lv:0 r>> VM ECOLOGICAL CONDITIONS strategies and structures in environmental planning Sybrand P. TJALLINGII IBN Scientific Contributions 2 DLO Institute for Forestry and Nature Research (IBN-DLO), Wageningen 1996 l/)i\ Cv CONTENTS ii! iysi Acknowledgements 7 Preface 9 I CONTEXT 1. A personal quest 13 2. Landscape evaluation, a case study 19 Introduction 2.1 The survey 19 2.2 The Amelisweerd case 25 2.3 The Houten case 29 2.4 Use and usefulness 32 2.5 Summary and conclusions 35 3. Approaches to ecology and planning 36 Introduction 3.1 Nature's values 36 3.2 Target images of nature 39 3.3 Ecological standards 43 3.4 Ecological strategies 47 3.5 Comparing four approaches 50 3.6 Summary and conclusions 52 Intermezzo 1:Discover y in the Cherry Orchard 55 II FUNDAMENTAL ISSUES 4. Attitudes, lifestyles and images 58 Introduction 4.1 Ethics and attitudes towards nature 59 4.2 Lifestyles and good conditions 67 4.3 Images, ecology and design 78 4.4 Summary and conclusions 85 5. Objects, contexts and values 88 Introduction 5.1 Objectifying 88 5.2 The role of disciplines 95 5.3 A two-tier approach to values 106 5.4 Two-tier decision-making 115 5.5 Summary and conclusions 119 6. Risks and learning 121 Introduction 6.1 The ecocapacity debate 121 6.2 Uncertainty and learning 128 6.3 Environmental risks and social learning 137 6.4 Summary and conclusions 142 Intermezzo 2: Dilemmas on the edge 144 7. Actors and interaction in planning 149 Introduction 7.1 From knowledge to action 150 7.2 Sectoral and integral 158 7.3 Summary and conclusions 168 7.4 Concluding Part II:Tw o "languages" 169 Ill FROM STRATEGY TO PLAN 8. An Ecological Conditions Strategy 175 Introduction 8.1 Components of the strategy 176 8.2 Decision fields 181 8.3 Strategic aims 186 8.4 Summary and conclusions 195 9. Guiding models: starting with flows 196 Introduction 9.1 The central - decentral debate 197 9.2 The Sandwich Strategy 201 9.3 Guiding models for water flows 203 9.4 Summary and conclusions 213 10 Guiding models: starting with areas 214 Introduction 10.1 The Compact City debate 214 10.2 The Strategy of the Two Networks 220 10.3 A guiding model for the city 225 10.4 The Chaining Waters case 229 10.5 Summary and conclusions 231 11. The making of plans 234 Introduction 11.1 Ecology and design 234 11.2 Designing awate r system 242 11.3 The Morra Park case 256 11.4 Summary and conclusions 260 IV CONCLUSIONS 12. Good conditions 263 Samenvatting 269 Literature 284 Index 307 The present volume was also published in 1996 as a doctoral Delft University of Technology thesis. The supervisors were Prof.dr.ir. F.M. Maas and Prof.dr. A.F.K. Faludi. ISSN 1385-1586 ISBN 90-801112-3-6 ECOLOGICAL CONDITIONS / ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This book is the result of a personal quest described in the first chapter. In that chapter I mentioned a number of people who significantly contributed to my personal learning process. Here, I would like to mention those who played an essential role in the making of this book. When I started writing this book I had the opportunity to discuss a first synopsis of ideas with a larger circle of colleagues. I am greatly indebted to them for their valuable suggestions. At the Institute for Forestry and Nature Research I spoke toDr . Paul Opdam, Dr. Geert van Wirdum, Dr. Bert Higler, Drs. Arie Koster and Ir. Harry Hekhuis. At other research institutes and universities I had the opportunity for an exchange of ideas about design, planning and philosophical issues with Drs. Bram van de Klundert, Prof. Dirk Bolt and Prof. René Foqué. Design and planning aspects I discussed also with Prof. Kees Duijvestein, Prof. Taeke de Jong and Dr.Woute r Reh at the faculty of Architecture of Delft University of Technology. At the Spatial Planning Agency in The Hague I discussed planning and research issues with Dr. Jan Goedman and Ir. Jos Jonkhof. The latter joined us at the Institute for some time and we were able to combine working on practical planning projects with theoretical discussions. This combination of practice and theory also linked me with Dr. Wil Zonneveld and Ir. Huib Haccoû in planning studies and with Dr. Frans van de Ven and Ir. Govert Geldof in water planning projects. Also included in this first round of discussions were meetings with Dr.Jacque s De Smidt and Prof. Chris van Leeuwen with whom I share old experiences both in landscape research and in teaching. These discussions helped me tremendously in sorting out many experiences and ideas in various stages of writing. During the last year of my writing on this thesis Iwa s fortunate to collaborate with Dr. Frank Veeneklaas, Drs. Roland Goetgeluk, Mr. Gerard Kolkman and Ir. René Nij Bijvank in a joint project of several DLO institutes directed at innovative processes in rural development. Our fundamental discussions about methods and interdisciplinarity were highly stimulating and have influenced my thinking on these issues. For the process of editing and improving the final text I owe very much to my supervisors Prof. Frans Maas and Prof. Andreas Faludi as well as to Prof. Henk ter Heide who also took the effort of reading carefully several drafts of the manuscript. They were a constant source of stimulating suggestions and criticisms. It would not have been possible to finish this thesis without the help of my colleague Ir. Annette Augustijn and the head of my department Ir. Sjef Langeveld who created the time for me to write and who came up with valuable suggestions about the form and substance of this book in all stages of its evolution. In the final stage I was happy to acquire the assistance of Mrs. Joy Burrough - Boenisch who took up the unrewarding task of improving my "Dunglish". I am very grateful to Ir. Jos Jonkhof for his help in drawing a number of figures and to Prof. Jon Kristinsson, Ir. Dirk Sijmons and Drs.Härme n de Haas for their permission to reproduce drawings and figures. Chapman &Hal l Publishers kindly agreed to use text and figures in chapter 11. Backhuys Publishers gave me permission to reproduce figures in chapters 9 and 10. Thanks are due to Drs. Thom van Rossum for his care in producing the book, to Mrs. Mieke Pijfers forth e layout and to Ir.Ja n Verbeek for his fine drawing on the cover of the book. Finally I thank Noortje for her endurance, support and criticism. 7 To my father who kept inspiring me I O N PREFACE This book is about the making of plans and the taking of decisions, with town and country planning (also called physical planning or spatial planning here) as its central field. The central question it adresses is the role of ecology in planning, a role that is accepted but by no means undisputed. The Ecological Conditions Strategy, which is the pivot of the book, provides an answer to this central question in offering a set of motives and means, to be used as a toolkit by all actors involved in the planning process: planners, researchers from the natural, the social and the technical sciences, policy-makers, politicians, enterpreneurs and citizens. The actors concerned with creating ecological conditions face a number of awkward questions such as: "how may we combine prevention of pollution with diversity of lifestyles and economic activities"; "how may urban plans do justice to the diversity of plant and animal life"; "how may we use the natural resources of our planet in a sustainable way and how may we share these resources among the rich and the poor and between the present and the future generations." To what extent and how do these questions matter in day-to-day decision making at the local and regional level? This question poses itself in decision-making on a variety of issues, such as spatial plans, plans on environmental regulations, housing, urban design, infrastructure, rural land-use schemes, management and maintenance of public open space, green areas and water. In all these planning situations one may ask how ecological conditions can and should be made part of the decisions? Discussions about these issues are the starting pont of this book. In a nutshell this is what the Ecological Conditions Strategy is about and to whom it is addressed. Before turning to a short outline of the book I will first introduce some essential terms. ECOLOGICAL Ecological may have different meanings. Is it about endangered species of plants and animals, about human health or about survival or is it about all these aspects? In the first part of this book I will discuss different approaches to planning that use different interpretations of ecology. These approaches are related to different languages or discourses; their interpretations of ecology are linked with concepts, ideas and categorizations of planning issues. In the second part of this book I will search for basic ecological conditions that may be developed into a common frame that is both ecologically sound and capable of carrying cultural differences. This leads to a broad interpretation of ecology: the study of interactions between society and its physical environment. The planning for these interactions I will call environmental planning; here too, I adopt a broad meaning of environmental. Interactions in this context include polluting and squandering activities and, reacting to these, ecological strategies. I take the decisions of the UN conference on Environment and Development in Rio, 1992 as a general point of reference for the discussion of ecological strategies.