Residential AreasZHANG Cheng ，CAO Jia- jie* College of Art Design，Nanjing Forestry University，Nanjing，Jiangsu 210037，ChinaAbstract With landscape design of residential areas as the study object，by combining with the “ low energy consumption，low pollution and low emission“ principle of low- carbon economy，this paper tries to analyze the relatively systematic low- carbon landscape designs of modern residential areas Key words Low- carbon economy，Landscape design，Residential areaare widely used，beautification effect of landscaping is over- stressed，large lawns and numerous modified shrubs，trees and annual flowers are introduced into residential areas to pres- ent repeated greening patterns，which do not comply with eco- logical requirements of landscapes 1 2 Road landscape Road landscape is the traffic network connecting the whole space， and also the hub dividing and link- ing all landscapes In modern residential areas，road land-scapes besides satisfying the basic demands of smooth trans- portation are always paved by colorful asphalt，concrete water stone and so on Attaching too much importance on outward appearance，the roads are designed into boring patterns with- out permeability，which finally leads to heat island effects 1 3 Waterscape It is the natural instinct for human beings getting close to water，and water also has its own ecological functions Waterscape is an indispensable factor in residential areas，its construction，operation and maintenance require a lot of investment， otherwise， waterscapes will deteriorate and even cause pollutions Many brooks or ponds in residential are- as are constructed with hardened designs，and kept clean by applying physiological or chemical techniques，which consumes abundant energy and fund 1 4 Lighting landscape Lighting landscape is to ensure the security of residents while going out at night and the normal op- eration of their evening activities，as well as create a serene at- mosphere The maintenance of lighting system requires long- term electricity supply，and the application of electricity cabinet consumes a lot of energyLandscape design is a newly- emerging discipline involving various fields，and also an interdisciplinary subject with compli- cated contents，which is the science and art concerning land a- nalysis，planning，design，management，protection and resto- ration that can improve human-environment relationship as well as environmental quality of city and community，to establish ec- ological balance between mankind and the nature，mankind and culture1 Since the Copenhagen Climatic Summit in 2009，“ low-carbon“ economy has attracted more and more attention worldwide，which is an economic pattern based on low energy consumption，low pollution and low emission advocating saving energy，reducing greenhouse gases emission，and developing circular economy Landscape design of residential areas as a significant component of living environment and also an impor- tant content of eco-environment construction can provide peo- ple multi-layered and multi-perspective living space And mean- while，landscape design of residential area is closely related to low- carbon economy，it is also a trend to apply low- carbon con- cept in the landscape design of modern residential areas However，there are rare researches on low- carbon design of residential area，thus the authors discussed approaches for the low- carbon landscape design of modern residential areas by analyzing basic elements of residential area landscape design1Application of landscape elements in present residential areas Landscape design elements in residential areas can be concluded as greening landscape，road landscape，site land- scape， hard landscape， waterscape， sheltering landscape， simulation landscape，high viewpoint landscape and lighting landscape2 ，among which greening plant landscape，road landscape，waterscape and lighting landscape are significant for the low- carbon landscape design 1 1 Greening landscape In the design of greening land- scape in present residential areas，visual modeling elements2Low- carbon application of landscape el- ements in residential areas Landscape design is based on certain geographical condi- tions，terrains are actually its formal foundation，diversified ter- rains not only provide a fundamental condition for the diversity of animals and plants，but also enrich visual forms of landscape as well as spatial experience of residents In the landscape de-ZHANG Cheng et al Study on Low- carbon Landscape Design of Residential Areas33characteristics are always removed and substituted by brand- new planning and design， in this way，the original ecosystem is seriously destroyed For residential areas with limited green spaces，creating natural landforms means the increase of green areas，th