Geog7002 | Planning | A Assessment Answers

What makes for a good environmental strategy/plan for a city?

Introduction:

Strategic Environmental planning is one of the most significant approaches in a modern day society. The rising pollution and its daily increase due to several human practices is the primary concern for every country in the world. In order to achieve a sustainable development of the society, considering all the key aspects and the requirements of the environment is the primary objective. This type of natural and scientific identification of ideas can help in the proper planning for the future days (Environment.gov.au 2018). The purpose of this discussion is to critically assess the different strategic plans that are being developed for building a sustainable society. In order to achieve the process, a literature will be done on the strategic environment planning, followed by a comparative analysis of the different aspects of the strategic plans. This will further help in the development of the critical analysis of the strategic environmental plans which be helpful for the better understanding and analysis.

Discussion:

Literature Review:

The literature of strategic environmental planning is a very diverse field of research which analyses the ecological requirements of the land and the equivalent social needs. The balance between the two is essential for determining the developmental policies of the governments.

According to several researchers Strategic Environmental Assessment is a key tool for the environmental analysis. Different countries have their own approach of the environmental assessment. In one of the research journals, Kelly (2012) has argued that though the implementation of the Environmental Assessment in a new policy for the legal framework, it is a popular tool for the development of new environmental policies. The literature of Strategic Environmental planning considers different theories of assessment which ensures the transparency of the environmental requirements for the better understanding of the key aspects that require development. The government journals of Australia, states the idea of the collaboration of the federal government and the state governments can create responsibilities towards the environmental sustainability (Environment.gov.au 2018).

The methods of assessment and planning include a number of strategic plans which recognises data from the different environmental surveys. The survey data makes the literature of environmental planning richer as the data demonstrate the actual environmental, social and economic benefits which can create a sustainable approach towards the balanced environmental planning. The government journals enrich the literature by defining the different plans that build the decisive instruments for the different sectors that are to be assessed during the development of the environmental plan (Environment.gov.au 2018). Moreover, it mentions the different bodies responsible for maintaining the specific data records for the environmental studies. The efficiency of these bodies can help in determining the authenticity and importance of the assessment carried out by them. This puts weight on the relevance of the strategic planning. The Australian Government literature about strategic environment planning mentions in detail the requirement of the strategies and reflects the policies which are determined by the strength of the legal bodies that they are endorsed by (Environment.gov.au 2018).    

Comparative Analysis:

Some of the effective strategic environmental planning methods are:

• Green and Cool city: The Strategic environmental planning by the Sydney government has led to the planting of more than 11000 trees on the streets since 2005 and more than 13466 in the Johnson’s Creek and Sydney Park since 2015 (Cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au, 2018). The future targets include planting trees in the coming years and restore areas of natural importance to develop a more environmental friendly society. This can reduce the effects of global warming and make the cities cooler and more comfortable to live in. Moreover, the conservation of the indigenous flora and fauna are also a part of this planning whose strength is to develop a biodiversity which can sustain the society in a more environment friendly way.
• Water sensitive city: This strategy has been adopted the Sydney city administration to monitor the misuse of water in the city and reduce its mismanagement (Cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au, 2018). The strength of this plan is that it has taken a long time period for the target and a step by step analysis has already helped it achieve moderate success. The installation of meters and using alternative water sources such as harvested rainwaters for parks and irrigation can reduce the level of water misuse. However, it has seen a growth of water use since 2006 by 52%, its determination to monitor the causes and use of proper technology can help to develop the efficiency in the coming years (Cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au, 2018).
• Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment (EU): This is a sustainable environmental planning that has been adopted the countries of the European Union for the better use of land, energy, waste and other natural resources. The European countries have to suggest different plans and policies for the sustainable development of the different environmental aspects which are to be measured using the monitoring procedures according to the guidelines of the SEA and the EU (Europa.eu 2018). The environmental report can help in the implementation of the appropriate plan according to the requirements of the environment of the different countries.

Critical Analysis:

The regional governments play a very important role in the assessment and implementation of the strategic environment planning. As can be seen in Sydney, the government plays a very major role in leading the environmental change. The effectiveness of the plans depend on the influential role of the government who can motivate the local bodies and the local communities. It is impossible for the government to achieve the level of sustainability without the help of the local community. According to Therivel (2013), it can be argued that the global monitoring system of the environmental policies, Strategic environmental assessment (SAE) is very important for determining the sustainability of the environmental plans according to the requirements. It can save the taxpayers’ money from being wasted into vague policies which will play no important role in the actual sustainability of environmental planning.

SAE also determines who is develop the strategic plans for the environment. While governments play the major part in determining the policies, there are many private companies who play a major part in these decisions (Europa.eu 2018). The real life data and instances are detrimental in SAE policies which balance the sustainable consumption of the natural resources and judge them on the basis of the economic and political factors.

However, motivation and collaboration plays a very important part in the above mentioned strategies. The advocate of change and the long term benefits of the plans can be effectively motivating in factors such as highlighting the changes and transformation.

Conclusion:

The above analysis is an in-depth discussion of the prime factors of the environmental strategic planning. Firstly, the literature review of the planning highlights the aspects that are responsible for the need of environmental planning. It also determines the effectiveness of the methodology of the planning and development of the policies. This is highly detrimental in judging the usefulness of the planning process. Moreover, the data collection methods and their relevance to the topics are also important for determining the authenticity of the problems and the urgency of it. In this regards the effective planning and different policies highlight how they drive the change in the society. Lastly, it can be concluded from the critical analysis that the importance of the policies in accordance with the international laws and the monitoring process helps to understand the planning method in a more sustainable manner.

Reference:

Cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au 2018. [online] Cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au. Available at: https://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/284749/Environmental-Action-strategy-and-action-plan.pdf [Accessed 18 Aug. 2018].

Environment.gov.au 2018. Department of the Environment and Energy. [online] Department of the Environment and Energy. Available at: https://www.environment.gov.au/resource/strategic-assessment-prospectus [Accessed 18 Aug. 2018].

Europa.eu 2018. Strategic Environmental Assessment - SEA - Environment - European Commission. [online] Ec.europa.eu. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/environment/eia/sea-legalcontext.htm [Accessed 18 Aug. 2018].

Kelly, A., Jackson, T. and Williams, P. 2012. [online] Ro.uow.edu.au. Available at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1573&context=lawpapers [Accessed 18 Aug. 2018].

Therivel, R. and Paridario, M.R., 2013. The practice of strategic environmental assessment. Routledge.