Build Environment Land Use

Built Environment- The manmade surroundings that provide the setting for human
activity, ranging from the large-scale civic surroundings to the personal places.
Land use is the human use of land. Land use involves the management and
modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as
settlements and semi-natural habitats such as arable fields, pastures, and managed
woods.
Humanly made, arranged or maintained to fulfill human purpose needs, wants and
values to mediate to overall environment with results that affect the environmental
context.
Environmental Design- The science of understanding and shaping our environment
through renewed awareness of ecology and its study of the interactions of organisms and
their environments. The applied disciplines (e.g. the design and planning fields) are
combining into a general field of Environmental Design.
A land-use conflict occurs when there are conflicting views on land-use policies, such
as when an increasing population creates competitive demands for the use of the land,
causing a negative impact on other land uses nearby.
Land-use planning- is the general term used for a branch of urban planning
encompassing various disciplines which seek to order and regulate land use in an
efficient and ethical way, thus preventing land-use conflicts. Governments use landuse planning to manage the development of land within their jurisdictions.
COMPONENTS OF THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

PRODUCTS- Materials and products, generally created to extend human

capacity to perform specific task: tools (pen and pencils, hammer and saw)

INTERIORS- A space defined by an arranged grouping of products and within the

walls of a structure, generally created to enhance activities and mediate external
factors (living room, work rooms, public assembly halls and stadiums)

STRUCTURES- A planned grouping of spaces defined by and constructed of

products, generally combining related activities into composite structures
(housing, school, office building, mosque, factories, highways, bridges,
tunnels, etc.) Generally, structures have dual internal spaces and external form
characteristics.

LANDSCAPES- Exterior spaces and or setting for planned grouping of structures

and spaces (courtyard, malls, parks, landscapes, sites for home and other
structures, farm, countryside, national forest)

CITIES- Grouping of structures or landscape of varying sizes and complexities,

generally clustered together to define a community for economic, social ,
cultural and environmental reasons (Subdivisions, neighborhood, villages or town
and cities of varying sizes)

REGIONS- Grouping of cities and landscapes of various sizes and complexities,

generally defined by common political, social, economic and environmental
characteristic (the surrounding region of a city, a country or multi country area, a
state or multistage area, a country, continent)

EARTH- All of the above, are the components of the built environment
Interrelations between these components are very important aspect to the
formulation of the Built Environment. Integration of these different disciplines are
crucial.

HUMAN SPECIALIZATION FOR THE COMPONENTS

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

PRODUCT- PRODUCTS/ GRAPHIC/ INDUSTRIAL DESIGNERS

INTERIORS- INTERIORS DESIGNERS
STRUCTURES- ARCHITECT AND ENGINEERS
LANDSCAPES- LANDSCAPES ARCHITECT AND PLANNERS
CITIES- URBAN DESIGNERS AND PLANNERS
REGIONS- REGIONAL PLANNERS
EARTH- ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENTISTS, NATIONAL & GLOBAL PLANNERS
AND POLICYMAKERS.
BUILD ENVIRONMENT
Land Use Pattern
Transportation Infrastructure
Building Siting and design

DIREC
T
EFFEC

Mobility and Travel

Decisions
Car trip frequency and length
Walking, biking, and transit

Human Health and the Natural

Environment
Ecosystems, habitat, and endangered species
Water quality
Air quality
Global Climate
Physical Activity
Emotional health and community engagement
Vehicle crashes

INDIREC
T
EFFECTS

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES IN LAND USE

Environmental issues in land use are related to a combination of many complex natural
and human-induced phenomena. The transformation of natural and semi-natural
ecosystems by deforestation, cultivation, urbanization, intensification and mechanization
of agricultural practices, overexploitation of animal populations, global warming,
desertification and general pollution are all direct and indirect causes of accelerated
environmental degradation.
Environmental and Human Health Impacts

Habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation

Degradation and loss of water resources
Degradation of air quality
Heat island effect
Greenhouse gas emissions and global climate change
Health and safety

Effects of Different Types of Development on the Environment

Where we build
Safeguarding sensitive areas

 Locating development in built-up areas

Focusing development around existing transit
How we build
Compact development
Mixed-use development
Street connectivity
Community design
Destination accessibility
Transit accessibility
Green building
Community Design
Many factors can improve the environment for walkers and bicyclists, e.g.,
sidewalks, crosswalks lighting, shade trees, bike paths and lanes, bike parking.
Roads are safest with street design elements that slow down drivers, e.g., narrow
lanes, traffic-calming measures, street trees.
Green street design can also improve water quality.
Green Building
Carefully choosing site location
Limiting environmental impacts of construction and renovation practices
Conserving water and energy in building operations
Using building materials safe for occupants
Designing sites to capture and reuse stormwater

Cultural Diversity
Culture: consists of all the shared products of human groups.
Diversity: a range of different things.
Material culture: physical objects created by human groups. EX: automobiles,
books, buildings, clothing, computers, and cooking
Non material Culture: abstract human creations Ex. beliefs, family patterns,
ideas, language, political and economic systems, and rules
Difference between culture and society:
Society: a group of interdependent people who have organized in such a way as to
share a common culture and feeling of unity.
Society consists of people, and culture consists of material and nonmaterial products that
people create.
Cultural Diversity refers to the wide range of cultural differences found between and
within nations

Can be a result of natural circumstances (climate, geography) or social

circumstances (technology or demographics)

Societies can be homogeneous or heterogeneous

The components of culture:

Technology- Knowledge and tools people use for practical purposes. Sociologists
interested in skills and acceptable behaviors when using material culture.

Symbols- Anything that represents something else.

symbols vary, all cultures communicate symbolically.

Language-the organization of written or spoken symbols into a standardized

system.

Values- shared beliefs about what is good or bad, right or wrong, desirable or
undesirable.

Norms- shared rules of conduct that tell people how to act in specific situations.
EX: respect for the Philippine Flag

Norms are expectations for behavior, NOT actual behavior.

EX: Not all people pay their bills.

Norms are also applied selectively.

EX: Taking someones life is different for police officers and military.

Types of Norms:
1. Folkways- Norms that describe socially acceptable behavior but do not have great
moral significance attached to them. EX:
1. Do not place a knife in your mouth.
2. Shake hands when introduced.
3. Do your homework
2. Mores- Norms that have a GREAT moral significance attached to them.
Violation of rules endangers societys well-being.
eX. Murder, ATM fraud, Dishonesty,. etc.
3. Laws- Written rules of conduct enacted and enforced by the government.
Essential for social stability when violating mores.
Features of culture divided into 3 levels
1. Traits
2. Complexes
3. Patterns
Culture Traits:
An individual tool, act, or belief that is related to a particular situation or need.
Culture Complexes:
Cluster of interrelated cultural traits.
Culture Patterns:
The combination of a number of culture complexes into an interrelated whole.
Variation within Societies:
Subculture: group with its own unique values, norms, and behaviors that exists
within a larger culture.

Counterculture:

A subculture where a group rejects the major values, norms, and practices of the
larger society and replaces them with a new set of cultural patterns.

, computers.

, clothing