From “Spatial Symbols” to an “Ecology of Meaning”: The Underlying Logic and Innovative Practice of Landscape Narrative for Urban Eco-Cultural Tourism Integration

A Case Study of Dalian’s “Encountering Deer in the City, Meeting Spotted Seals by the Blue Sea” Project

Abstract

Against the backdrop of the coordinated advancement of ecological civilization, the deep integration of culture and tourism, and urban biodiversity conservation, how urban ecological resources can be transformed from “natural capital” into cultural meanings that can be perceived, engaged with, and communicated has become an important issue in urban renewal, ecological education, and local cultural-tourism innovation. Taking Dalian’s “Encountering Deer in the City, Meeting Spotted Seals by the Blue Sea” project as a case, this paper examines the meaning-generation mechanism of urban ecological resources from the perspective of landscape narrative theory. The study argues that the core value of landscape narrative does not lie simply in “telling stories,” but in constructing dynamic connections among physical space, ecological knowledge, urban memory, and public action through spatial organization, media translation, behavioral participation, and emotional evocation. Focusing on two types of ecological resources, sika deer and spotted seals, the Dalian case develops, respectively, a “poetics of encounter” based on contingency, everydayness, and public co-creation, and a “detective epistemology” based on real cases, evidentiary reasoning, and ecological warning. Together, through behavioral, spatial, and emotional translation, the two approaches establish an “intermediate language” between professional science communication and public experience, promoting ecological education from “knowledge delivery” toward “collective storytelling.”