tailieunhanh - Perlman - Practical Ecology for Planners, Developers and Citizens - Chapter 11

11 Principles in Practice Gestalt is a German word meaning “a unified whole . . . that cannot be derived from the summation of its component parts.”1 This word could describe the challenge facing planners and designers who seek to incorporate the lessons of ecology into their work. | 11 Principles in Practice Gestalt is a German word meaning a unified whole . . . that cannot be derived from the summation of its component parts. 1 This word could describe the challenge facing planners and designers who seek to incorporate the lessons of ecology into their work. As we hope this book has indicated ecologically based planning cannot be reduced to a recipe there are few definitive answers and many uncertainties solutions must be site specific yet context sensitive and planners and designers must balance ecological factors against a plan s other often competing objectives. From designers of the land the world demands integrated ecologically based solutions. For planners in the mid-twentieth century the term gestalt connoted the practice of classifying land and deriving solutions from intuitive gut feelings. This gestalt method of planning which relies heavily on individual judgment has largely been replaced by more empirical planning processes in which factual data public input and a clear decision-making methodology ideally lead to more rational planning This more systematic approach is essential for ecologically based planning because so many ecological factors are relevant to planning and development activities it is important to be clear about which of these factors are being addressed how and why. Intuition and intelligent synthesis are still important but they follow and build upon ecological analysis. Therefore let us begin by reviewing the key ecological lessons of this book as shown in Box 11-1 before moving on to the planning exercise. 218 APPLICATIONS Box 11-1 What We Can Learn by Listening to Ecology Ecosystems usually behave according to certain general patterns but chance plays a large role too. Ecological communities and ecosystems are exceedingly complex and our understanding of them is incomplete. The context and history of a site or study area play critical roles in determining its ecological form and function. Native .