Ecosystem Planning in Florida

About this book

While ecosystem management requires looking beyond specific jurisdiction and focusing on broad spatial scales, most planning decisions particularly in the USA, are made at local level. By looking at land use planning in Florida, this volume recognises the need for planners and resource managers to address ecosystem problems at local and community levels.

The factors causing ecosystem decline, such as rapid urban development and habitat fragmentation occur at the local level and are generated by local land use policies. This book argues that understanding how local jurisdictions can capture and implement the principles of managing natural systems will lead to more sustainable levels of environmental planning in the future.

Contents

Preface; Ecosystem planning at the local level: an introduction;
Part 1 The Plan: Conceptualizing and Measuring Local Ecosystem Plan Quality: Analysis of the literatures and concepts underlying ecosystem management and planning; Principles of effective ecosystem management and planning; Developing a local ecosystem plan coding protocol and measurement framework; Measuring and mapping ecosystem plan quality.

Part 2 The Process: Factors Influencing Local Ecosystem Plan Quality: The fragmented landscape: biological diversity versus human disturbance; The role of biodiversity in local plan making; Collaborative environmental planning and stakeholder participation; Measuring the effects of stakeholder participation on the quality of local plans.

Part 3 Plan Implementation: Evaluating plan implementation and the controversy over 'conformity'; Does planning work? Testing the implementation of local environmental planning in Florida.

Part 4 Planning Implications and Recommendations: Recommendations for improving the process and practice of environmental planning at the local level;

Conclusion; Appendices; Bibliography; Index.

Customer Reviews

Biography

Dr Samuel Brody is Associate Professor in the Environmental Planning and Sustainability Research Unit, Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, Texas A&M University, USA.