Environmental planning

Abstract

As knowledge concerning the effects of human activity has grown over time, so has the necessity to manage human impacts effectively. Environmental planning is a mechanism to influence decisions relating to land and resources in order to balance the freedom to develop against the need to consider the consequences for society as a whole. It has a wide role that encompasses elements such as permitting new buildings or regulating certain polluting activities, and deciding how future development should occur, like creating protected areas, or changing the use of land to allow for economic growth. It is therefore both reactive in determining development proposals and proactive in shaping how land should be used in future decades.