UNITY UNIVERSITY

 
DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN PLANNING
 
INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING AND ECOLOGY
Part I. Introduction to environment and environmental
sciences

What is environment?
Environment is the surroundings or conditions in which
a person animal or plant lives or operates
The natural world as a whole or in a particular
geographical area especially as affected by human
activity.
“Every thing around us”
 Environment contd……..

Others defines environment as a sum total of all

the living and non living elements and their
effects that influence human life.
Note that: while all living or Biotic elements are animals
plants forests fisheries and birds, non living or Abiotic
elements include water, land sun light rocks and air
 Types of environment

Different experts on this field of study classify

environment according to their purpose and
perception but with some how the same idea.
So based on the components some experts classify it in
to;
1. Aquatic environment (marine such as oceans, seas, and fresh
water such as lakes rivers)
2. Terrestrial, environment (land)
3. atmospheric environment (air) and
4. Biosphere the living and non living organism, man, Plant…
 Environment as a resource

Our environment is composed two principal

types of resources
1. Renewable resources
-resources which are never exhausted or depleted with their
continuous use; like water, land etc
2. Non Renewable resources
- Resources which get exhausted with their continuous use, like
coal, petrol etc
 Environment and human interaction

The difference between man and the

environment.
-Humans have power to alter and modify the environment to
their own determination.
-Man as finisher of the creation can brought order in to nature
and shape it into his desired wills. However, the physical
environment (nature/land) can directly limits dictate and
control humans activities upon it
 Environment and human interaction contd..

How ever nature and environment provide

essential goods and services for human
development
Human well being and quality of life depend
crucially on the quantity and quality of food ,
water, energy and biodiversity available to
man
 Environment and human interaction contd..

Three types of human environment interaction

1. The way people depend on the environment for food, water,
wood, natural gas..
2. The way people adapt the environment to fulfill their own
needs
3. The way people modify the environment positively or
negatively like drilling holes building dams
In other terms these interactions can be grouped in to the use
of resources and the production of wastes
 Environmental science

What is environmental science?

Environmental science refers to a grouping of
scientific disciplines that are all concerned
with the physical, chemical, and biological
characteristics of the surroundings in which an
organism lives.
 Environmental science ..contd

It can also be described as scientific study of,

How,
• Nature works?
• The Interaction of different components?
• How we affect our environment?
In other words it can be considered as interdisciplinary
field focusing on;
• Humanity
• Philosophy ,ethics, biology chemistry……
 Environmental science contd..

According to some other experts environmental

science is explained as; an interdisciplinary
academic field that draws on ecology, geology,
meteorology, biology, chemistry engineering
and physics to study environmental problems
and human impacts on the environment.
 Environmental science contd…

The focus of environmental science is on;

The interactions between the solid earth, its
water, its air, and the living organism, and on
the dynamic interdependent relationships
between these four components
 Major fields of environmental science

There are five major fields of environmental

science and (each one made of multiple
smaller disciplines) these are;
-atmospheric sciences
-ecology
-environmental chemistry
-geo-sciences
-and social sciences
 Environmental principles

According to some experts on the subject matter; there

are seven environmental principles;
1.Maintain diversity and redundancy
2.Manage connectivity
3.Manage slow variables and feed backs
4.Foster complex adaptive systems thinking
5.Encourage learning
6.Broaden participation
7.Promote polycentric governance systems
 Part II Ecosystem and ecology

What is ecology?
The word ecology was coined from the Greek
word “oikos” meaning house or a place to
liveto designate the study of organism in their
natural homes. And it means the study of
interaction of organisms with one another and
with the physical and chemical environment
the term “logy” means to study.
 What is ecology? Contd…

Ecology is the study of organisms and how they

interact with the environment around them

An ecologist studies the relationship between

living things and their habitats.
 What is ecology? contd

Ecology is the study of the relationship between

living organisms including humans and their
physical environment.
It considerers organisms at the individual,
population, community ecosystem, and
biosphere level.
 What is ecology? Contd..

The branches of ecology;

• Autecology ; which Is an ecology of individual
species /species ecology/
• Synecology; which ia an ecology of a
population or a community with one or more
species and also called as community ecology
 What is ecology? Contd..

The four laws of ecology;

- Every thing is connected to every thing else
- Every thing must go somewhere
- Nature knows best
- No such thing as free lunch
 Human ecology….contd

It is the study of the interactions between

human and non human nature in different
cultures.
It incorporates ideas from several disciplines like
anthropology, sociology biology, history….
 Human ecology contd…

Human ecological study is very important as it

tries to discover the causes of pathological
interactions between humans and the
environment that sustains them and all other
soicies.
 Human ecology contd…

The four aspects of human ecology

- Population; need food water shelter…
- Environment; lives in different environment
- Technology; different technological levels
- Social organization; with different social org.
 Human ecology contd…

Types of human ecology

- Urban morphology
It refers to the study of urban forms and of the agents and
processes responsible for their transformation over time.
- Landscape ecology
It refers to the study of the interaction between temporal and
spatial aspects of a landscape and the organism with in it
Ex. Building a dam to flood an area
clearing a forest for expansion of towns
 Urban ecology…..

• The concept of urban ecology

It is the study of the relationships of human and non
human organisms in urban areas
It expresses the interaction of these organisms with the
native and built physical environnmenet and the
effects of these relationships on the fluxes of energy,
materials, and information within individual urban
systems and between urban areas
 Urban ecology

Urban ecology defined;

It is the scientific study of the relationship of
living organism with each other and their
surroundings in the context of an urban
environment.
Urban ecology is very important as it can
promote resilient and sustainable urban
spaces where humans and nature coexist
 Urban ecology….

The emergence of the idea of urban ecology

Urban ecology emerged as a sub discipline of
ecology in the early 70s due to
- The growing of size of human settlements
resulted in serious environmental problems
- Human impacts were becoming documented
 Urban ecology…

Urban ecology is very important as it can

promote resilient and sustainable urban
spaces where humans and nature coexist;
And this if and only if “integrated in the right
way ‘”
In this case it can help decreasing air and water
pollution while enabling new ways of food
production, transportation and housing
 Urban ecology…

The three key subsystems of urban ecology

- The social subsystem; the society

- The economic sub system; economic activities

- And the natural subsystem, biotic, Abiotic

 Urban ecology

The five principles of urban ecology

- Cities are ecosystems
- They are heterogeneous
- They are dynamic
- Their human and biophysical components
interact
- Biophysical process remain important in them
 Urban ecology

The problems of urban ecology

Drinking water supply, energy supply, drainage,
waste disposal pollution, land use change,
mitigation of natural disaster and
Mainly; protecting the integrity of
ecosystems
 The eco system

• What is it?
A system by which the living organisms and their
environment interacting in a certain area
http://study.com

An ecosystem is a geographic area where plants, animals and

other organisms as well as weather and landscape work to
gather to form a bubble of life
http://www.natinalgeographic.com
 The eco system….

Some examples of ecosystem

• Agro ecosystem
• Aquatic ecosystem
• Coral reef ecosystem
• Desert ecosystem
• Forest ecosystem
• Urban ecosystem……
 The eco system

Composition of the urban ecosystem

The urban ecosystem is composed of
-biological components /plants, animals…
-physical components / soil, water, air, climate
Interacting with one another
But the urban ecosystem is a hybrid natural and
man made elements their interaction affected
by culture, politics economy etc…
 The eco system….

The function of the ecosystem

• It regulates the essential ecological process
• Supports life systems
• And renders stability
• It is also responsible for the recycling of
nutrients between biotic and a biotic
components
 The eco system..

Urban ecosystem can also provide critical

habitat to many migratory species
Public parks
Urban gardens
Green areas
Urban forests……
 The eco system….

How can urban ecology be improved?

- Responsible water use
- Plant and maintain urban forests, parks ..etc
- Prevent erosion and sedimentation
- Develop sustainable landscapes at public
places, businesses, and homes among others
 References
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