Peter Jacobs

Using scoping as a design process

Abstract Skillful use of the scoping phase of environment assessment (EA) is critical in cases involving a wide diversity of stakeholders and perspectives. Scoping can exert a strong influence in shaping a relevant impact assessment and increasing the probability of a process that satisfies stakeholders. This article explores key challenges facing scoping processes conducted in highly pluralistic settings. Elements of a notable case study—the scoping process conducted in 1992 for the proposed Great Whale Hydroelectric project in Northern Quebec—are discussed to illustrate innovative approaches. When used as a design process, scoping can ensure that EA reflects the different value sets and cultures that are at play, particularly where diverse knowledge systems and ways of describing environmental components and impacts exist. As it sets the stage for subsequent steps in the EA process, scoping needs to be a sufficiently broad umbrella that accommodates diverse approaches to identifying, classifying, and assessing impacts.

Playing with time

Abstract The work of Bernard Lassus covers aspects of visual research, pedagogy and project design, all of which have been collected in a recent text, The Landscape Approach 2 This collection of projects and written descriptions demonstrates how the sensual landscape — light, wind, smell, touch — can be used to structure a sense of place, and how form can be built from landscape narrative. The Landscape Approach is particularly useful in understanding some of the strategies that Lassus adopts in the development of his projects, contributing important insights to practice, criticism and the teaching of design.

Ancient lands : new perspectives. Towards multi-cultural literacy in landscape management

Relationships between aboriginal and non-aboriginal peoples are being re-shaped in Canada and Australia, as in many other parts of the world through land claims and other reforms that may lead to more viable interdependence between societies and regions. These changing relationships are accompanied by new perspectives concerning landscape management and development planning that borrow from ancient traditions. Landscapes are increasingly subject to joint stewardship involving diverse interests and cultural values. Three key elements in the quest for greater cultural and environmental literacy include building integrated knowledge systems, initiating sustainable and equitable management strategies, and encouraging adaptive institutions.

Adapting environmental impact assessment to sustain the community development process

Abstract As one of a number of strategies in support of sustainable development, international agencies have increasingly and forcefully advocated the use of environmental impact assessment studies (EIA) for projects that they sponsor in the Third World. The philosophy and many of the techniques and processes associated with EIA, however, reflect social, technological, political and economic forces in the industrialised world that contrast sharply with the development context in many Third World countries. Significant modifications in the traditional standards, approaches, methods and legislation are required to ensure that EIA offers an appropriate aid to environmental management and decision making. This is particularly so in areas where governments seek to apply standards that are consistent with the formal sector to communities that are essentially the product of ongoing informal development processes. This paper focuses on the feasibility of adapting EIA procedures as a strategy to improve the regularisation process in Trinidad and Tobago, where the government has recently enacted environmental legislation that includes provision for impact assessment. Critical issues in developing regularisation schemes include the urgency of resolving particularly serious environmental problems, unrealistic standards, insufficient data, a lack of co-ordination among government agencies, some of whom are reluctant to accommodate special needs and the need to rely on the resources, skills and willingness of local residents to implement change. Within this context, inappropriate approaches to the impact assessment of community housing projects or programmes may, in fact, be counter-productive. Overly explicit and rigid standards and regulations may well serve as barriers to self-help housing and independent community action. When the sense of independence among informal actors is curtailed, there is an almost total reliance on government initiative. It is postulated that strategies that are flexible, process oriented and which assess the needs and capacity of the community for change are required. Once needs have been expressed and the capacity for change assessed, realistic standards and goals can be set and monitored over the course of the development process. EIA provides many tools and procedures that can be adapted to support this process. The paper concludes with a discussion of the need for a balanced approach to environmental management that may be applied in support of both informal and formal community development sectors.

Where have all the flowers gone

Aldo Leopolds unique vision joined science and art as essential partners in achieving the viable and equitable use of landscape. If, as Leopold argues, beauty is an essential component of our “love, respect, and admiration of the land”, both quantitative and qualitative research that relate to the sensory, experiential and aesthetic components of landscape should be featured more prominently in the future pages of the journal as should examples of action research, management and design that support these components.

Sustaining landscapes: sustaining societies

Abstract The concept of sustainable development provides a basic goal for effective landscape planning. A case study of encroaching development near the mouth of the Northwest Passage, inhabited by the Inuit of northern Canada, shows the challenges inherent in the search for this type of development. This case required a complex exploration of the interrelationships between two societies and their dependence on different natural resources.

Landscape prospects of the next millennium

Abstract The shape and health of the landscape legacy that we have inherited and that we will pass on to future generations is a subject of critical concern. In imagining the landscapes of the next millennium, we have chosen not to construct a set of possible future scenarios nor to predict emerging catastrophes nor idyllic arcadias. Rather, we ask a few questions as to how we might reinvest the landscape with meanings that extend beyond the strictly utilitarian to embrace the poetic nature of the landscape. We are concerned with the need to develop imaginative strategies to manage the continuing urbanization of the landscapes of the third planet from the sun. We are concerned as well with the loss of the ‘public landscape’, the sense of shared places and purposes that build convivial communities. These are only a few of the many issues that need to be addressed, if the nature of landscape architecture and other allied practices concerned with the maintenance and management of our landscape is to remain relevant in the next century.

George Angus Hills: A Canadian tribute

Abstract In this issue of ‘Landscape Planning’, a special tribute is accorded G. Angus Hills, a member of the Board of Editors of ‘Landscape Planning’ and for many years a pioneer in the classification of landscape for its ecological potential. At its 1978 annual congress, the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects presented G. Angus Hills with a certificate as an Honorary Member of the Society. This award was based on the recognition of consistently high level of scientific achievement throughout a long career as well as a clear recognition that his work was, and continues to be, central to the development of landscape planning in Canada.

A sustainable society through sustainable development: Towards a regional development strategy for Northern Quebec

Abstract In the Kativik region of Northern Quebec there is a need to support the growth of the culture and values of the indigenous population, to satisfy the basic human needs of all residents in the region, and to contribute to an increased quality of life through the provision of economic opportunities for growth and development. The proposed Kativik regional strategy emphasizes the need to achieve sustainable development — the development of living resources that does not exceed their capacity to reproduce. As such, the strategy is consistent with the principles and objectives of the World Conservation Strategy and those contained in the resolutions of the Inuit Circumpolar Conferences on subsistance rights, environmental policy and economic development. The Inuit Circumpolar Conference was established in 1978 and includes native people from Alaska, the Northwest Territories of Canada, Greenland and the Scandinavian Countries. Delegates meet tri-annually to discuss issues of common concern. In order to achieve sustainable development and thus a sustainable society in the North, environment, settlement and development must be integrated into a common framework. The key components of this strategic framework that will require careful analysis and then policy and program proposals include those listed below. • - Managing information and knowledge in a manner consistent with the principles developed in the on-going Inuit Harvest Research project in the Kativik region. The Harvest Research Study is a project designed to monitor and assess the wildlife harvest by the Inuit of Northern Quebec. The project is run by the Inuit themselves and supported by an Inuit corporation. • - Conserving and harvesting wildlife in a manner consistent with the wildlife management principles established by Anguvigaq Wildlife Commission. The Anguvigaq Wildlife Commission is a component of the Kativik regional administration — a regional body established as a result of the “James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement” — that supports and regulates hunting, fishing and trapping in Northern Quebec. • - Protecting fragile ecosystems in a manner consistent with the principles of the World Conservation Strategy and the Inuit Circumpolar Conference. • - Providing opportunities for economic growth in a manner consistent with the principles of large-scale development adopted by the Makivik Corporation. The Makivik Corporation is wholly owned by the Inuit of Northern Quebec. Established as a result of the “James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement”, the Corporation receives and manages the compensation funds derived from the agreement on behalf of all Inuit. • - Organizing the community and improving the quality of life in a manner consistent with all the principles outlined above.

Beyond parks: Stages in the innovation and re-creation of the city of Montreal

Abstract The pattern of human settlement in Canada has shifted from an agrarian to an urban base within the 111 years since Canadian Confederation. In the process, the relationship between social philosophy and built form is increasingly incongruent. The concept of the urban park is one of many innovative examples of nineteenth century social philosophy that re-created, as built form, the image and use of the city. This paper argues that the impact of the urbanization in Canada towards the latter part of the twentieth century coupled with major shifts in attitude towards urban life styles are only superficially congruent with the nineteenth century parks movement and the city beautiful movement that followed. The need to establish built models of urban form congruent with current social philosophy will focus on process-oriented and participatory strategies for repatriating an entirely different heritage from the nineteenth century, the network of public urban space referred to as streets. Insofar as this network is seen as a continuous, non-segregative element of the urban milieu, it has enormous potential as a means of organizing and supporting a variety of social interactions in the city.