g: functionalism as a motivating concept e ecology and hu an ecology

I-I tll, D.L., 199 1. Landscape planning: functionalism as a motivating concept from landscape ecology and human ecology. Landscape Urban Plann., 2 1: 1319. In this paper, the concept of functionalism fr--r both landscape ecology and human ecology is examined. The conceptual merger of these sciences and their application m landscape planning is explored as a basis for an ‘ecological approach’. Functionalism is used as a motivating idea, supported by holism and structure as related concepts from ecology. The case is made that alternative ways of thinking about functional relationships have critical relevance to landscape planning. particularly regarding issues of scale and context. Landscape planning for sustainable agriculturai landscapes is used to demonstrate how landscape ecology and human ecology might be merged and applied, and to illustrate how functionalism can be redefined in planning and design. Landscape ecology, as a multidisciplinary field, is relatively new in North America and is currently receiving considerable attention. The focus of this paper is on the relevance of landscape ecology, combined with human ecology, to applications in landscape planning. Background frameworks, not specific methodologies, are explored in order to help develop a theoretical base that links landscape ecology with planning and design. In the process, this work reviews widely used concepts, not novel or original in the author’s work, but fundamental concepts that can be used to thread together landscape planning, as an applied endeavor, and human and landscape ecologies as sciences. The hypothesis of this work is that landscape planning can be an applied marriage of landscape ecology and human ecology. Specifically, an examination of functionalism, as one motivating concept, is used to probe this relationship. At the end of this paper contextual issues in agricultural landscapes are explored to illustrate and support this framework. Obviously, landscape ecology and landscape planning share an important connection -the landscape. Paring away the landscape from both pursuits, we find planning and ecology, which share a strong historical and theoretical background, documented by several authors (Young, 1974; Fabos, 1979; Zube, 1986; Berger, 1987; Steiner et al., 1987). In recent decades, an ecological approach has been a prominent theme in planning and design literature. What is an ecological approach? Although the integration of concepts between planning and ecology has been addressed at length in planning and design literature (Rosenburg, 1986 ), it has been translated to a lesser extent onto the actual landscape. Although ecology and 0 169-2046/9 l/$03.50 0 199 1 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. All rights rcscrved.