Ecological Planning


Book Description

Chosen by Choice Magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title for 2003 Ecological planning is the process of understanding, evaluating, and providing options for the use of landscape to ensure a better fit with human habitation. In this ambitious analysis, Forster Ndubisi provides a succinct historical and comparative account of the various approaches to this process. He then reveals how each of these approaches offers different and uniquely useful perspectives for understanding the dialogue between human and environmental processes. Ndubisi begins by examining the philosophies behind and major contributors to ecological thinking during the past 150 years, as well as the paradigm shift in planning that occurred in recent decades as a result of a growing global ecological awareness. He then turns to landscape suitability analysis and discusses alternative approaches to ecological planning, such as applied human ecology, applied landscape ecology, and others. Finally, he offers a comparative synthesis of the approaches in order to reveal the theoretical and methodological assumptions inherent when planners choose one approach over the other. Ndubisi concludes that no one approach can by itself adequately address the whole spectrum of ecological planning issues. For this reason he offers guidance as to when it may be appropriate for landscape architects and planners to emphasize one approach rather than another.




Landscape-ecological Planning LANDEP


Book Description

This book provides a comprehensive description of the landscape-ecological planning system LANDEP, and introduces the methodical procedure. LANDEP was developed at the Institute of Landscape Ecology of Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava and has been applied in various planning processes at home and abroad. Despite the fact that the LANDEP methodology was defined in 1979, the methodological content, sequence of procedures and the application of concept in practice are still valid. The first two steps – analyses and syntheses – have the nature of fundamental research and result in the design and characteristics of complex landscape-ecological-spatial units. The final two steps – evaluations and proposals – address the needs of planning practice. The intermediate step – interpretations – has the character of applied research and forms the arguments and criteria for the assessment of landscape for its utilisation by humans.




Planning for Ecosystem Services in Cities


Book Description

This open access book presents current knowledge about ecosystem services (ES) in urban planning, and discusses various urban ES topics such as spatial distribution of urban ecosystems, population distribution, and physical infrastructure properties. The book addresses all these issues by: i) investigating to what extent ecosystem services are currently included in urban plans, and discussing what is still needed to improve planning practice; ii) illustrating how to develop ecosystem services indicators and information that can be used by urban planners to enhance plan design; iii) demonstrating the application of ES assessments to support urban planning processes through case studies; and iv) reflecting on criteria for addressing equity in urban planning through ecosystem service assessments, by exploring issues associated with the supply of, the access to and demand for ES by citizens. Through fully worked out case studies, from policy questions, to baseline analysis and indicators, and from option comparison to proposed solutions, the book offers readers detailed and accessible coverage of outstanding issues and proposed solutions to better integrate ES in city planning. The overall purpose of the book is to provide a compact reference that can be used by researchers as a key resource offering an updated perspective and overview on the field, as well as by practitioners and planners/decision makers as a source of inspiration for their activity. Additionally, the book will be a suitable resource for both undergraduate and post-graduate courses in planning and geography.




Project Planning and Management for Ecological Restoration


Book Description

Concern over climate change and the ongoing challenges of managing degraded ecosystems have made the field of ecological restoration a growing focus in the agendas of national and international conservation organizations, including the United Nations. The problems facing us are both complex and urgent, and effective solutions are needed. Project Planning and Management for Ecological Restoration presents principles of sound planning and management that will greatly increase the likelihood that completed projects will meet stakeholder expectations. John Rieger, John Stanley, and Ray Traynor have been involved in restoration activities for over thirty years and were part of the small group of restorationists who recognized the need for a professional organization and in 1987 founded the Society for Ecological Restoration. This book comes out of their experiences practicing restoration, conducting research, and developing and refining new techniques and methods. In the book, the authors describe a process for planning and managing an ecological restoration project using a simple, four-faceted approach: planning, design, implementation, and aftercare. Throughout, the authors show how to incorporate principles of landscape ecology, hydrology, soil science, wildlife biology, genetics, and other scientific disciplines into project design and implementation. Illustrations, checklists, and tables are included to help practitioners recognize and avoid potential problems that may arise. Project Planning and Management for Ecological Restoration provides a straightforward framework for developing and carrying out an ecological restoration project that has the highest potential for success. Professional and volunteer practitioners, land managers, and property owners can apply these guidelines to the wide variety of conditions and locations where restoration is needed. Long overdue, this book will inform and advance the effective practice of this rapidly expanding field.




Ecological Design and Planning


Book Description

Addressing the central controversy of ecological landscape and design planning the authors conclude that the polarity of care for the environment and pure aesthetic consideration has to be harmonised, and that both are justifiably pertinent.




Landscape Planning with Ecosystem Services


Book Description

Human well-being depends in many ways on maintaining the stock of natural resources which deliver the services from which human’s benefit. However, these resources and flows of services are increasingly threatened by unsustainable and competing land uses. Particular threats exist to those public goods whose values are not well-represented in markets or whose deterioration will only affect future generations. As market forces alone are not sufficient, effective means for local and regional planning are needed in order to safeguard scarce natural resources, coordinate land uses and create sustainable landscape structures. This book argues that a solution to such challenges in Europe can be found by merging the landscape planning tradition with ecosystem services concepts. Landscape planning has strengths in recognition of public benefits and implementation mechanisms, while the ecosystem services approach makes the connection between the status of natural assets and human well-being more explicit. It can also provide an economic perspective, focused on individual preferences and benefits, which helps validate the acceptability of environmental planning goals. Thus linking landscape planning and ecosystem services provides a two-way benefit, creating a usable science to meet the needs of local and regional decision making. The book is structured around the Driving forces-Pressures-States-Impacts-Responses framework, providing an introduction to relevant concepts, methodologies and techniques. It presents a new, ecosystem services-informed, approach to landscape planning that constitutes both a framework and toolbox for students and practitioners to address the environmental and landscape challenges of 21st century Europe.




Ecological Landscape Design and Planning


Book Description

The authors of this book offer an holistic methodological approach to the design and planning of landscape, based on both research and practical experience.




Landscape Ecology Principles in Landscape Architecture and Land-Use Planning


Book Description

Landscape ecology - the ecology of large heterogeneous areas, landscapes, regions, or simply of land mosaics, has rapidly emerged in the past decade as an important and useful tool for land-use planners and landscape architects. Landscape Ecology Principles in Landscape Architecture and Land-Use Planning is an essential handbook that presents and explains principles of landscape ecology and provides numerous examples of how those principles can be applied in specific situations.




Ecology, Planning, and Management of Urban Forests


Book Description

Trees and vegetation in cities aren’t just there to make the place look pretty. They have an important ecological function. This book contains studies and perspectives on urban forests from a broad array of basic and applied scientific disciplines including ecosystem ecology, biogeochemistry, landscape ecology, plant community ecology, geography, and social science. The book includes contributions from experts around the world, allowing the reader to evaluate methods and management that are appropriate for particular geographic, environmental, and socio-political contexts.




Human Settlements and Planning for Ecological Sustainability


Book Description

In many areas of the world, environmental degradation in and around human settlements is undermining prospects for both socioeconomic justice and ecological sustainability. To explore the issues involved in this worldwide problem, Keith Pezzoli focuses on a dramatic instance of conflict that grew out of the unauthorized penetration of human settlements into the Ajusco greenbelt zone, a vital part of Mexico City's ecological reserve. The heart of the book is the story of what happened when residents of the Ajusco settlements fought relocation by proposing that the areas be transformed into productive ecology settlements. Pezzoli draws upon urban and regional planning theory and practice to examine biophysical as well as ethical and social sides of the story, and he uses the Mexican experience to identify planning strategies to link economy, ecology, and community in sustainable development. -- Publisher description.