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An Ecological Framework for the Amenities of the City

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2024

Pierre Dansereau
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Extract

An ecological study of the city is a new endeavor. Up to now, we have mostly been given inquiries dealing with transportation, housing, economic activity, recreational facilities, etc. All of this adds up to an attempt to reach partial solutions for problems affecting sub-systems. Urbanists and city planners have tried to reach a synthesis of these data whenever they were available.

There is an ever increasing need to approach urban problems by borrowing the concepts and the methodology of ecology The origins of this science stem from the research pertaining to plant and animal behavior in their natural habitat. Highly complex adaptation patterns could frequently be observed which allowed a large number of species not only to survive but also to attain a certain level of compatibility with other species. One need not be a determinist to recognize the common basis of adaptation for man and other animals and to tie together the physical and biological needs which underlie more complex individual and group behavior. Thus, for instance, von Frisch and Wilson - have recently redefined the biological bases of the noosphere.

Type
Research Article
Information
Diogenes , Volume 25 , Issue 98 , September 1977 , pp. 1 - 27
Copyright
Copyright © 1977 Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie / International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP)

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References

1 The ideas proposed in this article have already been defined, at least in part, in other publications: "The hope of human ecology" (Bull. Canad. Comm. for UNESCO, 12 (1-2) Suppl., 14 pp. 1969); "Ecology and the escalation of human impact" (Int. Soc. Sci. Jour., 22 (4):628-647. 1970); "Dimensions of environmental quality" (Sarracenia No. 14, 109 pp. 1971); "Inscape and landscape" (Massey Lectures 1972, CBC Learning Systems, Toronto, xiii + 118 pp. 1973); "Man-environment interaction at the settlement level" (United Nations Conf. on Human Settlements, A/CONF.70/B/4, 46 pp. 1975); "Har mony and disorder in the Canadian environment" (Canad. Env. Adv. Counc., Ottawa, Occ. Paper No. 1, 146 pp. 1975); "EZAIM: Écologie de la Zone de l'Aéroport International de Montréal. Le cadre d'une recherche écologique in terdisciplinaire" (Presses de l'Univ. de Montréal, xviii + 343 pp. 1976); (with Gilles Paré) "Ecological grading and classification of land-occupation and land-use mosaic. I. Presentation of a new system. II. Mapping methods and problems" (Fisheries & Env. Canada, Lands Directorate, Geogr. Paper No. 58, x + 63 pp. 1977).

2 Karl von Frisch, Animal Architecture, New York and London, Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1974.

3 Edward O. Wilson, Sociobiology, the New Synthesis, Cambridge and London, Harvard Univ. Press, 1975.

4 See Ignacy Sachs. "Environnement et styles de développement" in Annales: Economies, Sociétés, Civilisations, fasc. 3, 1974, pp. 553-570.

5 See Figure 1.