What is environmental planning?

Abstract

Traditionally, Australian urban planning has tended to shun its connections with the so-called ‘natural world’. Urban planning and, to some extent, regional planning have been plagued by the long-standing belief that cities and humans are somehow separated from, or outside of, the natural world. Not surprisingly, Australian cities are now among the most energy-intensive, carbon-polluting and water-consumptive settlements on Earth. Recently though, Australians from all walks of life have begun to realise that the nation’s cities cannot sustain the type of growth they have experienced since the mid-twentieth century. Dwindling water supplies, failing food bowls, increased energy costs, more severe impacts from environmental disruptions (e.g. bushfires, severe storms, flooding, coastal erosion), rising transport expenses, housing shortages and environmental pollution are daily news headlines. It seems that if we continue as we have in the past, Australia’s cities will reach their socio-ecological limits. Worryingly, land use planners and other urban professionals appear to be ill-equipped to cope with these challenges. But there is hope.