Introduction
It has been argued that, ‘While Environmental Planning emerged as a profession in the 1970s, the environmental planning movement was evident sometime before this.’ The main purpose of this paper is to explore the origins of environmental planning theory. The paper considers the major aspects in the evolution of environmental planning theory.
Today’s prototype in human settlement and consumption has greatly contributed towards environmental stress, and this has been manifested at local, regional and international level. The use of land for construction and development in many developing nations tends to degrade the environment with regards to continued increase in population.
Industrial set ups in urban areas have also resulted in increased air pollution and this has contributed to prolonged climate change. Endangered plants and animals are becoming extinct at a very high rate, leading to the loss of genetic biodiversity which is a threat to humanity’s environmental legacy.
Due to such factors and others not mentioned, but within the human adaptation to human natural systems, the public raised an alarm and implemented an environmental movement which over the past century has been able to regulate these problems.
Since the emergence of Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century, much of Western European nations, including North America, have seen many people migrate to urban areas. Cities in this period were transformed by technology; capital and labour force from different human settlements came from the social and economic interactions to sprawling cities at an unprecedented rate.
This rapid growth in the cities has created much pressure on the environment both within the urban boundaries and rural areas. Overpopulation, pollution, class struggles and social inequality are among many of the issues that resulted from such urbanization.
Therefore, planning theory was formulated out of the need to control the social decay that was so prevalent during the Industrial Revolution. Though not evident at its beginning, planning theory has evolved and changed into an international and multi-disciplinary subject. It now includes the concepts of societal, economy, environment, and political subjects.
Since mid 20th century, planning has been incorporated into institutional legislative frameworks, used and formulated by government and organizations to apply control over land use and other social, environmental, and economic sectors. In essence, environmental planning theory was widely accepted as an essential part of planning model after the World War II because it was now used for environmental protection purposes.
This paper will succinctly and comprehensively survey on the historical roots on the present trends in environmental planning – through theories which have been implemented in the recent times that endorses the reorganization and revamp of the land use patterns.
It will also check on the environmental regulation and the systems of production employed, and lastly have a review on some of the methods and processes used in environmental planning.
Planning Theory before the World War
Urban and Environmental history are some of the latest subjects in the American and European history. The planning movement in the early 20th century was advocated by Ebenezer Howard, Le Corbusier, and Martin Wegner, among others. Ebenezer (1989) and his influential book To-morrow a peaceful path to real reform, advocated for restructuring cities to control environmental decal.
Environmental planners at the time were stressed on environmental concerns, central urban renewal, and low-cost public transportation. Modern scholars (Freestone, 2000, Hays, 1998) have argued that the planning movement sought to establish proper land and social reforms.
Within the English Channel and Atlantic Ocean, planners such as Le Corbusier in France and Frank Lloyd Wright in North America used similar approaches like those stated by Ebenezer in planning. Thus, planners in the pre-war period placed much emphasis on the social and economic aspects of the society. Environmental aspect was not entirely addressed in those early planning theories.
Evolution of Environmental Planning
Emphasis on the urban history began its focus in the 1960’s and early 1970’s, while environmental history began much later between the 1970’s and 1980’s. Both concepts of study were propagated by the events that were experienced during the period, as opposed to independent analysis.
The urban history reflected its focus and concern on the growth, crumble and the future prospects of the cities with the idea that the urban disruptions were to continue. On the other hand, environmental history came into being out of the increased concern over the eminence of the environment and the threats it posed to both nature and humanity in 1970s (Worster, 1990).
The ten years after the World War II proved to be a significant period in terms of planning and environmental planning theory. In UK, the passing of Town and Country Planning Act 1947 spearheaded new concepts and theories of planning paradigms in post war countries. Hall (2000) ascribed those activities to a continuation of the planning movement that was affected by the Great Depression and the Great War.
Additionally, those activities were affected by the rigorous post-war reconstruction efforts. As seen in the planning movement in early 20th century, those planning activities placed much emphasis on urban renewal and construction of new communities (Hall, 2000). Though, environmental issues were almost non-existent in those planning attempts, except where pollution was mentioned.
Until that time, the two fields were largely concerned on two different spheres; the urban history was all about the cities and the developed environments, while environmental history was largely concerned with the natural environments. As one of the environmental historian said, environmental history was all about “the role and place of nature in human life” (Worster, 1990: 1090).
An important juncture in the 1940s was when Aldo Leopold published his prominent book A Sand Country Almanac (1949), which aimed at raising awareness on environmental pollution. The book depicted images of degraded lands because of human actions within decades, thus creating awareness on the need to protect and conserve the environment.
Similarly, Rachel Carson’s book, A Silent Spring (1962) advocated for environmental protection, thus shifting the mind of people from reconstruction and construction to tackling environmental dilapidation issues. This meant that the increased reconstruction and construction without planning was challenged by the public because they wanted planners to focus on environmental protection.
Environmental planners believed that environmental design was prevalent in urban areas than the rural areas. This has changed since it becomes very difficult to talk about urban history without reflection on the environmental history (Platt, Rowntree, & Muick, 1995). For instance, Americans and Australians established and developed their cities in areas where nature presented various sceneries.
In 1970’s and early 1980’s planning went from top-down to bottom-up, comprehensive construction and reconstruction took place, and industrialization was at its peak (Melosi, 1993). Planners like Richard Bolan and Paul Davidoff advocated for a new period of international environmental movement.
Thus, protecting the environment was a major concern. Ideas of bottom-up approach created public awareness and the concept of environmentalism and thus, environmental planning has since then been integrated in the planning paradigm.
On the other hand, metropolises have always placed requirements to the city developers regarding their locations and coast lines. In order to establish and develop a city, the urban developers had an obligation to redesign the landscapes, pull down the hills, fill valleys and wetlands and explore the reclaimed land.
In the repossessed land, they developed streets, squares, malls, office building and any other thing that was regarded necessary in the city (Tarr, 1996). In the system of developing the urban areas they went against the law of nature for their own gain, wiping out animal species, they also eradicated the inhabitant plants and instead introduced new ecosystem.
The planners had therefore developed artificial environment that now replaced the natural environment and thus, pollution and other detrimental factors degraded the natural environment at a larger scale (Worster, 1990).
Table 1: Major aspects and key contributors in environmental planning history
Different Historians/ Scholars and their Works
Geographical and Planning Perspectives
The geographers and the urban designers had already laid a foundation before the historians focused on exploring the city and the environment.
For instance, in the field of geography, scholars like Ian Douglas, Martin Wenger, and Ebenezer, and urban designers like Ian L. McHarg had already explored the cities and had sound knowledge concerning dynamic contribution that were to be put into practice so as to develop the urban cities.
McHarg and his study, Design with Nature -1967, was one of the geographers who were able to reveal how the city inhabitants and urban dwellers had redesigned and degraded the natural scenery and surroundings (Freestone, 2000).
Natural and Built Environments
Some other urban historians who have studied the history of environmental planning have also discussed suburbanization and therefore have suggested that there is need to create a central landscape that will combine the city and state as a vital factor in the environmental faction.
For instance, Sam Bass Warner, in his works Streetcar Suburbs (1962) survey on the “suburban mystique” a credence that the suburbs were in a position to offer a site that would posses tranquility of nature with sound landscape that will be able to bring a distinction between the rural and the urban area (Warner,1993).
However, as the urban residents enjoy the benefits of natures, even subdue, the natural environment has continually played an essential role and even disparaging role in the urban life.
The account of urban settlements has always been surrounded with stories of how the urban inhabitants have always competed with the powers of nature that for long have intimidated their lives, the developed surroundings and the urban ecology.
Nature not only contributed to the hazardous effects to the urban life, but also contributed towards natural disasters and catastrophes (Gleen & Low, 2000). This is seen as one of the major reasons of establishing proper plans that can sustain the requirements of urbanization.
Another field that requires a closer outlook is the extent in which the cities have been reshaped off their natural landscapes. Several works of historians have been used to exemplify this point, but the fact remains that a city was reshaped off its natural landscape depending on the type of development that needs to be put into place into that particular place (Schmitt, 1969).
For instance, according to the works of Andrew Hurley, In “Creating Ecological Wastelands: Oil Pollution in New York City, 1870-1900”, he develops a detailed picture that shows the development of an oil producing company and an associated industry that changed the natural ecosystem of New York City by extirpating swamps during the 19th century (Dewey,1997).
An essential representation used to comprehensively discuss the interrelation between the towns and the coastlands is a derivative of the organic theory of metabolism.
Hurley (1997) reckons that the urban dwellers need food, water, and other life necessities that would keep them surviving while at the same time the industries situated in the urban areas requires raw materials in order to make the necessities required by the urban dwellers and also for their own production processes.
For this reason, most industries are located near water sources, such as rivers and lakes. This requires the expertise of professional planners so that resources can be directed to feasible projects within a nation.
Astonishingly, the historians are less interested with the effects that the cities may impose to the environments and the surroundings or the flow of produced good between the surroundings and the cities. Presently, this is an issue that is never carried out instead this was happening in the 18th and 19th century.
There subsists a mutual relationship between the cities and its related surroundings in the 19th century. This can be comprehensively discussed by Wine. R., Fertilizer in America (1985), who fully exploits the importance of city wastes in enhancing the productivity of crops that were cultivated along the Long Island in the course of nineteenth century.
Such ideas were mostly exhibited by Philadelphia which also involved the flow of commodities between the city and the hinterland (Gleeson and Low, 2000).
Technology and Urban Environmental
Early environmental planners have always played a major role in the interaction that exists between the technologies and the environment in the urban areas than most of the other things that may entail natural world in those areas.
As a matter of fact, cities or any other places where there is life and an ongoing industrial activities, fresh water supplies and the means to dispose of the wastes from the industries is a necessity that aims at keeping the place clean to avoid environmental pollution. Most of these processes that involve keeping the city clean require employment of some technological systems or mechanisms (Campbell and Fainstein, 2003).
Conclusion
The literature involving the emergence of environmental planning is an issue that long started during the 18th and 19th century and it mainly dealt with the urban and environmental history on growth and developmental issues.
This paper has analyzed the historical development of environmental planning, the study of the impact of the built environment and the natural environment, the study on how the society responded to the consequences caused by the impacts and also the study on the efforts they employed in alleviating some of the environmental problems.
Apparently, the concept of environmental planning did not form on its own because the integration of pollution control in state laws, and the worsening environmental degradation, encouraged public awareness on environmental protection.
There is also a growing sinister that in future the study of the city and its relationship to the environment may be used to explore other areas of interests which may also help in solving some of the environmental problems.
Therefore, although environmental planning theory was widely received into the professional arena in the 1970s, the planning movement in the beginning of the century, the rise of conservationism in the mid century and prevalent international and national acceptance of sustainable development standards into legislative structures all contributed to its professional status.
References
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