Mismatches with Landscape.

The planning problems we are facing today are many and complex, and not
all, of course, are tied directly to the landscape. For those that are, most seem to result from mismatches
between land use and environment. The mismatches stem from five main origins:

1. Initially poor land use decisions because of ignorance or misconceptions about the environment,
as exemplified by the person who unwittingly builds a house on an active fault or ignores warnings
about hurricane-prone shore property.
2. Environmental change after a land use has been established, as illustrated by the property owner
who comes to be plagued by a flooding or polluted water because of new upstream development
or by the coastal properties flooded and eroded because of a sea level rise related to global
warmings.
3. Social change, including technological change, after a land use has been established and
represented, for example, by the resident who lives along a street initially designed for horse-
drawn wagons but now used by automobiles and trucks and plagued by noise, air pollution, and
safety problems.
4. Poor planning and design, as in the case of the road redesigned for greater efficiency and safety
which instead induces more accidents among cars, bicycles, and pedestrians than the roadways
it replaced.
5. Violations of human values concerning the mistreatment of the environment, such as the
eradication of species, the degradation of streams, and the alteration of historically valued
landscapes.

Reference: Landscape Planning Environmental Applications Fifth Edition

William M. Marsh