Title: Environmental priorities and the challenges of environmental
Abstract: This article examines recent developments in policy and changed perceptions of the environment. Emphasis is placed on the longer-term environmental challenges which are best encapsulated in the term 'sustainable development'. The importance of the environment as a key aspect of the Single European Market, and the implications of the environmental objectives of the European Community, are discussed through a consideration of the implementation of environmental assessment and other policy measures. A final section of the article considers the role of the environment in providing a bridge between public and private sector thinking and action. In recent years environmental priorities have assumed an increasingly important place on the agendas of both the citizens of the European Community and of the political leaders of the various Member States. Although many planners would claim that the environment has always occupied a high place on their list of priorities, the recent awakening of widespread and sustained public concern for quality of life issues offers both a challenge and much needed support. It is a challenge because, while the environmental concerns of citizens coincide in general terms with many of the aims of planning, such concerns also encompass aspects of environmental management that are generally considered to lie outwith the traditional boundaries of planning competence. The challenge to planners is to grasp the opportunity of widespread public support for enhanced environmental quality and to translate it into clearly defined and realisable programmes of action. European Community concern with environmental problems dates from the early 1970s. Following the 1972 United Nations conference on the environment, the European Community Heads of State met to consider environmental issues. Their conclusion was that economic expansion should not be viewed as an end in itself and that environmental matters also required direct attention. Among the
Publication Year: 2016
Publication Date: 2016-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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