Introduction to
Environmental
planning

1. Introduction
1.1. Environment (Elements of the
Environment) and Environmental Science
Environment :- means the surrounding external
conditions influencing development or growth of
people, animal or plants; living or working
conditions etc.
This involves three questions:
1. What is surrounded?
2. By what Surrounded?
3. Where Surrounded?

VARIOUS TYPES OF ENVIRONMENT
• According to Kurt Lewin, environment is of three
types which influence the personality of an
individual :
(a) Physical Environment,
(b) Social and Cultural Environment,
(c) Psychological Environment

• STRUCTURE OF ENVIRONMENT
(i) Physical Environment
 Solid, ………lithosphere
Liquid……… hydrosphere
 Gas……….. atmosphere
(ii) Biological Environment
 Plants (flora)
Animals (fauna).

• The three aspects of man
 The Physical Man
 The Social Man
 The Economic Man

• The environment is made up of three main
land uses:
1. Natural areas
2. Working landscapes
3. Built environments

1.1.2. Elements of the Environment
(1) Physical elements
(2) Biological elements
(3) Cultural elements

Elements of the human Environment
- Social:
- Cultural
- Political:
- Economic:

1.1.3. ENVIRONMENT STUDIES
Environment studies have become significant
because:
1. Environment Issues Being of International
Importance
2. Problems Cropped in the Wake of Development
3. Explosively Increase in Pollution
4. Need for an Alternative Solution It is essential,
especially for developing countries
5. Need to save humanity from extinction
6. Need for wise planning of development

1.1.4. Environmental Science
• Environmental science is a study that
integrates physical and biological sciences
• The science of Environment studies is a
multi-disciplinary science

Environment and Environmental Planning

1.2. A Brief History of Conservation and
Environmentalism

• By 1850, nature writers were evoking the
power of the land and talking in terms of a
respect for nature. American Henry David
Thoreau published his classic book Walden
in 1848. It told of Thoreau's two-year living
experiment in woods near Walden Pond,
Massachusetts, USA.
• naturalist and writer John Muir
– founded the US conservation organization the
Sierra Club in 1892. Through the Club, hhe
encourage the US government

– for him, wildernesses were spiritual places. So
loss of wilderness meant a spiritual loss to
humanity
• Inspired by visionaries like Thoreau and Muir,
environmental awareness began to spread
through the western world.
– national parks were created in Australia, New
Zealand and Canada.
– Britain began to establish its first conservation-
based organizations, like
– RSPB in 1893
– National Trust in 1894.

1900-1950s – The growing awareness
• In 1914, Martha, the world's only living
passenger pigeon, died in Cincinnati Zoo
• William Hornaday -to write Our Vanishing
Wildlife (1913).
• in 1949, Aldo Leopold -published A Sand
County Almanac
• In 1951, the US, Britain designated 10
national parks.

1960s – The movement is born
• Rachel Carson's 1962 book Silent Spring.
• told of how chemicals like pesticides and
insecticides, used on farms, forests and
gardens were contaminating the environment
• Despite media criticism and attempts by the
chemical industry to ban the book
• President John F Kennedy ordered an
investigation into the issues highlighted in the
book. Carson was found to be correct – DDT
was banned,

1970s – International co-operation
• Environmental pressure groups Friends of the
Earth and Greenpeace were both established in
1971
• the first of the 10-yearly Earth Summits held in
Stockholm, Sweden,
– 113 nations attended
– Sweden was concerned about acid rain. Japan was
concerned about the industrial poisoning of their seas.
– Oil tankers spilling their cargoes were a concern
worldwide
• successes,
• including the 26 principles of the Declaration
• establishment of UNEP
• philosophers joined the debate and– born
environmental philosophy.

1980s – Small steps
• 1982 was Earth Summit time again
• held in Nairobi, Kenya
• the Cold War was at its height
• And more voices had joined the clamor.
– Astronomers complained of light pollution, making it
difficult to observe the night sky.
– Surfers protested against raw sewage being piped
into the seas they played in.
– Marine biologist talked about the noise pollution
threat from motor craft to the sonar navigation of
whales and dolphins

1983, the UN General Assembly created the
UN World Commission on Environment and
Development. It appointed Dr. Gro Harlem
Brundtland
• she published the Brundtland Report
• “Sustainability” became the buzzword.

1990s – The warming planet
• Earth Summit occurred in Rio, Brazil, in
1992.
• It emphasized how the planet's
environmental problems are linked to the
economy and to social justice issues
• The Kyoto Protocol, introduced at Rio
• Ecotourism was being proposed as a
great new way to save the world

2002 – Johannesburg Earth Summit
• 65,000 politicians, numerous NGOs ,and plane loads of
media flew in to Johannesburg,
• Five areas were identified by the UN for particular attention
–
– water and sanitation,
– energy,
– health,
– agriculture and
– biodiversity.
• There were some achievements.
– A commitment to halve the number of people in the world who
lack basic sanitation by 2015;
– To halt the loss of fish and forests stocks; and
– To reduce the agricultural and energy subsidies in the West.
• US, Japan and the oil companies once again discouraged
the promotion of renewable energy sources

1.3. Recent history and origins of environmental
planning: From Silent Spring to Design with Nature
• In 1962 in her book Silent Spring, American biologist
Rachel Carson
• In the 20th century, America underwent enormous
changes in
– population,
– settlement patterns,
– technology, and wealth
– construction of the interstate highway system not only linked
the lower 48 states
– sprawling metropolitan areas
– accounted for more than 20% of the natural resources
consumed annually
• Federal laws created standards
• land conservation and environmental quality.
• protect land and water resources

1.4. Growth of the modern environmental
movement
• Earth Day, observed in the United States,
celebrated on April 22, but some people observe
it on March 21, the first day of spring
• The Stockholm conference
– attended by some 1,200 representatives from 114
nations in 1972.
• A United Nations summit on global warming was
held in Berlin beginning March 28 1995
• (UNEP), body established in 1972
• 1970 the United States government established
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),

1.5. Dimensions of growth and sprawl issues;
the environmental impacts of cities and
urbanization
• There has been a decline in the quality of the built
environment in many inner cities and older
suburbs.
• are converting farmland, forests, and natural
areas to housing subdivisions.
• patterns are fueled by heavy energy consumption
in cars and trucks.
• proceeded faster than new infrastructure
• serious environmental degradation.

1.6. Human population growth
• A population of over thousands of millions is
growing at 2.11%every year. Over 17 million
people are added each year
• population control does automatically lead to
development
• Consequences of population explosion:
(i) It can lead to depletion of resources.
(ii) Severe competition for food and space.
(iii) Increase in psychological stress and strain.
(iv) Rapid pollution of environment.
(v) Large scale unemployment.

1.7. Environment and Development (Human - Environment
interaction)
The human-environment interaction must include:
• creation and maintenance of healthy environments,
• conservation of energy, soils, and water supplies
• reduction, reuse, and recycling of waste
• requirement for polluters to pay for cleaning up the pollution they
create
• clean-up of Brownfield sites
• reuse of existing buildings
• promotion of mass transit and compact
• practice of environmental justice in the sitting of controversial land
uses
• designation of compact growth areas
• The separation of developing areas from sensitive natural areas
• The creation of greenways-linear paths and
• The protection of productive farming and forestry regions

Thank you!!!
Any questions?