INTRODUCTION TO

ENVIRONMENTAL
PLANNING
REPORTERS:

SEVILLA, AINEY
CAPISONDA, DONNATELLA
ANGEL, MA. LORINA
ATIENZA, APRIL ANN
ELMIDO, PAU
VILLAOS, BOHN
BLANCA, PINKY
Environmental
Planning
is deciding how to use natural resources, financial capital,
and people to achieve and maintain in high quality of life.

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.

is the process of evaluating how social, political,

economic, and governing factors affect the natural
environment when considering development.
The environment is made
up of three main land
uses:
1. Natural areas that provide environmental
services, including wildlife habitats, wetlands,
water supplies, most coastal and riparian regions,
national and state parks, and wilderness areas;
natural areas that also contain lands that pose
environmental constraints, such as natural
hazards, including floodplains and landslide
areas;
The environment is made
up of three main land
uses:

2. Working landscapes, including farms,

rangelands, forests, mines, and recreation areas,
that provide jobs and contribute to the health of
rural economies; and
The environment is made
up of three main land
uses:
3. Built environments of cities, suburbs, and
towns that involve the design, siting, and type of
buildings, transportation systems, sewer and
water facilities, and public spaces and parklands.

How these three land uses interact with one

another will affect a community's appearance,
size, functioning, and environmental quality.
Deciding how, when, and where these land uses
should or should not change is the primary
challenge of environmental planning.
·Environmental plan expresses the goals and objectives of a society
that will guide the allocation of functions within the land-use
system to produce a desired future state.

·A plan can be thought of as a blueprint for the future. It presents

general goals and objectives of the community and blends them
with specific policy recommendations developed with the single
purpose of moving the community closer to some desired future.

·Typically, time is expressed in a plan using increments of 10 to 25

years and sometimes longer. However, in all cases, the expectation
implied in a plan is that the goals expressed within it will be
realized gradually over this time horizon.

·The ultimate rule of environmental planning is to ensure

sustainability in respect to any development needed for human
being so that alongside providing resources to the present
generation, the carrying capacity of resources be kept in reserve for
fulfilling the need of future generation.
Issues of Environmental concerns:

·The environment is both a scientific entity and a

cultural concept.

·Different environmentalimpacts broadly link the

growth of human population and its associated
settlements and economics with the quality of air
earth and water and the effects of urban and
industrial waste products on various receptor.
·• It has often been stated that the essential
characteristics of a plan are that it is comprehensive,
general, and long range.

• The term "comprehensive" suggests that, to be

useful, a plan should encompass all geographical parts
of the community and all functional elements that
influence physical development. If the plan is not
complete in its characterization of the planning area,
and if certain critical features are omitted from
consideration, it will not provide the guidance or
detail needed to direct change. A partial plan has
limited value given the connectedness that defines the
planning area, its environment, and the complexities
that describe human interaction within this mix.
• Similarly, the term "general" implies that, to be
effective, a plan should summarize policies and
proposals, but not provide specific locations or
detailed regulations. If a plan introduces too specific
design it leaves little room to adapt to changes that
may result over the time horizon. By maintaining a
more generalized posture, recommendations can
suggest specific changes that policy-makers can
enforce through existing laws and regulations, or
identify gaps where new laws or regulations may be re­
quired.
• Finally, the concept of a long range directs the plan
and all involved in its creation to look beyond the
foreground of pressing current issues and consider
instead the problems and possibilities 10, 20, 30 years
into the future. Long-range thinking directs focus on
proactive decision ­m aking. A plan that does not
assume a proactive stance provides little guidance to
those who must decide on the allocation and
distribution of scarce resources, or to those concerned
with management of a sustainable land-use/
environmental system.
Basic elements of a plan

• Land use
• Transportation & Circulation
• Natural resources
• Public safety - Natural hazards
• Conservation and open space
• Environmental quality
• Housing
• Community facilities
• Utilities

Regardless of contents, certain analytical inputs

are common to all elements that comprise a plan,
and these guide its physical development.
While plans will vary in content and format, certain elements are common and form the
main characteristics of a plan and its focus.

These fundamental topics of

interest and concern include:
– Land use

describing the current characteristics of the land-use

system, future conditions that may arise, together with
policies and programs directed at specific land-use issues
or development goals.

– Transportation and circulation

explaining the existing road network, traffic conditions,

and anticipated future conditions with policies and
programs designed to address specific transportation
needs and goals.
 These fundamental topics of
interest and concern include:
– Public safety

characterizing natural and human-made hazards including

geology, floods, hazardous materials, wildfires, and other
potential sources of risk within the planning area, along
with policies and programs designed to reduce human
injury, loss of life, property damage, and socio ­e conomic
dislocations due to these events.
 These fundamental topics of
interest and concern include:
– Conservation

describes existing natural resources within the planning

area and presents goals and policies designed to enhance
the conservation and management of natural resources and
open space, the preservation and production of resources,
the promotion of outdoor recreation, and the protection of
public health and safety.
 These fundamental topics of
interest and concern include:
– Environmental quality

discussing pollution factors and concerns such as those

affecting noise, air, water, and soil with specific reference
to existing pollution levels, comparison to standards,
identification of sensitive receptors, and goals, policies,
and programs targeted at major environmental quality
issues.

– Other elements may also be found in a plan, including

sections devoted to the analysis and assessment of
housing, education, or public facilities.
Elements
Environmental planning concerns itself with the
decision making processes where they are
required for managing relationships that exist
within and between natural systems and human
systems. Environmental planning endeavors to
manage these processes in an effective, orderly,
transparent and equitable manner for the benefit
of all constituents within such systems for the
present and for the future. Present day
environmental planning practices are the result
of continuous refinement and expansion of the
scope of such decision making processes.
Some of the main elements of present-day
environmental planning are:

• Social and economic development

• Urban development
• Regional development

• Natural resource management & integrated land use

• Infrastructure systems
• Governance frameworks
The environmental planning assessments
encompass areas such as land use,
socio-economics, transportation, economic and
housing characteristics, air pollution,
noise pollution, the wetlands, habitat of the
endangered species, flood zones susceptibility,
coastal zones erosion, and visual studies among
others, and is referred to as an Integrated
environmental planning assessment.[2] It is the
ability to analyze environmental issues that will
facilitate critical decision making.
Many environmental planning actions currently
revolve around the reduction of emissions and
material reuse, not adaptations in order to lessen
future climate change impacts.[3] This is most
frequently seen as a result of the difficulty of
predicting the long term effects of climate
change. Climate action is very complex in nature
and the timeline of emissions mitigation is
unpredictable. However, as an alternative to
avoiding adaptation, several cities in the US
have taken an "anticipatory governance"
approach. This method intends to explore the
uncertainty surrounding the impacts of climate
change specific to their communities in order to
include adaptation in their environmental
planning.
Thank you
for
listening!