ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING

CHAPTER THREE
 Environment?
The environment is made up of three main land uses:
1. Natural areas that provides environmental services such as:
 wildlife habitats,
 wetlands,
 water supplies, national and state parks, and so on
2. Working landscapes, includes:
 farms,
 rangelands,
 forests, mines, & recreation areas.
3. Built environments includes:
 cities,
 suburbs, and
 towns with their components such as: buildings, transportation systems,
sewer, water facilities, public spaces and parklands.
WHAT IS ENVIRONMENTAL
PLANNING?
 Planning is thinking ahead and "figuring out what
needs to be done and how to do it."

 It is the process of "applying knowledge to action" or

basic problem solving

 Planning involves setting objectives, gathering and

analyzing information, and formulating and evaluating
alternative policies, projects, or designs to meet the
objectives
Environmental planning?
 Environmental planning is deciding how to use :
 natural resources,
 financial capital, and
 people to achieve/maintain healthy communities and
 quality of life

 Environmental Planning also means avoiding problems before they occur

 Environmental planning can help communities to:

 avoid or minimize air and water pollution,
 loss of wildlife,
 the conversion of farm and forestlands, and
 degradation of the built environment.
 Environmental Issues Requiring Planning and Management
Intervention includes:

Land Use & Landscape planning for Environmental Management

Architecture and town planning
Soil & water conservation Planning
Planning for Sustainable Water Supply and Water Quality
Planning for Sustainable Air Quality
Planning for Solid Waste management and Recycling
Parks and Open Space Planning
Transportation Planning
Planning for Energy- alternative/renewable energy
Planning for Wildlife Habitat
Planning for Natural Hazards & Natural Disasters
Planning for Working Landscapes: Farmland, Forestry, Mining…etc
PLANNING STEPS
1. Where are we now?
2. Where to go?
3. What goals and objectives are to be set?
4. How to select best method?
5. What is to be done?
6. When it is to be done?
7. People Responsible?
8. How it is to be done?
9. Identifying resources and persons to be consulted.
ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING
 Environmental planning integrate all professional ,social,
cultural, policy and ecosystem views towards sustainable
development
ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING
Usually, environmental planners have specialized expertise
in one or more subareas, such as:
 land use and development

 Architects and Urban planners

 air quality

 water quality

 water resources

 waste management

 wildlife, forestry

 engineers or others.
TYPES OF ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING
 Environmental planning & management may be:
1. reactive,
2. proactive, or
3. integrative.
Reactive measures try to correct prior environmental
damages,
E.g.
 remediation of old waste dumps,
 reclamation of abandoned mined lands, or
 cleanup of polluted waterways.
..
TYPES OF ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING

Proactive measures are taken explicitly to

enhance environmental quality,

E.g.
 land use controls to preserve wildlife habitats
and wetlands,
 protect aquifer recharge areas, or
 restrict future floodplain development
TYPES OF ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING
Integrative environmental planning involves:
 Early and essential consideration of environmental and
social factors in the formulation of development plans and
projects

E.g. highway, Dams ,Buildings

APPROACHES TO PLANNING AND THE
PLANNING PROCESS
Basically there are four basic approaches to planning.
1.The rational-comprehensive approach

2. The incremental approach, called the "science of

muddling through”

3.The participatory approach

4. The advocacy approach

APPROACHES TO PLANNING AND THE
PLANNING PROCESS
1. The rational-comprehensive approach is based on
the scientific method and has five basic steps of ;

o Objectives,
o Information,
o Alternatives,
o Impact assessment, and
o Evaluation.
APPROACHES TO PLANNING AND THE
PLANNING PROCESS
2. The incremental approach, called the "science of
muddling through," accepts limitations in human
knowledge and understanding, and as a result, focuses on
short-term goals and objectives and small sequential
actions.

o Adaptive planning is a modern-day form of

Instrumentalism.
APPROACHES TO PLANNING AND THE
PLANNING PROCESS
3. The participatory approach suggests that neither
rational-comprehensive nor incremental approaches deal
explicitly with the diverse stakeholder perspectives and
conflicting values; it aims to inform and involve the
public in planning and decision making.
APPROACHES TO PLANNING AND THE
PLANNING PROCESS
4. The advocacy approach recognizes that
interested stakeholders do not speak with one
voice but often line up in entrenched camps and
fight for their special interests; this situation
often requires some advocacy of the
underrepresented and mediation to resolve
differences.
ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING AND
MANAGEMENT
 Integrative environmental planning: involves early
and substantive consideration of environmental and
social factors in the formulation of development plans
and projects, like a highway or subdivision.

 Not only it is less costly and more effective to consider

environmental factors early in the development
process, but is essential to achieve sustainable
development.
APPROACHES TO PLANNING AND THE
PLANNING PROCESS
 However, Environmental planning generally requires a
rational-comprehensive and participatory framework,
with elements of adaptive-incremental management and
advocacy planning as appropriate .
GENERIC PLANNING PROCESS
(1)
 It begins with scoping, a key first step to identify
stakeholders and develop a work-plan.
 It continues with identifying key issues and objectives,
analyzing the planning situation, formulating
alternatives, assessing impacts, and evaluating
impacts, all of which are elements of the rational-
comprehensive process, but with strong stakeholder
participation.
 It concludes with an adaptive element: implementation,
monitoring and post evaluation, and modification.
GENERIC PLANNING PROCESS
(2)
 Many processes start with a "rapid assessment" that
takes a quick look at problems and available
information and tries to move quickly to assessment
and action.
 Although the environmental planning process appears as
a sequential process, In reality it is somewhat
interactive , as all steps are considered simultaneously,
with changing emphasis as the process proceeds.
 The process is always open to new information about
subsequent or previous steps at any time. Several of the
planning tools highlighted in the process for
participation, negotiation, mediation, assessment, and
evaluation are discussed later.
 GENERIC PLANNING PROCESS (3)
(0)Scoping
Stakeholder Issues
 Identify fundamental issues, stakeholders,
opportunities for participation, needs for conflict
resolution, and needs for data and analysis
 Draft preliminary work plan for process.
 Draft preliminary design for stakeholder
involvement and participation
(1)Identification of Issues, Opportunities,
Concerns, Objectives, Criteria, Uncertainties
(IOC)
Stakeholder Criteria
 Identify I0C (Issues, Opportunities, Con­cerns),
evaluative factors, including institu­tional, legal,
technical criteria
 Participation tools (advisory committees,
meetings, workshops, surveys) determined by
scoping
 Conflict resolution and negotiation tools
(advocacy) depending on degree of controversy
(2)Analysis of Planning Situation
Stakeholder Local Knowledge
 Scope of data gathering and analysis determined
by evaluative factors
 Identify data limitations and uncertainties
 Participation tools (workshops, surveys)
 Conflict resolution and negotiation tools
(advocacy) depending on degree of controversy
(3)Formulation of Alternatives
Stakeholder Alternatives
 Scope of alternatives (comprehensive vs.
incremental) determined by 10C, planning
situation, degree of uncertainty (adaptive)
 Participation tools (workshops, workbooks, surveys)
(4)Assessment of Impacts
Stakeholder Assessment
 Economic, environmental, and social effects
 Scope of assessment (comprehensive vs. incremental) depends on
evaluative fac­tors, planning situation, and alternatives
 Impact assessment tools (cost-benefit [C-B] analysis, environmental
impact assessment [EIA], social impact assessment [SIAl)
 Organization and evaluation tools (matrices, indices, etc.)
 Participation tools (workshops, surveys)
(5)Evaluation and Selection of Plan
Stakeholder Evaluation
 Organization and evaluation tools (matrices, etc.)
 Participation tools (workshops, surveys, review and comment)
 Conflict resolution and negotiation tools (advocacy) depending on
degree of controversy
(6)Implementation, Monitoring, Evalu­ation, Modification (Adaptive)
Stakeholder Implementation
 Timing and extent of monitoring and modification (adaptive)
determined by level of uncertainty and degree of contro­versy
 Participation tools (citizen monitoring, work­shops, annual
conferences) determined by level of uncertainty and degree of
contro­versy
GENERIC PLANNING PROCESS
(4)
 As in the box shown the basic process can be applied in
a simple form.
 Inventory (What do we have?) includes steps 0 and 2 .
 Needs assessment (What are our problems, needs,
objectives?) includes steps 1 and 2.
 Management strategies (What should we do?) is related
to steps 3, 4, and 5.
 Implementation and monitor­ing (Let's do it!) includes
step 6.
INTERDISCIPLINARY CONSIDERATIONS OF
ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING AND
MANAGEMENT (1)
 The complexity of environmental problems requires
interdisciplinary solutions.
 Environmental management is an exceptionally diverse
field borrowing heavily from several disciplines,
including natural science and engineering, economics,
law, politics, and ethics.
 Environmental planners may be grounded in a
discipline, but as generalists, they must understand and
apply a range of disciplinary perspectives to the planning
process.
INTERDISCIPLINARY CONSIDERATIONS OF
ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING AND
MANAGEMENT (2)
 Though interdisciplinary, at its roots environmental
planning and management is based on scientific and
engineering principles.
 Controlling human-environment interactions to protect
and enhance human health and environmental quality
requires an understanding of how natural systems work
and how designed systems and technologies can lessen
the adverse effects of those interactions and enhance
environmental quality.
INTERDISCIPLINARY CONSIDERATIONS OF
ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING AND
MANAGEMENT (3)
 For example, soil erosion control requires a basic
understanding of soil mechanics, available soils
information and analysis, and the effectiveness of
various land use practices in reducing erosion potential.
 Appropriate decisions concerning the management of air
quality require knowledge of the effects on human
health of pollutant levels, obtained from laboratory and
epidemiological studies; the cost and effectiveness of
various engineering treatment systems; and the
relationship between levels of emissions at the stack and
the quality of air people breathe.