Incorporating ecological sustainability into landscape planning

Implementing ecological networks through the Red for Green approach in a densely populated country: Does it work?

“…Such a perspective aims to envision mutual benefits between economic developments and nature conservation goals. As argued by planning scholars, such mutual benefits can be ensured only if decisions regarding land-use transformations of natural landscapes into urbanized areas are based on knowledge about the impact of these transformations on natural habitats (Theobald et al 2000;Berkes et al 2003;Opdam et al 2002;Termorshuizen et al 2007). Moreover, practices have shown that, even if available, ecological knowledge is often not shared among planners or decision makers during the planning process (Mcelfish and Kihslinger 2009).…”

“…Moreover, practices have shown that, even if available, ecological knowledge is often not shared among planners or decision makers during the planning process (Mcelfish and Kihslinger 2009). In this regard, improvement in these traditional planning practices has been considered necessary to address the increasing societal needs in urban development and the competing claims for land uses by different sectors, including for green areas and nature (Berkes et al 2003;Termorshuizen et al 2007;Shandas et al 2008;Beatley 2010;CEC 2013). Such transformation, as justified by planning scholars, would ideally focus on involving multiple stakeholders such as planning authorities, private actors or local communities in order to resolve differences in interests in a collaborative manner (Innes and Booher 2003;Healey 2006;Nadin and Stead 2008).…”

“…This challenge is aggravated particularly in densely populated areas where pressure from urban land-use developments is high. Moreover, in many countries, the institutional arrangements to implement the ecological network strategy are not explicit regarding the responsibilities and competences of different governmental agencies and stakeholders with regard to ensuring proper nature conservation in spatial plans (Termorshuizen et al 2007;Shandas et al 2008;Termorshuisen and Opdam 2009;Beunen and Duineveld 2010;Beatley 2010).…”

Learning science from practice

“…Several analyses showed that available knowledge was not used in local landscape planning (Termorshuizen et al 2007) and in managing conservation sites (Pullin et al 2004). Although insufficient accessibility of knowledge to practitioners is undoubtedly one of the causes, more fundamental causes exist (Yli-Pelkonen and Niemelä 2006).…”

“…Several papers proposed to build bridges between landscape ecology and landscape planning (Opdam et al 2002;Leitão and Ahern 2002;Termorshuizen et al 2007) and between landscape ecology and sustainable development (Potschin and Haines-Young 2006;Wu 2006;Naveh 2007;Opdam 2007;Gardner et al 2008;Termorshuizen and Opdam 2009;Mussachio 2009;Wu 2010). In these papers a common theme is the need to integrating knowledge, both within landscape ecology to converge different lines of research and between landscape ecology and other scientific disciplines, including social and economic sciences.…”