An ecological approach to land-use planning is essential to maintain the long-term
sustainability of ecosystem benefits, services, and resources. Concern about
environmental quality and the long-term livability of urban areas is now a driving force
in urban planning and design. The interrelated issues of growth management, smart
growth, sustainable development, and new urbanism are topics in the most vibrant
discussions at all levels of planning and landscape architecture. Within this context, this
study starts from the interest in the ecological planning and management in urban areas,
especially related to the issue of local development regulation and guidelines. Landscape
regulations have come into existence recently in communities across the nation and these
regulations vary from one region to another and from one community to another.
The aims of this study were to investigate the relationship between ecological
landscape structure and local development regulations over time. Comparison analysis
was conducted between two areas that had similar pre-development ecological
conditions but were developed under vastly different regulatory environments. The
Woodlands (regulated to protect ecological condition) and the North Houston area
(which followed traditional subdivision regulations) were examined at three different
developmental time periods: predevelopment, early development (after 10 years), and
matured development (after 30 years). Aerial photos of each site from the three time
periods were classified into forested and non-forested classes and the landscape structure
was quantified with a number of landscape metrics related to fragmentation??an
indicator of habitat degradation. Two factors, the ecological approach to landscape
planning and the adoption of more restrictive landscape regulations and guidelines, are
discussed on the premise that they exert influence in developing and maintaining the
long-term sustainability of ecosystems.
In conclusion, this study provides the quantified landscape configuration and
composition of the effects of development regulations on landscape structure. The
ecologically planned community shows a less fragmented forest pattern and more
restrictive development guidelines result in more ecologically structured environments.
Understanding how elements of local development regulations affect ecological
landscape patterns is important for landscape architects, planners, and administrators
because it can lead to better strategies for planning and designing sustainable
communities.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/2403 |
| Date | 29 August 2005 |
| Creators | Kim, Jin Ki |
| Contributors | Ellis, Christopher D. |
| Publisher | Texas A&M University |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Dissertation, text |
| Format | 8474749 bytes, electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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