Construction of rural digital design ecosystem.
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Figure 5. Distribution of thoracic diameters of street tree species.
Figure 5. Distribution of thoracic diameters of street tree species.
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Figure 6. Distribution of tree height structure of street tree species.
Figure 6. Distribution of tree height structure of street tree species.
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Figure 7. Distribution of growth types of street trees.
Figure 7. Distribution of growth types of street trees.
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Figure 8. Design flowchart of the digital design ecosystem in terms of plants.
Figure 8. Design flowchart of the digital design ecosystem in terms of plants.
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Figure 9. Parking lot with better plant configuration.
Figure 9. Parking lot with better plant configuration.
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Figure 10. Parking lot plant configuration to be improved.
Figure 10. Parking lot plant configuration to be improved.
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Figure 11. Plant clusters that are mainly functional.
Figure 11. Plant clusters that are mainly functional.
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Figure 12. Plant clusters with a predominantly ornamental nature.
Figure 12. Plant clusters with a predominantly ornamental nature.
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Figure 13. A group of plants that are both functional and ornamental.
Figure 13. A group of plants that are both functional and ornamental.
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Table 1. Principles of ecological benefit assessment by the i-Tree model [43].
Table 1. Principles of ecological benefit assessment by the i-Tree model [43].
Ecological Service BenefitsImpact FactorCalculation MethodBase Price
Energy saving benefitsLeaf area index
Canopy coverage		Based on reducing or increasing the amount of electricity and natural gas consumed at the same temperature as the tree communityElectricity
Natural gas prices
Carbon sequestration benefitsChest diameter distribution
Canopy coverage
Tree growth		A carbon tax based on the same amount of CO2 for direct carbon storage and indirect carbon reductionCarbon tax
Improved air qualityTree species
Canopy coverage		The amount of tax levied on the same amount of air pollutants emitted by direct absorption, indirect abatement, and BVOC emissionsAir pollution tax amount
Rainwater retention benefitsAnnual precipitation
Leaf area index
Canopy coverage		The government’s annual funding for heavy rainfall and soil erosion control, based on direct canopy retention, profile protection of water quality, and flood controlGovernment stormwater management funds
Aesthetic valueLocation factors
Tree species
Tree growth		Increase in the sales price of surrounding houses based on the location and annual growth of the tree leaf areaThe average price of houses in the city
Table 2. Estimation of plant carbon sequestration benefits using “camphor” as an example.
Table 2. Estimation of plant carbon sequestration benefits using “camphor” as an example.
Cinnamomum camphoraDistance from the Building (ft.)Direction of the Tree from the Nearest BuildingLight IntensityCurrent Year Earnings/RMBMore than 20 Years of Earnings/RMB
DBH:
16 in.
Growth status:
outstanding		>60/Full75.642001.63
Part61.201432.91
Shade54.051222.43
≤60
(Take 0–19 ft. for example)		Forests 15 00315 i001Full472.539939.82
Part458.099371.09
Shade450.939160.62
Forests 15 00315 i002Full316.236825.90
Part301.796257.18
Shade294.646046.70
Forests 15 00315 i003Full348.627461.32
Part334.186892.60
Shade327.036682.13
Forests 15 00315 i004Full−28.47−84.99
part−43.11−653.71
Shade−50.26−864.19
Table 3. Carbon sequestration benefits of single street tree species.
Table 3. Carbon sequestration benefits of single street tree species.
Tree SpeciesGrowth StatusLight IntensityAverage Breast Diameter/cmCO2 Absorption/kgAverage Benefit per Plant/RMBTotal Benefits/RMB
Ulmus pumilaGoodFull38.0465.48186.81747.24
Salix babylonicaGoodFull20.5298.72118.34710.04
PinusExcellentFull32.0290.88127.61255.22
Cinnamomum camphoraExcellentFull31.9185.13109.4825,837.28
Osmanthus fragransExcellentFull12.3124.7756.87568.7
Ginkgo bilobaGoodFull20.2114.8566.48465.36
Prunus serrulataExcellentFull13.092.7447.53190.12
Prunus cerasiferaExcellentFull7.542.1522.6045.2
Metasequoia glyptostroboidesExcellentFull52.039.0480.84565.88
Malus halliana KoehneExcellentFull6.732.6416.07144.63
Acerpalmatum ThunbExcellentFull10.632.3020.81187.29
Sophora japonicaExcellentFull5.029.7116.2116.21
Prunus cerasiferaExcellentFull5.028.5014.9714.97
Magnolia denudataDesr.GoodFull6.127.4515.2545.75
Magnolia grandifloraExcellentFull41.09.29109.41109.41
Broussonetia papyriferaExcellentFull30.46.2139.42197.10
Gleditsia sinensisCommonFull19.03.5832.2832.28
Koelreuteria paniculata LaxmGoodShade39.52.9078.02156.04
Table 4. Recommended table of low-carbon rural shrub and ground cover allocation models [49].
Table 4. Recommended table of low-carbon rural shrub and ground cover allocation models [49].
TypePlant Community StructureTarget FunctionalityRecommended Plant Configuration Mode
Functional plant clusters based on plant carbon sequestration capacityShrubs
Ground cover		Mainly carbon sequestration functionHosta plantaginea + Ophiopogon japonicus − Photinia + Jasminum nudiflorum + Ligustrum sinense Lour + Loropetalum chinense var.rubrum + Spiraea salicifolia L. + Lonicera maackii + Chimonanthus praecox
Ground coverMainly carbon sequestration functionSedum sarmentosum Bunge + Taraxacum mongolicum + Sanguisorba officinalis + Chrysanthemum indicum + Penstemon digitalis + Stachys lanata Jacq
An ornamental plant cluster dominated by seasonal plantsShrubs
Ground cover		Mainly landscape functionOxalis corymbosa DC + Kerria japonica + Amygdalus triloba + Photinia + Rosa chinensis jacq + Buxus megistophylla
Ground coverMainly landscape functionPhalaris arundinacea + Juncus effusus L. + Ophiopogon japonicus + Pennisetum alopecuroides + Iris tectorum Maxim + Cynodondactylon + Iris pseudacorus + Dianthus plumarius
A fusion of plants that are both functional and ornamentalShrubs
Ground cover		Balanced carbon sequestration and landscape benefitsOsmanthus fragrans + Pittosporum tobira + Nandina domestica + Photinia + Acerpalmatum Thunb
Ground coverBalanced carbon sequestration and landscape benefits.Fruticosa + Juncus effusus + Carex giraldiana Kukenth.
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Zhu, Y.; Wang, S.; Li, Q.; Sheng, Q.; Liu, Y.; Zhu, Z. Research on the Construction and Application of Rural Digital Design Ecosystem under the “Dual Carbon” Goal—Take the Carbon Sequestration Benefits of Street Trees in Nanjing’s Bulao Village as an Example. Forests 2024, 15, 315. https://doi.org/10.3390/f15020315

AMA Style

Zhu Y, Wang S, Li Q, Sheng Q, Liu Y, Zhu Z. Research on the Construction and Application of Rural Digital Design Ecosystem under the “Dual Carbon” Goal—Take the Carbon Sequestration Benefits of Street Trees in Nanjing’s Bulao Village as an Example. Forests. 2024; 15(2):315. https://doi.org/10.3390/f15020315

Chicago/Turabian Style

Zhu, Yueru, Siyu Wang, Qingqing Li, Qianqian Sheng, Yanli Liu, and Zunling Zhu. 2024. "Research on the Construction and Application of Rural Digital Design Ecosystem under the “Dual Carbon” Goal—Take the Carbon Sequestration Benefits of Street Trees in Nanjing’s Bulao Village as an Example" Forests 15, no. 2: 315. https://doi.org/10.3390/f15020315

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