Forward and purpose of this collection of chapters

 
 

Below is the text to the Forward to these chapters. If you prefer, you can download a pdf version by clicking here or and eBook version by clicking here

I taught environmental planning at Curtin University from 2001 to 2014 during which time I developed three units from scratch: Environmental and Coastal Planning, Planning for Sustainability and Environmental Impact Assessment. One of the most frustrating things about teaching these units has been the lack of a textbook covering Western Australian environmental issues. Consequently, I had to develop detailed lecture notes for students.  It seemed a simple step, therefore, to turn these notes into something more useful and that would appeal to a wider audience.

This collection of chapters has been nine years in the making.

As the overall title suggests, this collection is both technical/policy and personal. I have been working as an environmental planners for over 30 years so this is my take on the elements of environmental planning. I have included personal insights and stories, as well as professional observations where I have been involved in a particular issue or project.

In early 2018 I finished reading the ‘Binti’ trilogy of books by Nnedi Okorafor. At the end of the last book she concluded with the usual thanks but also talked about her writing process. Here’s an extract from that:

When winter break arrived, the moment I took off my professor hat to give the writer’s cap that I always wear some fresh air, whatever it is that takes hold of me to make me write descended on me. So first and foremost I want to thank that thing that grabs, that whispers, that urgently tells.

I can’t remember when I started calling myself an environmental planner, but I noticed that as my career built I became connected to what I was planning – i.e. the environment. It is part of who I am, my character and my sense of place.

So, in writing these chapters I took off my academic and practitioner hat as often as I could to give the writing some fresh air. I hope it works.

In recent years I have been exploring my personal and deeper connection to nature. In part, it arose from supervising a Ph.D. student, who is now a person friend. Rebecca Scherini’s topic was

Land use planners can address the problems of the Anthropocene by fostering human connections to nonhuman nature through ‘embodied immersive experiences’ in ‘natural spaces’ and becoming embodied practitioners.

Rebecca’s work pushed me way beyond my comfort zone, but did force me to look at my relationship with nature.

Another part was my experience has been the chair of the Great Victoria Desert Biodiversity Trust, and our work with the Tradition Owners (TOs) and my visits to the desert. When I started working with TOs ‘on-Country’ I started to get a better understanding of how they connect to Country. It can never be a full understanding, but I learnt and felt more each time. On one trip to the desert, we were driving around visiting various sites, and on one stop we climbed to the top of a sand dune. We were all chatting as we climbed the dune, but when we got to the top, we all fell silent and took in the vastness of the country – see photo below. For me, I felt a real connection to nature in that moment which seemed to last for a long time, but in reality perhaps less than a minute. I think the second photo which was taken with my drone captures the vastness.

Plate 1: Top of a sand dune in the Great Victoria Desert – where I first really felt a connection with nature

Plate 2: Drone photo of Great Victoria Desert sand dune landscape

I am also a keen photographer, and so I have included my photos to illustrate some key points and issues.

So, what I have tried to do in writing these chapters is to appeal to a broader audience beyond just university students doing environmental studies. The personal stories, hopefully, help to ‘grab’ the reader. This collection is intended as a general reference for anyone interested in environmental planning, particularly in Western Australia.  I say “particularly” because when I taught these three units, I not only covered the local Western Australian context, I covered the national and international context. These chapters maybe of interest to readers beyond the Western Australian border.

I have tried to organise the chapters in some sort of logical order as follows.

  • Chapter 1 is a discussion of the nature, scope and extent of environmental planning,

  • Chapter 2 covers local geomorphology focusing on the Swan Coastal Plain,

  • Chapter 3 covers ‘green’ issues or biodiversity,

  • Chapters 4-6 cover ‘blue’ issues – water resources, urban water and coast,

  • Chapter 7 covers ‘brown’ issues – air quality and pollution,

  • Chapter 8 covers climate change,

  • Chapter 9 describes the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process, and

  • Chapter 10 is a discussion of risk and uncertainty in decision making.

Finally, these chapters are available from my website as free downloads as either a pdf file or in eBook format. You are free to share them but please acknowledge me as the author

I may end up putting these altogether as a single book – but not yet.

 

January 2023.