The Human Environment: An Intersection of Three Worlds

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The Human Environment
An Intersection of Three Worlds

• the environment humans live in results from the intersection of three

pervasive and interacting systems or worlds:
– the natural world: the physical, natural, or material world or universe and all the
animate organisms and inanimate objects that exist in it
– the human world: the individuals and social institutions created by humans to
manage the interaction between individuals, groups, and higher-level
organizations
– the built world: the human-made or human-modified physical surroundings in
which people conduct their normal activities
• these worlds are the foundations for all human societies
– relative importance of the different worlds in a particular human environment
depends upon the societal level of development
• hunter-gather societies have small built worlds but occupy significant portion of the
natural world
• industrialized societies have built worlds spanning the entire planet and reaching into
even the remotest regions
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• the human environment, i.e.,

where humans live, exists at
the intersection of the human,
built, and natural worlds
• this Venn diagram graphically
illustrates the concept of the
human environment and its
connection to the three worlds
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• the concept of the human environment is critical in understanding how

humans deal with their environment as well as each other
• for example:
– the natural world provides the biotic and abiotic resources that a human or a
society needs to exist
– the built world creates those physical assets that feed, shelter, cloth,
transport, and entertain individuals
– at the same time, the human world creates the institutions, cultures, norms,
mores, and laws and regulations that guide or direct all aspects of human
existence
• the human environment as a concept is important because it can be
rendered ineffectual by natural or anthropogenic impacts
– natural: drought, floods, storms, wildfires, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions,
solar weather, etc.
– anthropogeneic: war, conflict, poor policy, inequalities (racial, gender, social),
environmental injustice, etc.
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Earth’s Worlds: Natural World
2/26/21 5
• natural world: the physical, natural, or material world or universe and all the animate
organisms and inanimate objects that exist in it
– the world ‘natural’ in the definition implies existing or occurring in the physical world, i.e., nature
– implicitly excludes artificial objects or lifeforms (?), i.e., those created by human consciousness
or actions
• to envision the natural world, imagine that all humans and all the objects they have
created were suddenly to disappear from the Earth
– what remained would be the natural world
• increasingly the ‘natural world’ one encounters today has been modified to various
degrees by human activity
– remnants of the original natural world would include physical spaces unmodified by human
activity, e.g., wilderness, unmanaged forests, virgin jungles, deserts, grasslands, marine
protected regions
– think of the frontier ‘untouched’ by human activity
• for the most part, this type of natural world no longer exists on Earth
– virtually, no part of the planet regardless of how remote has not been impacted by human
activity
– more realistic to think of the natural world as simply the physical environment where humans
exist
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• when undisturbed, natural systems function for long times in a state of equilibrium
– they are, however, dynamic not static
– with continuous inputs and outputs of matter and energy necessary to maintain an
optimum or equilibrium state
• to understand and investigate the natural world, it can be divided into five
subsystems or spheres
– atmosphere: the gaseous envelope encircling the Earth where weather and climate occur
– biosphere: all living organisms on the land, in the air, in the water, and under the Earth’s
surface
– geosphere: minerals and rocks of the Earth’s surface, its crust, and in some instances the
topmost part of the mantle
– hydrosphere: liquid and solid water several to tens of kilometers on, above, or below the
Earth’s surface
– pedosphere: thin zone of weathered and unweathered rocks, soil, organic matter, and
living organisms at or just below the Earth’s surface
• extensive interactions occur between the spheres
– these interactions involve the transfer of matter and energy in many forms and at a host
of scales both spatially and temporally
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Earth’s Worlds: Natural World - Atmosphere
• atmosphere: gaseous envelope surrounding the Earth

– where weather and climate occur
– it is held in place by the Earth’s gravity
• major gases of the atmosphere are:
– nitrogen (78%)
– oxygen (21%)
• two other gases exist at levels just above trace amounts
– argon (0.93%)
– carbon dioxide (0.04%)
• many trace gases, e.g., neon, helium, water vapor
• the atmosphere has many natural functions:
– absorbs ultraviolet (UV) radiation
– warms Earth’s surface via greenhouse effect
– reduces difference between night and daytime temperatures
– moves vast amounts of heat from equator toward the poles
– is major reservoir of water vapor and source of precipitation
– hosts the weather and climate humans experience
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• extends from below Earth’s surface (in caves and burrows) to 10,000 km above
its surface
– at upper boundary, gases thin until it is impossible to distinguish the upper
atmosphere from space
• amount of water vapor varies with altitude and is a major factor on weather
and climate
– greatest near surface
• 0.3 % on cold, dry day
• 4 % on hot, humid day
– drops to zero a few kilometers above the Earth’s surface
• oxygen in atmosphere distinguishes Earth from Mars and Venus
– result of biological activity
– in upper atmosphere, oxygen combines to form ozone which absorbs ultraviolet rays
• atmosphere also stores and moves thermal energy around Earth’s surface
– moderates surface temperature
– without the atmosphere, Earth’s surface would be 33 oC cooler than it is
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• because of unequal solar heating, there are large thermal or

temperature gradients in the atmosphere
• causes variation in pressure which forms currents
• produces convection cells that move thermal energy from equator to
poles
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Earth’s Worlds: Natural World - Biosphere
• biosphere: the living (biotic) organisms naturally occurring and occupying

the Earth’s surface and near-surface and their complex network of
interconnections and relationships
– largely self-regulating system
– extends to deep into the crust and exists in extreme environments, e.g.,
geothermal hot springs, black smokers, etc.
• represents a thin zone of organisms centered around Earth’s surface
• estimates suggest biosphere contains 2-4 million living species
– in many areas of the planet, the biosphere is still largely unexplored scientifically
• of the biosphere’s organisms, most rely on photosynthesis for energy
– green plants and marine microorganisms convert solar energy, carbon dioxide,
and water into energy and plant matter
• this activity represents base of land and marine food chains
– thus, most biologically productive areas are those with:
• abundant solar radiation
• liquid water for most of the year
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• biosphere consists of biotic and abiotic components that interact with

each other and are interdependent
– living organisms (plants and animals) interact with non-living materials
(soil, water, nutrients) and energy (light)
• composition of biosphere is like that of the hydrosphere (most living
cells are 60-90 % water)
– it is dominated by lighter elements
• no element greater than atomic number 53 (iodine) found in cells
– in terms of number of atoms, 99 % of living matter consists of just four
elements, i.e., hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen
• these four elements are found in all organisms on Earth
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• major compositional difference between hydrosphere and biosphere is

carbon
– carbon atoms bond together strongly
– form rings and branching structures (chains) of unlimited length
– structures can contain thousands of atoms
– it forms more compounds than any of the other 102 naturally-occurring
elements of the periodic table
• important organic molecules include:
– carbohydrates: sugars, starches and fibers found in fruits, grains, vegetables,
and milk products
– fats: natural oily or greasy substances occurring in animal bodies
– proteins: N-bearing organic compounds formed of long chains of amino acids
– nucleic acids: long organic chains of nucleotides and important in RNA and
DNA
• all fossil fuels were produced from organic molecules that formed in the
geologic past in the biosphere
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• the billions of living organisms

of the biosphere can be
arranged into a hierarchy of biotic
increasing complexity:
– individual: one organism of a
species
– population: group of individuals
of single species
– community: collection of biotic &
populations of different species abiotic
– ecosystem: coherent collection
of living and non-living
components
– biome: geographic grouping of
ecosystems
– biosphere: consists of all biomes
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Earth’s Worlds: Natural World – Biosphere: Ecosystems
• an ecosystem is a community in a geographic area consisting of living

organisms that are affected by the region’s abiotic characteristics,
e.g., weather, landscape
• consists of two classes of environmental variables or components:
– biotic: plants, animals, insects, bacteria, microbes
– abiotic: rocks, soil, water, air, humidity, temperature, weather
• the biotic and abiotic resources of an ecosystem are limited
– abiotic resources of ecosystem fall into same categories or classes
• the commonly vary in amount or degree, e.g., amount of water, temperature,
soil thickness
• different ecosystems have different communities of organisms
– Alaskan forest: brown bears, wolves, deer, cedar, Sitka spruce, Pacific
salmon (5 types), eagles, loon
– African savanna: grasses, small or dispersed trees, wildebeests, elephants,
cheetahs, lions
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• since all the components of a system are connected and interact, the
loss of any one component will impact the ecosystem as a whole
– impact will ripple through the entire system
– magnitude of impact can vary
• the size of an ecosystem is variable:
– pond
– stretch of river
– wetland (swamp, marsh, bog)
– mountain range
– planet
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• an ecosystem is dynamic with energy and matter entering (inputs)

and leaving (outputs) the system
– has finite biotic and abiotic resources
• additional external factors influencing ecosystems are:
– climate: important in determining the biome
• rainfall: amount of water
• temperature: amount of energy
– time
– topography
– material available
– these are not influenced by ecosystem feedback
• even cursory examination reveals that ecosystems are dynamic
– they change as external and internal factors change
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• ecosystems are important to

humans for a variety of reasons
• they provide goods and services
to humans and society
• an ecosystem services are the
many and varied positive benefits
humans freely gain from the
natural environment and from
properly-functioning ecosystems
– contribute to human well-being
– both directly and indirectly
– benefit may be small or large in
scale
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examples of ecosystem services
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relation of ecosystem services to human society
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Earth’s Worlds: Natural World – Biosphere: Biomes
• ecosystems interact to form larger organizations known as biomes

• a biome is a large space, i.e., land, water, air, that can be classified
based on the plants and animals that live there
– specific geographic area with common living community
• a given biome may have multiple ecosystems
– consider a tropical rainforest
• canopy ecosystem: tall, thin trees with their crowns merging to form a
continuous roof of leaves
• understory ecosystem: less sunlight
• forest floor ecosystem: little sunlight with lots of humidity and decaying organic
matter
– marine:
• coral reef
• kelp forest
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• as with any classification scheme, there are several ways of defining

biomes
– most basic classification scheme has six divisions:
• forest: dominated by trees that form a canopy
• grassland: grasses most abundant and trees dispersed and small, no canopy
• aquatic: systems dominated by water
• desert: dry, barren, and often desolate region commonly covered by sand or
rock and lacking vegetation
• tundra: vast, flat, and treeless high-latitude regions with permanently frozen
subsoil
– these divisions can be broken down on an even more granular level
• forest: tropical, deciduous, taiga
• aquatic: freshwater, marine
• desert: Sahara (hot, dry, sand), Gobi (cold, dry, bare rock), Antarctic (frozen)
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one example of classifying biomes
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• biomes are not fixed in space and time

– as climate changes, biomes necessarily move
– presently biomes are moving northward toward the poles as the planet
warms
– they are also moving upward in elevation
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Earth’s Worlds: Natural World - Geosphere
• geosphere: outermost shell of the solid Earth (crust and uppermost

part of the mantle) composed of variety of rock types
– crust is of two types:
• oceanic crust is enriched in iron and magnesium and is about 5 km thick
• continental crust is 30-65 km thick with less iron and magnesium
• dominated by the elements oxygen and silicon
– these commonly form the silicate minerals based on Si-O bonding
• other important elements include calcium, potassium, magnesium,
aluminum, iron, and sodium
• geosphere is predominantly solid with small fractions of liquid
– magma: liquid rock underground
– lava: liquid volcanic rock on Earth’s surface
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Earth’s Worlds: Natural World - Geosphere
Source: Tilling et al (2010)
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Earth’s Worlds: Natural World – Geosphere: Geoservices
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• virtually all abiotic resources used to sustain the human environment are derived
from the geosphere
– primarily by building and powering the built world
• these resources include:
– building materials
– industrial minerals
– chemical minerals
– petrochemicals
– metals
• abundant
• scarce: ferrous, base, precious, special
– energy
• hydrocarbons: crude oil and natural gas
• coal
• geothermal
– water: groundwater
– gases: helium
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• the geosphere is a dynamic

function system
• one of its major features is the
cycling of elements
2/26/21 33
Earth’s Worlds: Natural World - Hydrosphere
• hydrosphere: all the gaseous, liquid and solid (ice) water on, under, and above
the Earth’s surface
– examples: oceans, streams, lakes, ponds, wetlands, glaciers, ice sheets,
groundwater, water vapor
• water consists of hydrogen and oxygen joined together to form a polar
molecular (H2O)
– states are liquid (sea and freshwater), gaseous (water vapor), and solid (ice)
– liquid form encompasses freshwater and salt water
– water moves through all the Earth’s surface systems
• the hydrosphere forms a zone 10 to 20 km thick
– extends several kilometers into the crust
– rises to about 12 km above the Earth’s surface
• hydrosphere contains lots of water, ~ 1.4x10 9 km3
– enough to cover the Earth to depth of 3 km if it was uniformly distributed
• water distributed among several different reservoirs
– 97 % is saltwater in the oceans
– 3 % is freshwater
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• freshwater is not evenly

distributed between its
reservoirs
– 2.7 % is in ice caps and
glaciers
• presently, they cover 10% of
the land’s surface (in glacial
periods this has been as high
as 30%)
• remaining 0.3 % is surface
and groundwater and water
vapor in the atmosphere
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• hydrosphere began to form nearly 4 by ago as the Earth cooled, and

gases escaped from the interior
– because of the size of the Earth, its gravity was great enough to keep the
gases from escaping
– a little water added from degassing of the Earth or subtracted due to loss
to space
• the rate of water movement varies depending upon physical state
– liquid: days to thousands of years
– solid (ice): thousands to tens of thousands of years
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2/26/21 Source: UNEP 37

• water can store lots of thermal energy

– in regions with abundant solar radiation, water absorbs energy increasing
its temperature
– in cooler regions, water cools releasing thermal energy to the
surroundings
• thus, movement of water is important as a global energy flow
– helps regulate Earth’s surface temperature
• as far as we know, Earth is the only planet in the solar system with
abundant liquid water
2/26/21 38
• water movement between

spheres is described by
hydrologic cycle
– continuous circulation of
water through five Earth
sphere
2/26/21 39
Earth’s Worlds: Natural World - Pedosphere
• pedosphere: thin interface of soil, organic matter, and weathered and

unweathered rock between the geosphere and the atmosphere
– where soil formation occurs
– vertically stratified producing soil profile consisting of a number of
horizons distinguished by morphology, composition, and consistency
– basis for most planet growth and particularly agriculture
• includes:
– disaggregated and decomposed (weathered) rock on top of the geosphere
– soil with organic matter
• produced by action of water, oxygen, acids, and organic matter on the
geosphere
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• because it is derived from the lithosphere, and in fact, the crust, the
pedosphere is compositionally like crust
– consists of eight elements: oxygen, silicon, aluminum, iron, magnesium,
calcium, sodium and potassium
• the other material needed for plant growth comes from the organic
matter of soil
– it contributes hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous
• pedosphere is an open system
– witness the movement of ions, solid particles and gases
2/26/21 41
• soil is unconsolidated material at boundary between pedosphere,

geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere
– contains material formed from rocks and organic matter
• it is arranged in layers or horizons
– those horizons at the base are poorest in organic matter
– richest is at the top
• roles
– unique habitat for a great diversity of life forms;
– link between geological and biological substance circulation in terrestrial
ecosystems and the biosphere; and
– basis for agriculture and biological productivity in natural landscapes
• soil thickness is rarely more than a few meters thick
– thickness depends on amount and type of organic matter
• all agricultural activity and food production is dependent upon soil
2/26/21 42
• rate of soil formation is controlled by several factors

– climate
– rock type
– organic matter
– topography
– time
• because soil formation is so slow, often considered a non-renewable
resource
• whereas soil formation is a slow process, soil destruction can be quite
rapid
– these can occur in years to hundreds of years
– include erosion due to deforestation or bad farming practices, poor use of
irrigation
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2/26/21 44

Earth’s Worlds: Human World
2/26/21 45
• the Earth is inhabited by over 7.6 billion humans

– except for in the most remote areas of the planet, these individuals
interact extensively with other humans in countless ways
– during their development, societies have created a wide variety of
mechanisms and institutions to mitigate and guide these interactions
• human world: individuals and social institutions created by humans to
manage the interaction between individuals, groups, and higher-level
organizations, e.g., nation states
– includes governments, legal institutions, business rules and regulation,
economic systems, culture, arts, religion, language
– differences marked by culture, religion, language, social condition, health,
occupation, economic condition, etc.
– duration of such systems is relatively short, decades to several centuries
2/26/21 46
• exchanges between individuals and institutions marked by a wide

range of interactions
– may be face-to-face/remote, anonymous/known, one-way/back-and-
forth,
• interacting parties have different levels of:
– social power
– economic power
– political power
– cultural authority
2/26/21 47
• just like organisms in the

biosphere can be organized into
a hierarchy of groupings, so can
human systems
2/26/21 48

Earth’s Worlds: Built World
2/26/21 49
• built world: human-made or human-modified surroundings in which

people conduct their normal human activities
– space where humans live, work, and recreate daily
– involves design, construction, management, use, and decommissioning of
man-made systems
• components of built world have finite lifetimes
– must ultimately plan for decommissioning or removing structures at end
of life or that are obsolete
• as they age, must be maintained and cost increases with age
2/26/21 50
• major component of built world is infrastructure, the basic physical structures, facilities,
and systems required to provide a city, state/province, country, region or the globe with the
goods and services necessary for the entity’s economic, social, and political operation
– it is built to provide some portion of the services that society demands (Doyle and Havlick, 2009)
– foundation that allows functioning of a modern, industrialized economy
• infrastructure elements encompass:
– infrastructure components: discrete, human designed and built components of the built world,
e.g. buildings, public spaces, e.g., parks, etc., urban and rural settings, agricultural land
– infrastructure systems: diverse connective systems tying together spatially distributed
components of the built world, e.g., transportation systems, communication systems, water
supply and sanitation systems, oil and natural gas pipelines
• based on funding sources infrastructure can be classified into one of two types:
– private: privately financed by landowners, local municipalities, or private industry covering
relatively small spatial footprints and small to moderate capital outlays
– public: funded by national governments or international organizations with large spatial footprint
and the leveraging of large to huge capital outlays
• construction of infrastructure always entails environmental impacts
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• large-scale, public infrastructure:

– roads, bridges, railroads, airports, ports, subways, tunnels
– dams, levees, canals
– communication systems, e.g., phone, radio, internet
– raw material production facilities: mines, refineries/smelters, quarries,
– energy: coal mines, oil and gas (production, transport, processing,
distribution), power stations and electrical grid, hydroelectric dams
– national defense systems
• local or regional scale, private infrastructure
– water supply systems
– wastewater and sanitation systems
2/26/21 53
• characteristics of any segment of the built world are determined by:

– climate: contrast pipelines constructed in polar regions versus those in
desert
– geology: identifying seismic and flood zones for building design and siting
– economy: compare water treatment and delivery systems in Bangladesh
versus United Kingdom
– government structure:
– technology: the future’s smart, decentralized electrical grids versus the
past’s dumb, centralized grids
– suppliers and consumers:
– culture and fashion:
2/26/21 54
Built World Connections

positive negative
Hazards Increases capacity to deal with Damaged/destroyed/impaired by
and respond to disasters hazard events
Resources Allows extraction, processing, and Damages natural world at all
transportation of natural stages of extraction, processing,
resources, permits movement of and transportation
people and goods
Energy Allows extraction, processing, and Damages natural world at all
transportation of energy stages of extraction, processing,
resources, permits movement of and distribution/transportation
people and goods
2/26/21 55

The Intersection of Three Worlds
2/26/21 56
• the three worlds, i.e. natural,

human, and built, intersect to
form the world we live in, i.e.
the human environment
• the human environment is the
space in which humans live,
work, recreate, and eventually
die
– depending upon societal level,
the human environment at any
place on Earth can be very
different in lots of dimensions
2/26/21 57
2/26/21 58
• the three worlds also provide

the materials necessary to built
the human environment
• these resources are referred to
as capital
• capital are those assets
necessary to produce the goods
and services humanity needs
and wants
– can be physical or non-physical
2/26/21 59
• each world provides different types

of capital
• natural world
– biological capital
– Earth & mineral capital
– energy capital
• human world
– human capital
– social capital
– financial capital
– political capital
– cultural capital
• built world
– manufactured capital
– constructed capital
2/26/21 60
• the natural world is the source of much of the tangible, physical

stocks that humanity is dependent upon
• the primary categories of natural capital are:
– biological capital: world’s stock of organic natural resources and services
used by humans for production of goods and services
– Earth and mineral capital : world’s stock of materials, including metals,
minerals, sand, gravel, etc., used in construction, manufacturing, etc.:
– energy capital: global supply of extractable (non-renewable - stocks) and
harnessable (renewable - flows) primary energy sources used to power all
human activity
• most, but not all, of the capital derived from the natural world is non-
renewable
2/26/21 61
• characteristics
– can be free (ecosystem services) or commercial (commodities)
– water, air, and fertile soil are foundations of all human societies
– nonrenewable or renewable
– can be degraded, depleted, or eliminated by overuse and poor
management
2/26/21 62
• natural world
– biological capital:
• inability to appropriately economically model and price market and non-market
environmental resources
• unwillingness to pay for ecosystem services
• lack of knowledge about minimum levels or time spans required for renewable
resources to replenish or renew
• lack of knowledge about interaction and dependences between resources and
their true value, usefulness or necessity
• poor management of trans-boundary resources
• inequalities between developed and developing nations
– Earth & mineral capital:
• finite and therefore non-renewable
– energy capital:
2/26/21 63
• the human world provides society five forms of capital:

– human capital: talents, skills, knowledge, experience, abilities, experience, intelligence,
training, judgment, and wisdom possessed by an individual or population
• necessary to accomplish a give task or goal
– social capital: goodwill, fellowship, and cooperation between people that adds to
quality of life
• enhanced positively by common language, shared norms, cooperation, strong community,
civility
– financial capital: economic assets used by investors and business owners to buy what
they need to make their products or deliver their services
• debt: borrow money, i.e. capital, from lender and pay the principal back along with some
predefined amount of interest
• equity: businesses get money from individual partners, venture capitalists, or angel investors
who get some of the subsequent profits and have some say in business operations
• specialty equity: returns generating from better business management
– political capital: resources and power between politicians or parties and other
stakeholders built accumulated through relationships, trust, goodwill, and influence
– cultural capital: the knowledge, attitudes, values, language, taste, mores, and abilities
that allow an individual to succeed and advance to a higher status in a society
2/26/21 64
• built world
– manufactured capital: goods and products produced in a factory and in
moderate to large quantities
– constructed capital: buildings and infrastructure built on site and with a
design dictated by the location and environment
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2/26/21 66
The Intersection of Three Worlds: Economy
2/26/21 67
2/26/21
Summary
68
Summary: Terms
• atmosphere • ecosystem service, • infrastructure,

• biome provisioning national/international
• biosphere • ecosystem service, • infrastructure, systems
• capital supporting • lithosphere
• capital, constructed • equity • pedosphere
• capital, cultural • special equity • soil
• capital, financial • human environment • world, built
• capital, human • hydrosphere • world, human
• capital, natural • Infrastructure • world, human
• capital, political • infrastructure,
• capital, social components
• debt • infrastructure,
• ecosystem local/regional
• ecosystem service • infrastructure,
• ecosystem service, cultural national/international
2/26/21 69

The Human Environment: An Intersection of Three Worlds

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GEOL1650 - GEOL3400 - GEOL3600 - GEOL3650

The Human Environment

An Intersection of Three Worlds

• the environment humans live in results from the intersection of three

• the human environment, i.e.,

• the concept of the human environment is critical in understanding how

The Human Environment

• atmosphere: gaseous envelope surrounding the Earth

• because of unequal solar heating, there are large thermal or

• biosphere: the living (biotic) organisms naturally occurring and occupying

• biosphere consists of biotic and abiotic components that interact with

• major compositional difference between hydrosphere and biosphere is

• the billions of living organisms

• an ecosystem is a community in a geographic area consisting of living

• an ecosystem is dynamic with energy and matter entering (inputs)

• ecosystems are important to

examples of ecosystem services

relation of ecosystem services to human society

• ecosystems interact to form larger organizations known as biomes

• as with any classification scheme, there are several ways of defining

one example of classifying biomes

• biomes are not fixed in space and time

• geosphere: outermost shell of the solid Earth (crust and uppermost

Source: Tilling et al (2010)

• the geosphere is a dynamic

• freshwater is not evenly

• hydrosphere began to form nearly 4 by ago as the Earth cooled, and

2/26/21 Source: UNEP 37

• water can store lots of thermal energy

• water movement between

• pedosphere: thin interface of soil, organic matter, and weathered and

• soil is unconsolidated material at boundary between pedosphere,

• rate of soil formation is controlled by several factors

The Human Environment

• the Earth is inhabited by over 7.6 billion humans

• exchanges between individuals and institutions marked by a wide

• just like organisms in the

The Human Environment

• built world: human-made or human-modified surroundings in which

• large-scale, public infrastructure:

• characteristics of any segment of the built world are determined by:

Built World Connections

The Human Environment

• the three worlds, i.e. natural,

• the three worlds also provide

• each world provides different types

• the natural world is the source of much of the tangible, physical

• the human world provides society five forms of capital:

• atmosphere • ecosystem service, • infrastructure,

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