DOI 10.1007/s11252-006-3263-2 Fengshui theory in urban landscape planning Sun-Kee Hong · In-Ju Song · Jianguo Wu Published online: 23 June 2006 C  Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2006 Abstract The spatial conﬁguration of urban landscapes results from cumulative interactions between human activities and the physical environment. Traditional philosophies and cul- tural legacies have had important inﬂuences on urban development and planning in East Asia. In Seoul, traditional land use practices based on ‘Fengshui’ have signiﬁcantly con- tributed to human-mediated patterns of landscape changes, in addition to the role of the socio-economic background (development) and other human activities. The concept of Feng- shui was originally founded upon people’s empirical cognition of natural landscape patterns. Recently, however, advanced economic development, westernization and urbanization have been rapidly altering the old traditions of the holistic landscape systems through changing urban planning practices. Since the type, scale, frequency, distribution and spreading pattern of environmental and human disturbances have been changed, a new paradigm for urban landscape planning is necessary to maintain the ecological and cultural integrity of land- scapes in Korea. In this paper, we discuss recent concepts and methods of landscape ecology and urban planning from the viewpoint of Fengshui, the traditional land use patterns in Seoul, whose application has so far been restricted only to traditional land evaluation. We conclude that, to maintain the sustainability of the urban landscape, it is necessary to develop a new urban planning framework for the region that is based on the integration between landscape ecology principles with the traditional concepts of Fengshui. Keywords Asian landscape pattern . Fengshui theory . Landscape ecological planning . Land use policy . Urban ecology S.-K. Hong () Forest Science Institute, Kookmin University, 861-1 Jeongneung-dong, Songbuk-gu, Seoul 136-702, Korea e-mail: landhong@yahoo.co.kr Present address: Institute of Island Culture, Mokpo National University, Jeonnam 534-729, Korea I.-J. Song Seoul Development Institute, 391 Seocho-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul 137-071, Korea J. Wu Faculty of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Science, School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-4501, USA Springer Urban Ecosyst (2007) 10:221–237