This book studies human settlements in China in terms of Human Settlements Trialism in 5 typical human settlement types: river valleys, water networks, hills, plains, and arid areas. Focusing on 3 elements of Trialism—(1) natural and constructed environments, resources, and visual landscapes in human settlements background; (2) survival strategies, customs, culture, and values in human settlements activity; and (3) the layout of time and space as well as the planning and design of the urban, the country, and the wilderness in human settlements construction—the book analyzes the evolution of human settlements and predicts future trends.

Presenting academic researchers and graduate students in various fields with insights from landscape architecture, urban planning, architecture, geography, forestry, art, and psychology, the study discusses the principles of interactive physiological thinking and systematically theoretical philosophy related to professional physiology, planning and design principles, and traditional and modern methods and technologies in urban and rural construction. The innovative multi-discipline study promotes the planning and design of 5 types of human settlement, which is helpful to the judgment of value, activity rule, and living style of human settlements, and also discusses the development of human settlements in the new millennium.