Environmental planning
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Environmental planning is a relatively new field of study that aims to merge the practice of urban planning with the concerns of environmentalism. Essentially speaking, while urban planners have traditionally factored in economic development, transportation, sanitation, and other services into their decisions, environmental planners add environmental (social, ecological & economic) outcomes as important factors in the decision-making process. What exactly constitutes the "environment", however, is somewhat open to debate among these practitioners, as is the exact scope of the intended environmental benefits. Chief concerns among environmental planners include the encouragement of sustainable development, green building technologies, and the preservation of environmentally sensitive areas.
In the United States, for any project, environmental planners deal with a full range of environmental regulations from federal to state and city levels. A rigorous environmental process has to be undertaken to examine the impacts and possible mitigation of any construction project. The environmental assessments encompass areas such as land use, socioeconomics, transportation, economic and housing characteristics, air, noise, wetlands, endangered species, flood zones, coastal zones, visual studies among others. Depending on the scale and impact of the project, a full-blown environmental review is known as an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), and the less extensive version is Environmental Assessment (EA). Procedures follow guidelines from National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), State Environmental Quality Review Act(SEQRA) and/or City Environmental Quality Review (CEQR) and other related federal or state agencies published regulations.
[edit] See also
Subjects
- Air quality
- Biogeochemistry
- Ecology
- Environmental design
- Environmental studies
- List of environmental issues
- List of environmental organizations
- Environmental noise
- Sustainable habitat
- The Merton Rule
- Timeline of environmental events
- Urban planning
- Landscape planning
- Urban design
- Water Quality
- Category:Environmental organizations
Cities
- Curitiba - a Brazilian city noted for its innovative public transit system and environmental planning.
- New York City - considered by many to be the most sustainable U.S. city with a population greater than one million because of its unique land use.
- Reykjavík - the capital of Iceland known for its use of geothermal power.
[edit] References
| Environmental science |
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| Atmospheric sciences | Ecology | Geosciences | Soil science| Hydrology | |
| Related fields: Biology | Chemistry | Environmental design | Environmental economics | Environmental ethics | Environmental law | Physics | |
| Environmental technology |
