THE NATURALIST

Nilima & Nivedita

 THE NATURALIST

There is the ever present temptation to resolve a problem with UTOPIA(an imagined place or state
of things in which everything is perfect), this must be avoided because utopias vary with people.
Instead a very simple and basic views can ensure survival and life , which can be left to their own
devices.
Rather presenting in a narrative description of natural law this should be invested in people who
would be like ourselves but their attitude towards nature and to man, planning , management and
art would differ, Naturalist will be the name.
Their cosmography is more modest and not at all man centred.
Evolution is seen as a creative process ,retrogression(the process of returning to an earlier state,
typically a worse one) as reductive.
 Creation and If one multiplies
reduction, evolution simplicity, the
and retroregression result is
are thought to be uniformity.
The product of
attributes, examples
complexities is
are :
diversity.
The dune is result
Sand dune of uniform
1. Only few decades have behaviour of sand
elapsed since the sand dune is particles, their
emerged, it is sparsely angle of repose
populated by grasses and and grasses bent
herbs, supports bacteria and to the wind,
insects, but no mammals. reflecting
sunlight.
2. Simple system.
The forest is
The forest completely
diverse with large
3. Has existed for millennia, so it
number of species
represents highest
environments,
evolutionary expression.
pathways which
4. Complex system indeed are
Relative stability
and instability

The dune is unstable , subject to the

vicissitudes of wind and ocean, tempered by
anchoring vegetation.
The forest has its own internal climate,
microclimate and water regimen. The
processes themselves are the basis of
stability.
When two speices perform identical roles in
same place and time ;one will surely succumb.
Number of species is the indication of roles
being performed.
In the dune ,with the few species ,but large
populations, interactions are prepondarantly
intraspecies whereas in forests , with many
species exhibit inter and intra species
interaction.
 Click icon to add picture
The process of achieving a fitting between
the organism and environment is a
continuous and dynamic process.
They have no noted that no organism exist
independently.
In consideration of altruism(disinterested
and selfless concern for the well-being of
others.), it is important to reject
sentimentality, there is no doubt about the
fear of prey and ferocity of the predator.
Several concurrent value sysytems
operating in this cosmography, first of
these is based upon negentrophy, in this
scale plants are supreme.
 Conclusion

The first giver is Sun ,

1. mountains have many attributes the bringer of rains,Iced and snow caps reserve water and rivers bring water to
us,
2. oceans are the second givers with home to ancient life,
3. chloroplast and the plant are the third givers,
4. the decomposers are the fourth givers, those that return all things
. Naturalist believe that man is natural but there are some special problems dealing with man
. Its is not as simple to examine amoeba or flatworm.
. The humans are influenced by various emotional factors also the environment both physical and social offer
maximum opportunity for the elaboration of each unique personality.
. The observed fact that life eats life and that death is not a problem in their cosmography.
. Naturalist are committed to acquisition of knowledge and have a great realm of human understanding .
. They have in heir own company not only scientist but humanists who have espoused the ecological view.
A STEP FORWARD
Nilima & Nivedita
BACKGROUND STUDY
This chapter starts with the question can values which nature represents be weighed and
measured so that decent prudent men can act in deference to them ? Can same ecological
method be employed for complex problems?

A Highway is a major public investment which affects the economy, the way of life, health and visual
experience. So it should be properly located and designed.
In the highway design, the problem is reduced to the simplest and the most commonplace terms:
1. traffics,
2. volume,
3. design speed,
4. capacity,
5. pavements
6. structures,
7. horizontal and vertical alignment.
.These considerations are connected to cost-benefit and the consequences of this are seen in the
scars upon the land and in the cities.
 To create a new public values.
A device to improve the landscape and
satisfy the visual experience of driver.
Highways
In least damage to landscape exploit the
qualities of landscape meeting the traffic
requirement.
Landscape architects are appointed to heal
the scars made by the highway
construction.

The Highway is likely to create new values whether or not this is an act of conscious policy. Without
planning, new values may displace existing ones, but even if a net gain results there may well be considered
losses.
The issue was a simple one. Should the highway select the Greenbelt for its
route in order to reveal it to the public or should it serve the Greenbelt, but
avoid the destruction of transaction?
The example of the Bronx River Parkway and
create new values while avoiding destruction
of the few oases that remain for twelve million
New Yorkers.
The best criteria for interstate highway route
selection is
1. slope,
2. surface drainage,
3. soil drainage,
4. bedrock foundation,
5. soil foundation,
6. susceptibility to erosion,
7. land values,
8. tidal inundation,
9. historic values,
10. scenic values,
11. recreation values,
12. water values,
13. forest values,
14. wildlife values,
15. residential values and
16. institutional values. Example :
Bronx River parkway
 The objective of this project is not
to just satisfy the traffic problem
but also the investment to public
fund to rehabilitate the foul river
and its landscape to create a new
public values.
The objective of an improved
method should be to incorporate
1. resource values,
2. social values and
3. aesthetic values
in addition to the normal criteria of
physiographic, traffic and
engineering considerations.
. In short, the method should
reveal the highway alignment
having the maximum social
benefit and the minimum social
cost.

Example :
Bronx River parkway
The Task of Highways

The character of the highway is not changed by entitling

it a parkway but this title has been used to describe
highways in areas of great natural beauty - the Blue
Ridge and Palisades Parkways, for example.
Here, where beautiful landscapes are abundant, there is
little social loss and great social benefit.
Where resources are as precious as the Greenbelt in
Staten Island, this conception is not appropriate.
Eg: Blue Ridge Parkway.
Objectives of the highways construction
To use this improved method of highway construction to
incorporate resource values, social values and aesthetic values in
addition to the normal criteria of physiographic, traffic and
engineering consideration.
Method of savings to decrease the causes of accidents on
highways.
It is necessary to obtain the ratio of saving cost of 1.2:1.0.
Maximum social benefit minimum social cost.
To quantify either health or beauty.

Eg: Interstate highways

 We can now apply the method to the Richmond Parkway.
The first group of factors included some of those orthodox criteria normally employed by
engineers-
slope,
bedrock geology,
soil foundation conditions,
soil drainage and susceptibility to erosion.
The degree of opportunity or limitation they afford is reflected directly in the cost of
highway construction. The next category concerns danger to life and property and includes
area vulnerable to flood inundation from hurricanes. The remaining categories are
evaluations of natural and social processes including historic values, water values, forest
values, wildlife values, scenic values, recreation values, residential values, institutional
values and land values. Each factor with its three grades of values is photographed as a
transparent print.

The transparencies of the first group are superimposed upon one another and from this a
summary map is produced that reveals the sum of physiographic factors influencing highway route
alignment. Each subsequent parameter is then superimposed upon the preceding until all
parameters are overlaid. The darkest tone then represents the sum of social values and
physiographic obstructions to a highways corridor; the lightest tone reveals the areas of least
social value representing the least direct cost for highway construction. The highway should be
located in that corridor of least social value and cost, connecting points of origin and destination.
Moreover, it should provide new values not only of convenience, but also of scenic experience
as a product of public investment.
 Various attributes of
measuring the values of the
site:
Soil
Soil drainage
Bedrock foundation
Soil foundation
Susceptibility to erosion
Land values
Tidal inundation
Historic values
Scenic values
Water values
Residential values
Recreational values
Wildlife
Institutional values
forest