Introduction: Definition, Design, and Development of …...The Built Environment: Definition and Scope 5 Figure 1-3 Definition of the built environment and its four related characteristics.

P A R T I

Introduction: Definition,

Design, and Development

of the Built Environment

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COPYRIG

HTED M

ATERIAL

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C H A P T E R

We all build and therefore make important con-tributions to the built environment. Wedesign and build our lives from one experi-

ence to another. Based on those experiences, componentsof the built environment emerge from human needs,thoughts, and actions. Sometimes the substances ofhuman actions are grand, and we design and plan qualitylife experiences for ourselves and others. At other times,human actions are shortsighted, creating uncomfortablesituations that are less fit for healthy human activities andnegatively impact the environments that surround us andwith which we are in constant interaction.

There are many reasons to design, plan, and build.Each aspect of the built environment is created to fulfillhuman purpose. As those purposes and actions are mani-fold, so too are the reasons to design and build. Whereyou are sitting while reading this page, you are sur-rounded by hundreds of human-created objects, all con-tributing components of your built environment. Thewords on this page, this book, your chair and desk, thenearby stereo, the cell phone and Internet that connectyou to many others throughout the world, even the walls,floor, and ceiling of the space are humanly made orarranged and therefore part of the built environment.These components are constructed by dozens, hundreds,even thousands of material products and production sys-

tems. Look further afield and observe the variety ofobjects and environments out of the window. Buildings,automobiles, roads, bridges, the landscaped areas, parks,and the surrounding city are also part of a human-madeor -arranged built environment. Imagine the range andcomplexity of environmental components, the magni-tude of environments beyond your home: cities, high-ways, and other transport systems, parcels of agriculturalland, even domesticated plants and animals—all are tosome degree the products of human artifice and shouldbe included.

All people everywhere are surrounded by an abun-dance of components of the human-created world. It mayactually be harder to find environments that are completelyoutside the built environment, not made or arranged,maintained or controlled by people or society, if such stillexist on this planet. The sky, weather, free-flowing rivers,and wilderness areas may seem untouched, but none aretotally free from human intervention and impacts.

The cumulative results of the changes people havemade in their surrounding environment are extensiveexpressions of past and present cultures. A large percent-age of humanity lives in urban metropolitan areas. Thesemassive urban and suburban developments are thelargest, most complex human systems ever created. Per-haps less evident but equally extensive are human modi-

The Built Environment: Definition and Scope

Tom J. Bartuska

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fications of the rural regions of the world: farmlands;domestication and genetic alterations of animals andplants; manipulation and management of forests andwildlife; dams built on a multitude of rivers for power,navigation, and flood control. The count is endless. Thebuilt environment fills every nook and cranny of theeveryday world; it strongly influences human lives con-current with their creation and modification of it.

To meet their most basic needs, people first createdtools, harnessed fire, and developed shelter to survive inthe wilderness. Once human survival needs became lessuncertain (though that uncertainty still afflicts manyeven now), people turned their attention beyond survivaland continued to modify the environment at an acceler-ating rate to make their lives safer and more comfortable,productive, and enjoyable. Times have changed, changehas accelerated, and populations have exploded, but thebasic reasons for creating a built environment remainessentially the same as people design and construct toolsand products, modify and manipulate space, build struc-tures, plan and shape landscapes and cities, and manageregions and the Earth.

Certain questions, though, can never be asked toomany times, if only to remind us of the power we have tochange environmental conditions. Why do humansmake such extensive changes to their surroundings? Dowe take equally extensive responsibility for the actions orchanges involved? How often do we consider the long-term consequences of these actions? Are we concernedenough about the overall effects these actions have uponneighbors or upon the Earth, its finite resources, and itscomplex ecological systems? What are the limits tohuman intrusions on natural systems? How can meaning

and significance be created and maintained in the builtenvironment?1

Movements to protect or restore the environmenthave focused somewhat narrowly on natural systems,neglecting the idea that the environments with whichpeople interact most directly are often products of humaninitiated processes. Collectively, these products andprocesses of human creation are called the built envi-ronment. This term is comparatively new, but itdescribes in one holistic and integrated concept the cre-ative (and not so creative) results of human activitiesthroughout history. The term emerged in the 1980s andcame into widespread use in the 1990s.2 To illustrate, theterm built environment is an integral part of a new defini-tion of landscape architecture approved in 2003 by theInternational Federation of Landscape Architects. Tasksconsidered to be central to their work include the “plan-ning, design, management, maintenance and monitoringof functional and aesthetic layouts of built environ-ments” and “identifying and developing appropriatesolutions regarding the quality and use of the built envi-ronment in urban, suburban and rural areas.”3 These arebroad goals for a profession long considered to befocused on yards and gardens, yet typical of the recogni-tion by the design disciplines today of the need to bemore collaborative and inclusive.4

Most of society’s knowledge of past civilizations isderived from remnants of the built environment. Simi-larly, present cultures will be judged in the future by what they have created. Will the results, and theremainders, be profound and expressive of the very bestof society or condemned as careless of healthy human-environmental relationships?

4 INTRODUCTION: DEFINITION, DESIGN, AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

Figures 1-1 and 1-2 Reflections of the built environment—outside and within. The Cloud Gate/2006/Anish Kapoor, MillenniumPark, Chicago, Illinois. Courtesy of the artist and Gladstone Gallery, New York. (Photograph by Jon Bartuska)

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The primary purpose of this book is to develop anappreciation and understanding of the objects and places(even the organisms) built and modified by humans,how they are created, and how they affect life on theplanet. Increased involvement in and awareness of thedesign of the built environment should lead to humanactions that influence our lives today, and those of ourdescendants, in a positive, contributing way. Quality tendsto encourage more quality, more personal enjoyment,enrichment, productivity, and greater involvement, whichin turn should improve quality. Poor quality creates apa-thy and has negative impacts on human health and well-being.

Every person is immersed in environments, includingthe built environment. Since the built environment ismanifested in physical objects and places, it is relativelyeasy to observe and study (if not so easy to understand).It is critical for the reader to participate in, to visualize,and to experience real environments. This involvementcan more easily be achieved by paying attention, bybeing aware, by directly experiencing and analyzing themany examples that exist in your local environment,home, and community, as well as throughout the sur-rounding region, country, and world. This book encour-ages your active participation and tries to increase yourinterest in and sensitivity to the wide range of variablesin the built environment. The best way to create betterenvironments is to actively engage with those environ-ments, perhaps especially those we shape so intimatelyand so extensively. Get involved! Your active participa-tion in this exploration will increase your appreciation,enjoyment, and success. And ours!

A working knowledge of the built environment, andof the design and planning professions that help shapeit, is vital for all responsible citizens. Such knowledgeallows a citizen, the reader of this book, to be aware of,search out, and help create more positive aspects of thebuilt environment. Better understanding enables citi-zens to be more effective in taking corrective measuresto eliminate or change the negative aspects. In general,better environments are created when people worktogether in cooperative ways. Any puzzle is easier tounderstand when the pieces are designed to fit together,and when people understand how and where they fit. Itis urgent to realize that we are all interdependent partici-pants in the collective building process; we can all effectpositive change. Citizens and politicians, bankers andlawyers, engineers and planners, designers and scien-tists are all indispensable and influential parts in thedesign, planning, and management of a quality environ-ment for all.

Definition and Scope of the Built Environment

The built environment is certainly pervasive (look againout that window), but both the term and its reach andimplications are evasive, more comprehensive, and far-reaching than most of us realize, even though we live in itevery day. It may be helpful, then, to start simply anddefine the built environment by four interrelated charac-teristics. First, it is extensive; it is everywhere; it providesthe context for all human endeavors. More specifically, itis everything humanly created, modified, or constructed,humanly made, arranged, or maintained. Second, it is thecreation of human minds and the result of human pur-poses; it is intended to serve human needs, wants, and val-ues. Third, much of it is created to help us deal with, andto protect us from, the overall environment, to mediate orchange this environment for our comfort and well-being.Last, an obvious but often forgotten characteristic is thatevery component of the built environment is defined andshaped by context; each and all of the individual elementscontribute either positively or negatively to the overallquality of environments both built and natural and tohuman-environment relationships. These impacts arealmost always local, and more and more are experiencedat every scale, including global and even planetary.5

The simple but inclusive diagram in Figure 1-3 isintended to help visualize and define the built environ-ment by these four interrelated characteristics.

The triangle (�) is intentionally used to symbolizethe designed/built aspects of this definition. The trianglelooks like a structure. It is the most stable geometric form

The Built Environment: Definition and Scope 5

Figure 1-3 Definition of the built environment and its fourrelated characteristics.

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and unites three distinct sides and three points. It is usedlater in this chapter and others to integrate three sides ofan issue and/or three points of view.

Components of the Built Environment

Understanding of any subject is advanced when it isorganized into sets and subsets illustrating interrelatedparts and wholes.6 The variety and scope of the builtenvironment, its diverse content, and its subtle contextsare organized in this book into seven interrelated compo-nents: products, interiors, structures, landscapes, cities,regions, and Earth. The sum of the seven defines thescope of the total built environment.


Figure 1-4 Exploring the interesting qualities of the triangle.

Products include materials and commodities generallycreated to extend the human capacity to perform spe-cific tasks: graphic symbols such as the Western alpha-bet (letters form words, sentences combine intoparagraphs and chapters, such as in this book); tools(pen and pencil, hammer and saw, peace pipe orweapon); materials (bricks and mortar, wood, concreteand steel, polymers and plastics); machines (radios and

Interior spaces are defined by an arranged grouping ofproducts and generally enclosed within a structure. Theyare generally created to enhance activities and mediateexternal factors (living room, workrooms, private rooms,public assembly halls, stadiums, etc.).

Structures are planned groupings of spaces defined byand constructed of products; generally, related activitiesare combined into composite structures (housing,schools, office buildings, churches, factories, highways,tunnels, bridges, dams, etc.). Generally, structures haveboth an internal space and an external form.

Landscapes are exterior areas and/or settings for plannedgroupings of spaces and structures (courtyards, malls,parks; gardens, sites for homes or other structures; farms,countryside, national forests and parks). Landscapes gen-erally combine both natural and built environments.

Cities are groupings of structures and landscapes of vary-ing sizes and complexities, generally clustered together todefine a community for economic, social, cultural, and/or

stereos, televisions and telecommunication systems,calculators and computers, roller skates and automo-biles, aircraft and spaceships).

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environmental reasons (subdivisions, neighborhoods,districts, villages, towns, and cities of varying sizes).

environment and require considerable understanding,forethought, and collaborative planning. Too often,designs have been project specific and bounded by disci-plines. There is an understandable tendency for productdesigners to talk primarily to their own colleagues, forengineers to discuss common issues with other engi-neers, for architects to seek solutions from other archi-tects. But the designs, and the built environment, thatemerge from a limited or channeled discourse tend to befragmented and isolated from the context. Designersneed to establish common ties that bind them, and theirideas, together and help integrate content-component-context linkages within the built environment. A lack ofintegration often results in a fragmented and chaoticenvironment. We all suffer the consequences.

Reminding the design and planning disciplines andprofessions of their common base and shared goals is animportant objective of this book.8 The term built environ-ment is presented as a holistic concept formed from theintegration of separately designed components. Under-standing this is necessary to acknowledge the interdepen-dencies not only among the many components, but alsobetween people, their professions, and areas of study.

Fortunately, increased numbers of designers, botheducators and practitioners in various fields, are combin-ing their talents in interdisciplinary teams to strengthen


Regions are groupings of cities and landscapes of varioussizes and complexities; they are generally defined bycommon political, social, economic, and/or environmen-tal characteristics (the surrounding region of cities, coun-ties, or multicounty areas, a state or multistate regions,countries, continents).

The Earth includes all of the above, the groupings ofregions consisting of cities and landscapes—the entireplanet, the spectacular, complex, beautiful, still mysteri-ous Earth, which, as human power expands, may be con-sidered the ultimate artifact.

These components can be better understood as con-nected layers or levels of varying scales interwoventogether to form the built environment. These seven lay-ers, this nested set of components, provide the organiz-ing categories for this book, conceptualized in Figure 1-5.

The listing and descriptions of the seven componentsillustrate a significant overall theme: the interrelation-ships of each component with each of the others. Thecontent of each component consists of a combination ofsmaller components. In turn, each component is a part ofa larger context and contributes to the next larger compo-nent. For example, products can be considered the con-tent for interiors and, for those products, interiors are thecontext. The content-component-context hierarchy is auseful tool in this book for organizing and presentingcomponent parts and the myriad ways seemingly indi-vidual elements interrelate to form the whole of the builtenvironment.7

In an age of specialization, many have lost sight ofthe interrelationships among the components of the builtenvironment, including those who actively participate in the creative processes. Complex webs of elementalinterrelationships are critical in creating a quality built

Figure 1-5 The layers of the built environment (the integra-tive or composite symbol design by S. Recken; the lineargraphic formats by J. Singleton).

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interrelationships. Societal and governmental pressuresare encouraging more integration. National, state, andmany local environmental policy acts mandate interdis-ciplinary analysis and citizen participation in addressingcomplex problems. Environmental reviews and approvalprocesses mandate more collaboration. There is, how-ever, significant room for continued improvement ineducation and practice.9

The arts and sciences, traditionally organized in a tax-onomy of separate disciplines, are sharing their under-standing of the environment through renewed awarenessof ecology, study of the interactions of organisms (includ-ing humans) and their environments. Concurrently, theapplied design and planning fields, which have also tradi-tionally been organized into separate disciplines, are com-bining their talents into a general field of environmentaldesign, often specifically expressed as a focus on the builtenvironment. Robert Reekie, an English planner, archi-tect, and educator, and author of one of the first books on

the built environment, emphasizes this need for integra-tion, participation, and interdisciplinary collaboration:

[We all should] intelligently participate in the urgent taskof abolishing ugliness, dreariness, squalor and also offen-siveness from towns, villages and countryside, and inrestoring and producing [human] pleasure in the envi-ronment, so that life can be lived therein more healthilyand happily. . . . One of the points made in this book isthat environmental design, now and in the future, is andwill be a matter of expert teamwork supported by publicappreciation and participation. . . . Integration may wellbe the key word in good design. Not only does it meanthe correct combining of parts into a whole, but also itimplies . . . integrity, soundness and honesty.10

Why Humans Build

An encompassing definition of the built environment canalso provide some understanding of why humans build.There is a clear cause-and-effect relationship betweenhuman purpose and the things we create. An eloquenthistorian and English Prime Minister, Sir WinstonChurchill, forcefully expressed this: “We shape ourbuildings; thereafter they shape us.” Another noted his-torian, Arthur Cortell, conveys this same interdepend-ency by claiming: “Tell me the landscape you grew up inand I will tell you about yourself.” To aid in understand-ing this relationship, it is useful to explore more specifi-cally the nature of human needs, wants, and values.

Human Needs as Manifested in the Built Environment

To survive, all organisms must satisfy certain basicneeds. Humans are no exception. Abraham Maslow,11 apsychologist, outlined a well-known hierarchy of humanneeds.

The most basic set of needs are physiological—thoserequired for proper functioning of the body and mind.Maslow’s idea is that we humans concentrate on the mostbasic needs (at least to a significant degree) until thoseneeds are met with some degree of certainty and satisfac-tion. Then we turn our attention to those needs notstrictly essential to body function and survival. The sametransition occurs at each level of the hierarchy; humansbecome concerned with psychological needs, such as theneed to belong to a group or to achieve self-realization,when they reach some level of provision of physiological


Figures 1-6 and 1-7 “Continuum,” 5,000 images expressingthe human, environmental, and technological history of thecity (B. Brother, 2003, Seattle, Washington).

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needs. Maslow’s ideas, of course, are only a model of reality, a deliberately simple sketch full of overlaps anduncertainties; humans in all but the worst situations areconcerned with several (if not all) of the levels all of thetime; concern is a matter of degree and emphasis. But thehierarchy is useful and does underline the fact that ele-ments of the built environment do correspond, oftendirectly, to expressions of human needs and wants. Fig-ure 1-8 identifies the general types of physical and psy-chological needs (on the left), the hierarchy of six levelsof human needs (in the center), and the way these needsare expressed in the built environment (on the right).

Beyond the realm of needs is that of wants, thosematerial goods that are not really needed at any level butthat emerge from the desire for self-gratification. Forexample, we biologically need food and water, butinstead of beans and rice we may want gourmet foods.We need clothing but many want expensive designerbrands. We need efficient transportation systems, but wemay want a car; we may even need a car in the context ofwhere we live, but we want a newer, bigger, or faster car.Market forces, especially energy prices, are pushing peo-ple again toward more energy-efficient cars, and design-ers and producers are responding with gas/electrichybrids.

Comparisons in the needs hierarchy can also help usbetter understand many of the social differences in theworld. It is naive and hypocritical to think that the mil-lions of people in the world suffering from malnutritionand starvation are very concerned with the ego gratifica-

tion gained from a louder stereo, designer clothes, or abigger car.

For every need and want, there must be an adaptiveresponse, an adaptive design strategy. The need is satis-fied (by every human) through exploitation of the envi-ronment, processes that form complex varieties ofhuman-environmental relationships. These relationshipsare established through the use of various technologies(see Chapters 6 and 16). The design response alsorequires the use of material and energy resources and thecombining of various components into some portion of thebuilt environment. Recognizing that needs are generallymore basic than wants helps to establish priorities in orderto minimize costs, to reduce the use of finite resources,and to mediate human impacts on the environment.

Since needs are similar and reoccur, many of thembased in the biology of the organism, they are quite pre-dictable throughout every life span and in each succeed-ing generation. The adaptive design responses thenbecome organized, institutionalized, and slow to change.It seems obvious, but is often forgotten, that the mostfundamental needs are air, water, and food. One canonly live a few minutes without air, a few days withoutwater, and a few weeks without food. These are the fun-damental building blocks of life, and they must be pro-tected from harmful substances throughout the world.Part of the food for humans comes from agriculture, ahuman endeavor. Though still rooted in natural systems,a field of grain is an artifact of the built environment, as isthe grain itself, usually a highly developed hybrid far


Figure 1-8 Human needs and various ways they are manifested in the built environment.

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removed from its origins in a wild plant. All of the otheradaptive responses necessary to modern agriculture(equipment, fertilizers, pesticides, etc.) are also modifiedor created and operated by humans.

To satisfy reproductive needs, every culture developskinship systems, including the institution of marriage.For bodily protection, we have developed various sys-tems of microenvironmental control: clothing and shel-ter, the medical professions, even weaponry. To protectourselves from social dysfunction, we have developedlaw and politics, and for protection against anxiety, wehave developed the varied institutions that deal with art,science, technology, religion, philosophy, etc. Every cul-ture has such institutions in some form; it is the way soci-eties have elaborated these institutions that makes themdifferent. Much of that elaboration is expressed in thevarious created forms in the built environment.

Human Values as Manifested in the Built Environment

The built environment is an expression not only ofhuman attempts to fulfill personal and societal needs andwants, but also of personal and collective values andaspirations. Human values may be more abstract thanneeds, but a general understanding of them can enhanceour sensitivity to the attitudes people have about the builtenvironment. Value-formed attitudes manifest them-selves in the way we relate to our surroundings, the waywe solve problems, and consequently are expressed inthe intrinsic characteristics of culture. Human values aresubjective—they deal with beliefs, opinions, and atti-tudes. They influence the setting of priorities and areanalogous to the value or the price we are willing to payfor something. In objective terms, money can serve as ameasure of value, but some objects, concepts, or placesmay be difficult or impossible to measure in economicterms. How can the value of beauty, quality, freedom,equality, a mountain range, the ocean, or even an ecosys-tem be assessed objectively? Many attempts have beenmade to assign prices in such areas, but their valueremains subjective and elusive.

Values affect subjective attitudes, and many of thesefind expression in the built environment. For example,many Americans place a high value on individual rightsand freedoms. On the face of it, that should be as good,but it has a range of ramifications for the built environ-ment. The individual house on its own site is an impor-tant value to many, but detached structures can createenergy inefficiency and sprawl. The same is true of trans-portation: The United States has developed a very exten-

sive auto-oriented lifestyle and a complex of systems tosupport it. So far, North Americans have been willing topay the high costs in taxes and energy for these sprawl-ing, auto-driven land use patterns. Such attitudes or values can blind people to consideration of other alterna-tives; many other countries judge such patterns as waste-ful, even as antisocial. Also, in U.S. and Canadian cities,private corporations and commercial interests dominatethe cityscape; the tallest buildings dominating contempo-rary skylines are those owned by banks, insurance com-panies, and large investment firms. In some cities inother countries, the most prominent features are publicspaces, civic structures, or cathedrals.

Values fundamentally affect people’s perceptions ofthe built environment. Values and the ethics emergefrom every decision in shaping and reshaping the builtenvironment: decisions on selection of sites and materi-als, environmental impacts, energy use, and sustainabil-ity.12 Despite this, there is too little conscious effort todeal with human values openly and directly, yet they areat the heart of the design professions’ contribution tosociety.

Lawrence Kohlberg, extending the work of JeanPiaget, gives clarity and utility to the understanding ofvarious human values.13 Kohlberg constructed a usefulscale of six levels of moral development, illustrated inFigure 1-9. Each level is referenced to what are consid-ered conventional norms (on the left). The hierarchy ofhuman values (in the middle) is similar to the humanneeds scale. The implied attitudes formed are alsoincluded (on the right).

In very general terms, human values affect personalphilosophy and how we set priorities or solve problems,be they individualistic or based upon popular style, onfunctionalism, on humanistic ideals, or on a total inte-gration of all concerns. Kohlberg’s conventional valuesrepresent the general operational level of people in market-based urban/industrial nations. These peoplelive and work in an arena of laws, codes, and econom-ics. Success derives from reality of individual and mar-ket conventions. But societal values emerge at thepostconventional level and give greater weight to equal-ity and public participation. Though conventional values may lead to individual success, they aren’t neces-sarily as successful in the public realm. Conventionaland postconventional values don’t need to be in conflictif people can incorporate both into their perspectivesand actions. Kohlberg’s scale has been criticized as tooWestern, too male-oriented, and even anticaring andanticommunity. We are not recommending using thescale to measure people, but we present it as a visual


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tool for people to achieve what they can and shouldtranscend conventional values to help realize a betterenvironment for all. Looking at the visual depiction ofthis value scale, we may get a better grasp of where peo-ple are coming from when ideas are in conflict overissues of design or of life.

Thematic Ideas and Ideals

Social, Environmental, and Technological Issues

The built environment involves a fascinating and chal-lenging set of issues. Human/social and cultural issuesdeal with why people build. Environmental issues dealwith the natural and built context, locally and globally.And finally, technological issues deal with the materials,energy and financial resources, methods, and systemsrequired to establish interrelationships and construct thebuilt environment. All the authors of this book willexpand on these triad relationships in various ways inorder to create unifying themes throughout this study.

Integrative Design: Issues, Art, and Science

The best design and planning decisions respond to acomprehensive set of issues. Design and planning can bedefined as the art and science of creatively resolving issues,

of solving inherent conflicts in human–environmental rela-tionships. Creative design and planning allow us to beagents of change rather than victims of it. Interrelation-ships between issues, science, and art are expressed inthe triangle in Figure 1-10. Design and planning occur atall levels and extremes; they can be expressive as pureart or pure science but are usually expressions of both.

Any of the three extremes can lead to designs that areexpressive and to objects that at times are favored by thepublic and the press. But, ideally, integrated design andplanning embrace an inclusive design process—the mid-dle of the triangle. Designers and planners of the futureneed to accept the challenge of attempting to understandand integrate the full range of this complex triad of rela-tionships as they work to create new integrated layers ofthe built environment.

Design and Planning

Throughout this exploration into the built environment,the terms design and planning play important and reit-erated roles. They are action-oriented words that expresshuman intentions to engage in the creative process.Design is a process to plan and implement an idea in acreative, intentional, and skillful way; planning is thedesign or formulation of a scheme for making, doing orarranging something [in a skillful way].

Although there are subtle differences between thetwo terms (design tends to be more specific, planning


Figure 1-9 Human values (levels of moral development) and various ways they are manifested in the builtenvironment.

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more general), for the purpose of this work they areequally important and at times are used interchangeably.Design requires careful planning; planning requires care-ful design. More specifically, design tends to deal withthree-dimensional development of smaller-scale compo-nents (products and interiors, structures, and landscapes),whereas planning tends to deal with two-dimensionalschemes for larger components (landscapes, cities, andregions). The medium-scaled components tend to useboth terms (landscape design and city planning, urbandesign and planning).

Inclusive, Interdisciplinary,Integrative and Involvement

This collaborative effort sets a model for modern designand planning; it attempts to be inclusive, interdiscipli-nary, and integrative while encouraging user involve-ment. The term and definition of the built environmentare inclusive: all things designed, planned, and managedby humans. The book is interdisciplinary, written by avariety of authors from all the design and planning disci-plines. Throughout the book, integrative concepts weavethe content and components of the built environmenttogether. The goal throughout is involvement; greaterinvolvement increases each person’s potential to realizehis or her objectives; public participation can greatlyenhance understanding and thus the quality of the result-ant built environment.

As emphasized before, aspects of the built environ-ment are everywhere. They are readily accessiblethrough the Internet and discussed daily in various localand national newspapers and radio and television pro-grams. Take advantage of the model provided here; takeadvantage of all the resources available. People learnmore if they are engaged and involved. The more venuesthe better, because we all retain information in differentways and in different percentages, though some general-izations can be made. Some studies estimate that peopleretain approximately 10% of what they read, 20% ofwhat they hear, 30% of what they see, 50% of what theysee and hear, 70% of what they say, and 90% of whatthey do. So, get involved! Personal participation may bethe most critical action the readers of this book can taketo improve the quality of the built environment for them-selves and for others.

Organization of the Book

To reveal and clarify the complexities and challenges ofdesign of the built environment, the book is organizedinto four parts.

I. Introduction: Definition, Design, andDevelopment of the Built Environment

The first chapter discusses the purpose, definition, andscope of the built environment. The second chapterestablishes four general traditions expressed in the evo-lution of the built environment and explores the mean-ings of each development.

II. Central Human-Environmental-Technical Dimensions of a Quality Environment

The first chapter in Part II explores the concept of theword environment, its meaning and its complexity andhierarchical relationships. It also addresses quantitativeand qualitative dimensions of the built environment. Thenext three chapters introduce the importance of design-ing with human, environmental, and technical aspects ofthe built environment in mind. Designing with thehuman aspects of this triad relationship is explored in thesecond chapter of Part II. How to design with the naturalenvironment is introduced in the third chapter. Theimportance of technology is explored in the fourth chap-ter, and how people attempt to compose, order, and give


Figure 1-10 Integrative design—analysis and synthesis ofissues through science and art (W. McClure).

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meaning to the diverse characteristics of their environ-ments is addressed in the final chapter.

III. Design and Planning Components(Levels of Integration) in the Built Environment

The third and main part of the book organizes the builtenvironment into seven components and explores ingreater detail the human, environmental, and technicalaspects of each. Each component is defined and thenexplained in terms of the past, present, and future: pastprecedents (historic developments), present develop-ments including discussion of contemporary designissues, and future design challenges. In particular, PartIII examines the important contributions the designand planning professions make in helping to shape thebuilt environment. Although the seven componentsmust be considered as integrated together, individualreaders may elect to concentrate on one or more of the following seven components, which include thefollowing:

1. Products: Industrial and Product Design2. Interiors: Interiors and Interior Design3. Structures: Architecture, Engineering, and Construc-

tion4. Landscapes: Landscape Architecture and Planning5. Cities: Urban Design and Planning6. Regions: Regional Planning and Management7. Earth: Global Policies, Planning, and Management

IV. Challenges: Designing/Planning a Quality and Sustainable Environment for All

Part IV offers a brief concluding perspective, one thathopefully will foster further insight and increase involve-ment in meeting the challenges raised throughout thebook, challenges for a quality and sustainable built envi-ronment for all. The overall purpose of this book is to fos-ter interest and involvement in the built environment. Itseeks to open a series of doors that invite a more thor-ough understanding of the fascinating complexity, intri-cacy, and multilayered structure of the built world. Mostchapters conclude with a list of references to encouragefurther investigation and study. Readers are encouragedto further investigate the concepts and components ofthe built environment in that literature and within theirlocal communities.

Acknowledgment

This chapter is a revised and updated version of T. Bar-tuska and G. Young, “The Built Environment Definitionand Scope” in The Built Environment: A Creative Inquiryinto Design and Planning, Crisp Publications, Inc., 1994.

ReferencesBartuska, T. “Values, Architecture and Context: The Emer-

gence of an Ecological Approach to Architecture and theBuilt Environment.” ACSA Annual Conference Proceedings,March 1981.

Boyer, E., and L. Mitgang. Building Community: A New Futurefor Architecture Education and Practice. Carnegie Founda-tion, 1996.

Charles, J., and J. Kibert. Reshaping the Built Environment:Ecology, Ethics, and Economics. Island Press, 1999.

Crowe, N. Nature and the Idea of a Man-made World: An Inves-tigation into the Evolutionary Roots of Form and Order inthe Built Environment. MIT Press, 1997.

Habraken, N.J., and J. Teicher, editors. The Structure of theOrdinary: Form and Control in the Built Environment. MITPress, 2000.

International Federation of Landscape Architects. “Definitionof the Profession of Landscape Architecture.” IFLA News,No. 48, 2003.

Knox, P., and P. Ozolins (eds.). The Design Professions and theBuilt Environment. Wiley, 2000.

Maslow, A. The Farther Reaches of Human Nature. Viking,1971.

Muir, T., and B. Rance. Collaborative Practice in the Built Envi-ronment. Routledge, 1995.

Rapoport, A. Meaning of the Built Environment: A NonverbalCommunication Approach. University of Arizona Press, 1990.

Reekie, R. Design in the Built Environment. Edward Arnold, 1972.Young, G.L. “A Piece of the Main: Parts and Wholes in Human

Ecology.” Advances in Human Ecology, No. 8, 1–32, 1999.

Endnotes1. A. Rapoport, Meaning of the Built Environment: A Nonver-

bal Communication Approach (University of Arizona Press,1990).

2. N. Crowe, Nature and the Idea of a Man-made World: AnInvestigation into the Evolutionary Roots of Form and Orderin the Built Environment (MIT Press, 1997).

3. International Federation of Landscape Architects, “Defini-tion of the Profession of Landscape Architecture” (IFLANews, No. 48, 2003).

4. T. Muir and B. Rance, Collaborative Practice in the BuiltEnvironment (Routledge, 1995).

5. N.J. Habraken and J. Teicher, editors, The Structure of theOrdinary: Form and Control in the Built Environment (MITPress, 2000).


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6. G.L. Young, “A Piece of the Main: Parts and Wholes inHuman Ecology.” Advances in Human Ecology, No. 8,1–32, 1999.

7. See Note 5.8. P. Knox and P. Ozolins (eds.), The Design Professions and

the Built Environment (Wiley, 2000).9. E. Boyer and L. Mitgang, Building Community: A New

Future for Architecture Education and Practice (CarnegieFoundation, 1996).

10. R. Reekie, Design in the Built Environment (EdwardArnold, 1972): pp. v and 5.

11. See footnote 3.12. J. Charles and J. Kibert, Reshaping the Built Environment:

Ecology, Ethics, and Economics (Island Press, 1999).13. T. Bartuska, “Values, Architecture and Context: The Emer-

gence of an Ecological Approach to Architecture and theBuilt Environment” (Annual ACSA Proceedings, 1981), SanFrancisco.


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Introduction: Definition, Design, and Development of …...The Built Environment: Definition and Scope 5 Figure 1-3 Definition of the built environment and its four related characteristics.

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