What capacity the land?

Excerpt

IN 1969, Ian McHarg ended his seminal work Design with Nature (12) with the following: “In the quest for survival, success, and fulfillment, the ecological view offers an invaluable insight. It shows the way for the man who would be the enzyme of the biosphere—its steward, enhancing the creative fit of man-environment, realizing man's design with nature”.

For planners, and many other disciplines, this work signified the beginning of a new era. With increased public support; with the development of such new planning methods (as land capability analysis); and with the passage of environmental laws governing impact assessment, water quality, air quality, resource management, and waste regulation, societies moved into what has been called the “environmental era.”

In the nearly quarter century since Design with Nature was published, environmental planning has not only been accepted but has flourished in many societies. We are now moving into another “generation,” a next iteration of ideas focused on improving human-environment relations. I say next generation because environmental planning and management to this point have been identified primarily with compliance standards-compliance with water standards, compliance with air standards, compliance with resource standards, and waste …