Introduction to

Environmental
planning

Lecture Three By Haile 1

2.0 Concepts, objectives and
principles of Environmental Planning
and Management
2.7 Interdisciplinary Considerations of
Environmental Planning and
Management
2.8 The Role of Environmental Planner
2.9 Environmental Planning in the
Twenty-First Century: Toward Social
and Scientific learning through
Collaborative and Adaptive Planning
and Management
2.10 Collaborative Environmental 2
2.7 Interdisciplinary
Considerations of Environmental
Planning and Management
 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.
3
 Cont.….

 Thus "environmental planning

implies Environmental Science
and Engineering
 Environmental Economics
 Environmental Politics
 Participation, Collaboration and
Conflict Resolution
 Environmental Law
4
 Cont.….
Environmental Science and
Engineering

 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.
 For example….. 5
 Cont.….
 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. 6
 Cont.….
Environmental Economics/Market
externalities
Public policy decisions have long been
based on the theory of welfare
economics and economic efficiency.
Many effects of market activity occur as
market externalities; these are goods
(positive) or damages (negative) that flow
from the market to individuals
Many environmental effects, such as
pollution, wetland destruction,
groundwater overdraft, and over­
grazing, are negative externalities.
7
Environmental Economics/
Evaluation of Environmental
effects
"Development" techniques, which
aim to assess a wide range of eco­
nomic, cultural, and environmental
effects of alternatives and to com­pare
and often combine them to rank
alternatives on their relative "social
worth"

14
Environmental Economics/
Evaluation of Environmental
effects
Partial Evaluation
Techniques
As such, partial techniques can be
used in impact assessment and as
inputs to more Development methods.
Alternatively, the partial evaluation
techniques can be used to rank specific
areas as, for example, habitats,
views, agricultural land, historic
buildings, or potential recreation
areas, to prioritize them for
protection programs or for specific
16
uses.
Environmental Economics/
Evaluation of Environmental
effects
Partial Evaluation
Techniques
The method involves four steps:
1.selecting a number of factors
deemed relevant to the assessment;
2.measuring the factors and assigning
a value to that measurement on a
common scale (e.g., 0-10);
3.assigning weights to each factor
based on its relative importance in the
assessment (e.g., 1-5); and
4.combining the products of the
factor value and weight to produce 18
a final score.
Environmental Economics/ Evaluation of
Environmental effects
Development Evaluation Techniques
The first step in evaluating alternatives
to assist decision making is the
selection of evaluation criteria or the
factors that should determine the best
choice. Like choosing factors for the
sum-of-weighted-factors method,
selecting criteria involves judgment.
We can suggest five generic criteria for
public lands management:
1.physical and biological feasibility,
2.economic efficiency, 3.distributional
equity, 4.social and cultural 20
acceptability and 5.administrative
Environmental Economics/ Evaluation of
Environmental effects
Development Evaluation Techniques
(2) Maximize one criterion while
meeting minimum levels of others:
Select the most important criterion; set
minimum thresholds for all other cri­
teria; then select the alternative that
meets all thresholds and provides the
greatest contribution to the most
important criterion. This approach
often uses linear programming or other
optimization techniques.
(3) Rank criteria and maximize from
high rank to low: Prioritize the crite­ria22
Environmental Economics/
Evaluation of Environmental effects
Development Evaluation
Techniques
(4) Numerically weight each criterion,
rate each alternative's contribution to
each criterion, and use sum-of-
weighted-factors method to score each
alternative: Produces an aggregate
score or "grand index" for each
alternative.
(5) Matrix approach: Fill in matrix with
the best description, indicator, or index
of each alternative's contribution to or
effect on each criterion, then let
reviewers, stakeholders, and/or 23
Environmental
Politics

Several case studies have shown that

there are three ingredients for
success in the political process of
environmental decision making:
good technical information provided
usually by a dedicated planner,
a strong constituency provided by an
advocacy group or groups, and
a champion provided by an elected or
appointed official.
26
Participation, Collaboration and
Conflict Resolution
More important, the implementation
success of projects and programs
depends on their public acceptability.
Recognition of this fact has led to
increasing use of collaborative decision
making and public-private
partnerships, which give stakeholders
not only input into planning but also an
active role in decisions and
implementation.
29
Environmental
Law

Under common law, the doctrines of

nuisance and public trust have served
as the focus of efforts to control
pollution and protect natural areas,
respectively.
Planners must play a variety of roles in
integrating these disciplinary
perspectives into planning and plan-
making activity.
31
2.8 The Role of Environmental
Planner
Planner as Technicians and
Information Source
Planner as Facilitator of Public
Involvement, Builder of
Community Support and Champion
of Citizen Empowerment
Planner as Regulator
Planner as Negotiator among
Interests, Mediator of Conflicts
Planner as Political Adviser, as
politician 32
2.8 The Role of
Environmental Planner
Planner as Technician, as Information
Source

Perhaps the most traditional and

fundamental role of the planner is as
a source of information.
If nothing else, the planner is a
technician, providing data and
information that serves as a basis for
decisions. Information is a source of
power for planners. 33
Planner as Facilitator of Public Involvement,

Builder of Community Support, Champion

of Citizen Empowerment
Although it is grounded in
environmental, technical and economic
information, planning, especially
environmental planning, is political.
Market forces, powerful development
interests, even many elected officials
have long been biased toward
development at the expense of the
environment.
Environmental planning needs to enlist
34
citizen action and encourage a process
Planner as Regulator

• Many government planners spend more

time enforcing regulations, that is,
permitting and approving, negotiating, or
denying development proposals, than
they do "planning."
• In this position as ministerial gatekeeper
for development projects, planners have
been accused of accommodating
development rather than managing it. It is
true that planners must react to the
proposals submitted, often performing
little more than ministerial review and
approval. And when development plans 35
do not conform to existing regulations,
Planner as Negotiator among
Interests and Mediator of
Conflicts
 As regulators, planners must take a
position in negotiations with developers.
However, planners must also play a more
neutral negotiation and mediation role in
resolving conflicts among interests in the
advocacy planning or development
process.
 Conflict abounds in environmental
decisions. The objective of negotiation and
mediation is to involve disputing parties in
developing agreements that benefit both
sides. As citizen involvement increases, so
does the need for conflict resolution. 36
 Negotiation and mediation are necessary
Planner as Political Adviser, Politician

 Environmental planning has become

increasingly political as issues increase in
controversy, as the process becomes
more open, and as elected officials turn to
planners for advice. "If planners ignore
those in power, they insure their own
powerlessness.
 Alternatively, if planners understand how
relations of power shape the planning
process, they can improve the quality of
their analyses and empower citizen and
community action. 37
 Planner as
Designer
It is planning's future orientation, the
"vision thing," that lured most
prospective planners into the field.
There is a long tradition of utopianism
in planning, and despite all the daily
activities planners must engage in, it
is their potential contribution to the
future that keeps them going.

38
 Planner as
Advocate
• The planner should be an agent of
change, working through political
and participatory democratic
channels to empower the
community to improve society.
• Environmental planners' interest in
promoting equitable development in
harmony with nature implies an
advocacy for sustainable
development.
39
2.9 Environmental Planning in the
Twenty-First Century: Toward Social
and Scientific learning through
Collaborative and Adaptive Planning
and Management
We used to think planning is knowing,
now we realize planning is more, it is a
learning process in partnership with
the stakeholder
A quiet revolution is under way in
environmental planning and management.
In response to the increasing complexity of
remaining problems, protracted disputes,
constrained government budgets, and
recent movements toward deregulation and
property rights protection, new approaches40
have emerged.
Environmental regulations and big
government funding of environmental
technologies will not solve all our
environmental problems.
Scientific study and economic analysis
are limited and don't capture all values
on which decisions about the
environment should be based.
After long discussions about this in the
environmental literature, something
interesting happened. 41
Adaptive management (scientific
learning).
Collaborative environmental
decision making
(social learning).
The approach aims to lead to better
decisions for both,
the stakeholders and the environment-
decisions that are more effective and
efficient in managing the environment
and more acceptable to the wide
range of interests involved. 42
• It goes beyond traditional public
participation as it aims to foster
"collaborative learning" by
stakeholders so they more fully
understand the perspectives of other
interests.
• It may also lead to more creative
solutions than traditional
approaches, as collaborative
learning uncovers new options.
43
 2.9
Summary
• Planning, especially in the public
context, is a diverse and
interdisciplinary field that is
continuing to evolve as society
changes, as democracy matures,
and as methods of knowledge
generation improve.
• This is particularly true in an
environmental context that is
heavily influenced by both science
and human and societal values, as
well as the disciplinary influences 44
 Making sense of it all can be fun but
challenging. Planners have lightened
up on their quest to know everything
before making decisions by engaging
in a process of learning.
 Although this takes the pressure off
the search for the "best and only"
solution, it raises different problems
of process and communication.
 When applied to scientific learning
through adaptive management,
additional challenges for monitoring
and evaluation are required for
learning by doing. 45
Thank you

46