Patricia Manuel

A framework for planning sustainable residential landscapes

Abstract The authors present a normative vision and planning framework for protecting landscapes and ecosystems. They suggest that good planning of residential environments requires that planners re-examine priorities and regulations from the point of view of sustaining landscape processes and functions. The health and prosperity of communities over the long term depends upon natural processes and landscape function. Without a healthy environment, human communities face uncertain futures. Planning to sustain landscapes implies not only a new philosophy but also different land-use practices within communities.

CULTURAL PERCEPTIONS OF SMALL URBAN WETLANDS: CASES FROM THE HALIFAX REGIONAL MUNICIPALITY, NOVA SCOTIA, CANADA

Urban wetlands, despite their imperfections, provide natural and aesthetic landscape diversity in the built environment. We are beginning to understand and document the ecological significance of this diversity and the management challenges presented by the urban context. The cultural significance of urban wetlands has not received similar attention. The reserch presented in this paper explores the relationship between people and wetlands in local neighborhood settings. We surveyed residents of three urban communities in the Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, Canada for their knowledge about and perceptions of a small wetland in each of their respective neighborhoods. Results of the survey show that the study participants are aware of the wetlands in their midst but are not especially observant of or knowledgeable about ‘their’ sites, nor do they visit their wetlands regularly. Yet, despite this apparent disinterest, they readily identify the wetlands as part of their neighborhoods and as assets, especially as natural features and habitat for urban wildlife. The study participants do not consider these neighborhood wetlands nuisance environments or a waste of land. Instead, respondents revealed an appreciation of the aesthetic attributes and habitat value of wetlands in the eity and of urban natural spaces.

Using a Peer Resource Learning Model in Planning Education

A studio-based approach to planning education provides opportunities for employing a peer resource model whereby students facilitate each others learning. This paper describes the experience of coordinating undergraduate studio classes from different levels of study as students worked on a series of related projects. The authors suggest that a peer resource model of education empowers students with confidence in their own experience and growing expertise. Peer resource learning demonstrates the potential of collaborative initiatives while providing a model of the professional work environment.

Occupied with Ponds: Exploring the Meaning, Bewaring the Loss for Kids and Communities of Nature's Small Spaces

Abstract Wild nature occupies an increasingly smaller space in urban and suburban neighborhoods. The demise of urban wild I and is unfortunate because wild spaces offer a nature experience not replicated by cultivated environments. Including wild nature in our home places is essential if we wish to support environmental citizenship and the human habitat diversity needed for individual and community health and well‐being. As an environmental planner I have observed many instances of people enjoying and celebrating the small green and blue wild spaces in their midst. Unfortunately, modern planning and development practice, including ecologically‐based planning practice, are not effectively protecting or respecting wild nature at the neighbourhood scale. It appears the scale may be too intimate and individualistic for the more generalized approach used in community planning. Occupational science offers a different window through which to view small urban wildlands. Occupational science provides an humanistic interpretation that suggests small wild spaces support accessible, meaningful, nature‐based occupations rooted in our neighbourhoods. Such practical occupation‐based interpretation provides an articulation of ‘meaning’ and ‘purpose’ not easily accommodated or accounted for in community planning and design. Exploring the meaning and significance of small neighbourhood wetlands illustrates the richness of being occupied with ponds. The exploration invites reflection on the significance of loss as these special places are rapidly disappearing from our urban landscapes.

Policy-maker Perspectives on Youth Health and the Built Environment: Focus Groups with Atlantic Canadian Planners

Abstract As obesity rates have climbed, the planning literature has identified possible connections between health and the built environment. This paper reports on the results of focus group discussions with planners and policy-members in Atlantic Canada, a region with high youth obesity rates. Planner participants showed limited knowledge of the way that planning and zoning policies could affect healthy eating options for youth. They believed that the built environment affected mobility outcomes but commonly attributed obesity to lifestyle choices. The research identifies the need for greater communication and collaboration amongst different government departments and levels to increase understanding of potential links between the built environment and health outcomes for youth.

Integrated Community Sustainability Planning in Atlantic Canada: Green-Washing an Infrastructure Agenda

In 2005 the Canadian federal government initiated a New Deal for Cities and Communities. The program, which involved bilateral agreements with provincial governments, promised substantial funding to municipalities to promote integrated community sustainability through capacity building and infrastructure renewal. We evaluate the content of sustainability plans and the processes that produced them in one region: Atlantic Canada. The findings suggest that although the state mandate and funding resources produced a large number of sustainability plans, changing national political priorities and local desperation for economic and population growth undermined the program’s initial commitment to and potential for environmental and social sustainability.