Far Eastern University 2nd Semester 2021-2022

Institute of Architecture and Fine Arts

WEEK 2
Introduction: Humans in their Ecological Setting

Module Information

Module Overview
The module introduces the student to human settlements in its ecological setting.

Module Coverage
The module will be covered for a duration of 1 week with a work output to be submitted on the end of
the module (see course outline schedule). It is scheduled on the Week 2 of the semester.

Module Objectives
• The module aims to help the student to know the ecological setting for human settlements.
• This module aims to help the student understand the relationship of ecology to human
settlement.

Module Learning Outcomes

At the end of the lesson, the student should be able to:
• Know and understand human ecological concepts and its relation to planning.
• Observe and analyze the ecological setting of the community.
Module Interdependencies
This module serves as an introduction to the next topic which is Ekistics. This also reinforces the
connection of human ecology to planning.

Module Learning Materials

Under this module the students are provided with the following materials:
• Lecture Notes:
Title: Humans in their ecological setting
• PowerPoint Presentation:
The presentation provided in PDF file are the slides used for the audio-visual presentation of
the mentor.
All learning materials can be found inside the Folder of Week 2.

Additional Reading Materials

Students may refer to the given lectures under this module. Nevertheless, should the student like to study
beyond the given materials, they may read the books listed below:
• Van der Ryn, Sim. Design for an empathic world : reconnecting people, nature, and self.
Washington : Island Press, 2013. IARFA 0451 Cir TA 166 V3 2013
• Ecopolis (2010) Powerpoint presentation: Spatial Planning Theories and Regional Planning
Theories.
Module Output-base Work
• Student participation is highly recommended.
• Formative Assessment 1- Refer to the assessment module for the instruction.

ARC 1431: Planning 3 Introduction to Urban and Regional Planning

 Far Eastern University 2nd Semester 2021-2022
Institute of Architecture and Fine Arts
References
Lecture materials are excerpts from the following references:

• Schutkowski, D. (2006). Human Ecology Biocultural in Human Communities. Germany:

Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
• Marten, G. (2001). Human Ecology Basic Concepts for Sustainable Development. London:
Earthscan.

• https://anthropology.ua.edu/theory/ecological-anthropology/

ARC 1431: Planning 3 Introduction to Urban and Regional Planning

 Far Eastern University 2nd Semester 2021-2022
Institute of Architecture and Fine Arts
Week 2: Humans in Their Ecological Setting
Human Ecology

Ecology is the science of relationships between living organisms and their environment. Human
ecology is about relationships between people and their environment. In human ecology the
environment is perceived as an ecosystem.

An ecosystem is everything in a specified area – the air, soil, water, living organisms and physical
structures, including everything built by humans. The living parts of an ecosystem – microorganisms,
plants and animals (including humans) – are its biological community.

Although humans are part of the ecosystem, it is useful to think of human–environment interaction as
interaction between the human social system and the rest of the ecosystem.

Social system (Marten, 2001)

The social system is everything about people, their population and the psychology and social
organization that shape their behavior. The social system is a central concept in human ecology
because human activities that impact on ecosystems are strongly influenced by the society in which
people live.

Values and knowledge – which together form our worldview as individuals and as a society – shape
the way that we process and interpret information and translate it into action. (Marten, 2001)
• Technology defines our repertoire of possible actions.
• Social organization, and the social institutions that specify socially acceptable behavior, shape
the possibilities into what we actually do.
• Like ecosystems, social systems can be on any scale – from a family to the entire human
population of the planet.

The ecosystem provides services to the social system by moving materials, energy and information to
the social system to meet people’s needs. These ecosystem services include water, fuel, food,
materials for clothing, construction materials and recreation. Movements of materials are obvious;
energy and information are less so. Every material object contains energy, most conspicuous in foods
and fuels, and every object contains information in the way it is structured or organized. Information can
move from ecosystems to social systems independent of materials. A hunter’s discovery of his prey, a
farmer’s observation of his field, a city dweller’s assessment of traffic when crossing the street, and a
refreshing walk in the woods are all transfers of information from ecosystem to social system. (Marten,
2001)

Material, energy and information move from social system to ecosystem as a consequence of
human activities that impact the ecosystem:
• People affect ecosystems when they use resources such as water, fish, timber and livestock
grazing land.
• After using materials from ecosystems, people return the materials to ecosystems as waste.
• People intentionally modify or reorganize existing ecosystems, or create new ones, to better
serve their needs.

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 Far Eastern University 2nd Semester 2021-2022
Institute of Architecture and Fine Arts

Figure 1 Interaction of the human social system with the ecosystem (Schutkowski, 2006) (Marten, 2001)

With machines or human labor, people use energy to modify or create ecosystems by moving materials
within them or between them. They transfer information from social system to ecosystem whenever
they modify, reorganize, or create an ecosystem. The crop that a farmer plants, the spacing of plants in
the field, alteration of the field’s biological community by weeding, and modification of soil chemistry
with fertilizer applications are not only material transfers but also information transfers as the farmer
restructures the organization of his farm ecosystem. (Marten, 2001)

An example of social system–ecosystem interaction: destruction of marine animals by commercial

fishing.

Human ecology analyses the consequences of human activities as a chain of effects through the
ecosystem and human social system. The following story is about fishing. Fishing is directed toward
one part of the marine ecosystem, namely fish, but fishing has unintended effects on other parts of the
ecosystem. Those effects set in motion a series of additional effects that go back and forth between
ecosystem and social system see Figure 2.

Drift nets are nylon nets that are invisible in the water. Fish become tangled in drift nets when they try
to swim through them. During the 1980s, fishermen used thousands of kilometers of drift nets to catch
fish in oceans around the world. In the mid 1980s, it was discovered that drift nets were killing large
numbers of dolphins, seals, turtles and other marine animals that drowned after becoming entangled in
the nets – a transfer of information from ecosystem to social system, as depicted in Figure 2. (Marten,
2001)

ARC 1431: Planning 3 Introduction to Urban and Regional Planning

 Far Eastern University 2nd Semester 2021-2022
Institute of Architecture and Fine Arts

Figure 2 Chain of effects through ecosystem and social system (commercial fishing in the ocean)

When conservation organizations realized what the nets were doing to marine animals, they
campaigned against drift nets, mobilizing public opinion to pressure governments to make their
fishermen stop using the nets. The governments of some nations did not respond, but other nations
took the problem to the United Nations, which passed a resolution that all nations should stop using
drift nets. At first, many fishermen did not want to stop using drift nets, but their governments forced
them to change. Within a few years the fishermen switched from drift nets to long lines and other fishing
methods. Long lines, which feature baited hooks hanging from a main line often kilometers in length,
have been a common method of fishing for many years. The long lines that fishermen now use put a
total of several hundred million hooks in the oceans around the world. (Marten, 2001)

The drift net story shows how human activities can generate a chain of effects that passes back and
forth between social system and ecosystem. Fishing affected the ecosystem (by killing dolphins and
seals), which in turn led to a change in the social system (fishing technology). And the story continues
today. About six years ago it was discovered that long lines are killing large numbers of sea birds, most
notably albatross, when the lines are put into the water from fishing boats. Immediately after the hooks
are reeled from the back of a boat into the water, birds fly down to eat the bait on hooks floating behind
the boat near the surface of the water. The birds are caught on the hooks, dragged down into the water
and drown. Because some species of birds could be driven to local extinction if the killing is not
stopped, governments and fishermen are investigating modifications to long lines that will protect the
birds. Some fishermen are using a cover at the back of their boat to prevent birds from reaching the
hooks, and others are adding weights to the hooks to sink them beyond the reach of birds before the
bird can get to them. It has also been discovered that birds do not go after bait that is dyed blue.
(Marten, 2001)

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 Far Eastern University 2nd Semester 2021-2022
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Figure 3 Long ling fishing (Marten, 2001)

Cooking fuel and deforestation in India

The problem of deforestation in India provides another example of human activities that generate a
chain of effects back and forth through the ecosystem and social system. The following story shows
how a new technology (biogas generators) can help to solve an environmental problem.

For thousands of years people in India have cut branches from trees and bushes to provide fuel for
cooking their food. This was not a problem as long as there were not too many people; but the
situation has changed with the radical increase in India’s population during the past 50 years, Figure 4.
Many forests have disappeared in recent years because people have cut so many trees and bushes for
cooking fuel. Now there are not enough trees and bushes to provide all the fuel that people need.
People have responded to this ‘energy crisis’ by having their children search for anything that can be
burned, such as twigs, crop residues (bits of plants left in farm fields after the harvest) and cow dung.
Fuel collection makes children even more valuable to their families, so parents have more children. The
resulting increase in population leads to more demand for fuel. (Marten, 2001)

Intensive collection of cooking fuel has a number of serious effects in the ecosystem. Using cow dung
as fuel reduces the quantity of dung available for use as manure on farm fields, and food production
declines. In addition, the flow of water from the hills to irrigate farm fields during the dry season is less
when the hills are no longer forested. And the quality of the water is worse because deforested hills no
longer have trees to protect the ground from heavy rain, so soil erosion is greater, and the irrigation
water contains large quantities of mud that settles in irrigation canals and clogs the canals. This decline
in the quantity and quality of irrigation water reduces food production even further. The result is poor
nutrition and health for people.

This chain of effects involving human population growth, deforestation, fuel shortage and lower
food production is a vicious cycle that is difficult to escape. However, biogas generators are a new
technology that can help to improve the situation. A biogas generator is a large tank in which people
place human waste, animal dung and plant residues to rot. The rotting process creates a large quantity
of methane gas, which can be used as fuel to cook food. When the rotting is finished, the plant and
animal wastes in the tank can be removed and put on farm fields as fertilizer.

If the Indian government introduces biogas generators to farm villages, people will have methane gas
for cooking, so they no longer need to collect wood, see Figure5. The forests can grow back to provide
an abundance of clean water for irrigation. After being used in biogas generators, plant and animal
wastes can be used to fertilize the fields, food production will increase, people will be better nourished
and healthier, and they will not need a large number of children to gather scarce cooking fuel.

However, the way that biogas generators are introduced to villages can determine whether this new
technology will actually provide the expected ecological and social benefits. Most Indian villages have
a few wealthy farmers who own most of the land. The rest of the people are poor farmers who
own very little, if any, land. If people must pay a high price for biogas generators, only wealthy
families can afford to buy them. Poor people, who do not have biogas generators, will earn money by
gathering cow dung to sell to wealthy people for their biogas generators. Poor people may not care
much about the ecological benefits from biogas generators because a better supply of irrigation water
offers the greatest benefits to wealthy farmers who have more land.

ARC 1431: Planning 3 Introduction to Urban and Regional Planning

 Far Eastern University 2nd Semester 2021-2022
Institute of Architecture and Fine Arts
As a consequence, the benefits from biogas generators could go mainly to the wealthy,
widening the gap between the wealthy and the poor. Poor farmers, who see few benefits for
themselves, might continue to destroy the forests, and the community as a whole might receive little
benefit from the new technology. To improve the situation, it is important to make sure that everyone
can obtain a biogas generator. Then everyone will enjoy the benefits, and the vicious cycle of fuel
scarcity and deforestation will be broken

Figure 4 Deforestation and cooking fuel (chain of effects through ecosystem and social system) (Marten, 2001)

Figure 5 Chain of effects through social system and ecosystem when biofuel generators are introduced to villages

Human Ecological Concepts (Schutkowski, 2006)

1.Environmental Determinism- belief that the environment determines the patterns of human culture.
Physical factors such as
• landforms
• climate
Factors that affect human culture and individual decision
• ecology
• geography
• climate

Excerpts from Human Ecology BASIC CONCEPTS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

ARC 1431: Planning 3 Introduction to Urban and Regional Planning

 Far Eastern University 2nd Semester 2021-2022
Institute of Architecture and Fine Arts
Towards the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century, in the wake of
colonial expansion, a constantly growing amount of information about foreign worlds had been
accumulating. In order to classify exotic artefacts and ethnographic knowledge gathered through
expeditions and voyages of discovery an attempt was made to systematically structure the evidence
according to provenance. The observation that similar cultural characteristics were connected with
certain geographical locations led to the assumption that the material culture and technology of a
society was caused by the specific makeup of the environment – the habitat in ecological terms (p. 3 in
Hardesty 1977).
The environment, in one way or another, was considered to have a determining effect on the
possibilities of human cultural development. The view that similar environmental conditions would lead
to simi- lar forms in the political organization of a society became popular in the emerging field of
human geography, notably with the prominent proponent Friedrich Ratzel (1844–1904), but continued
to be popular into the mid-twentieth century (e.g. Huntington 1945). Natural conditions such as climate
or landscape were thus ascribed a strong formative power on human populations and their institutions,
resulting in the notion of culture areas whose environmental make-up would define socio-economic
expression of the human societies.
Nature with its areas of different layout and composition provided, as it were, the default
settings for paths of least resistance, by which humans reacted to the characteristics of their
environment (p. 22ff in Moran 2000). It was this tradition of environmental determinism that called into
play explanations of, for example, why dry areas were used to breed cattle rather than lay out irrigation
fields. While the simplicity of this approach may have been attractive, its major assumptions have been
proven wrong. The environment is not fixed and unchanging, nor are cultural responses to certain
environmental conditions static. Rather, human culture kits are the result of flexibility, resilience and the
ability to come up with alternative solutions even under the same or similar environmental conditions.

2. Possibilism (Schutkowski, 2006)

Nature did not directly influence humans, but provided a framework and thus facilitated different
possibilities of human development. Nature, as it were, offered the raw material from which
traditions, belief systems or theories could develop. The role of nature was thought to be passive and
any decision on the actual expression of culture traits, i.e. a realization of the respective options under
given environmental conditions, was due to the historic and cultural particularities and the selectivity by
which societies made their choices.

Human culture was not shaped by nature, but cultural decisions were thought to be subject to their own
dynamics, so that cultural differences between populations would also be found in their respective
particular cultural history. In the context of possibilism, it was not important to explain the origin of
culture traits.

Characteristics of the environment were not required in order to explain the presence of culture traits,
but rather served as an explanation for their absence, i.e. the reason why they did not evolve. The
absence of stone houses, for example, would be explained as a consequence of a lack of appropriate
raw materials in the habitat. Thus certain characteristics would not emerge, simply because they or the
means to produce them were not avail- able (p. 4 in Hardesty 1977).
This culture-centered view of humans within nature left little space for a dynamic role of the
environment, but rather reduced it to a generally limiting element of human cultural development. At the
same time, the emphasis on historical specificity precluded that similar environmental conditions could
also lead to similar selectivity (p. 33ff in Moran 2000), i.e. the possibility of a cross-cultural comparative
view was handicapped from the start by the primarily case-by-case nature of the possibilist assumption.

ARC 1431: Planning 3 Introduction to Urban and Regional Planning

 Far Eastern University 2nd Semester 2021-2022
Institute of Architecture and Fine Arts

3. Cultural Ecology (Schutkowski, 2006)

Cultural Ecology thus searched for regularities and common grounds in human behavior, social
structure and belief systems which would develop as responses to certain environmental situations.
Steward’s method was culture-comparative in time and space and designed with the aim to search for
generalizations in the function and emergence of human behavior. Conditions and modes of food
acquisition constituted the most immediate link between environment and behavior. The underlying
mechanisms leading to the development of such behavior were believed to represent a human
universal, whose impetus would arise from the necessity to use the naturally available resources, such
as food.

According to the concept of Cultural Ecology, social institutions possess an internal functional
connection, e.g. as certain modes of production occur in combination with certain modes of social and
political organization or the division of labor in a society. On this condition, the effect of one variable on
a limited number of further variables can be examined within the system, rather than having to examine
the much more complex system of social organization in its entirety. By emphasizing diachronic
comparison Cultural Ecology differs from classic functionalism (e.g. Malinowski 1960) in that it puts an
emphasis on the investigation of change and its causes and less so on the question of mechanisms by
which equilibrium states can be maintained or basic and derived needs be met.

Central aspects of the culture-ecological approach refer to the question whether specific behavioral
responses are necessary for the adaptation of human populations to their environmental conditions, or
rather whether a broad behavioral repertoire would suffice, i.e. whether adaptation occurred through
specialization or generalization of abilities. In this context, adaptation would be understood as the ability
to find ever better solutions for the possibilities of habitat use. Cultural Ecology attempted to support the
basic assumption that there is a causal relationship between natural resources, subsistence technology
and those behaviors in a population that facilitate the use of resources at a given level of technological
development (Moran, 2000).

4. Ecological Anthropology (Schutkowski, 2006)

Ecological anthropology focuses upon the complex relations between people and their environment.
Human populations have ongoing contact with and impact upon the land, climate, plant, and animal
species in their vicinities, and these elements of their environment have reciprocal impacts on humans
(Salzman and Attwood 1996:169). Ecological anthropology investigates the ways that a population
shapes its environment and the subsequent manners in which these relations form the population’s
social, economic, and political life (Salzman and Attwood 1996:169). In a general sense, ecological
anthropology attempts to provide a materialist explanation of human society and culture as products of
adaptation to given environmental conditions. (Mcgrath,2021)

5. Human Adaptability (Schutkowski, 2006)

Influence of the natural and cultural environments on the biological characteristics of human
populations. From the start, this concept of Human Adaptability was supported by several,
predominantly scientific disciplines whose fundamental agreement was based on the realization that
humans are a prouct of natural evolution and in their genetic make-up would reflect the out- come of
adaptations to their respective environments.

6. Cultural Materialism (Schutkowski, 2006)

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Neo-Functionalism or Cultural Materialism, named after Marvin Harris’ (1927–2001) influential great
narrative (Harris 2001). It refers to Steward and White by adopting their concepts of functional
connections between subsistence and culture.

Cultural materialism explains cultural similarities and differences as well as models for cultural change
within a societal framework consisting of three distinct levels:
• Infrastructure- technological, economic and reproductive (demographics/population)
• Structure- organizational aspect of culture such as domestic and kinship system, political
economy
• Superstructure- ideological and symbolic aspect of society, example is religion

7. Behavioral Ecology (Schutkowski, 2006)

Behavioral Ecology can thus be regarded as a sub-discipline of evolutionary biology, which analyses
behavior in an ecological context (Smith 1992a,b; Smith and Winterhalder 1992). The approach is
based on two basic assumptions.
(1) The behavior and phenotype of organisms are shaped by natural selection. This entails the
expectation that individuals behave in such a way that their personal reproductive success
and/or their inclusive fitness is maximized. Today’s observable phenotypes would then be the
expression of those genetic make-ups which, due to higher adaptability, reproduced
proportionately more frequently.

(2) In any ecosystem time and energy are limited. Therefore, in view of these constraints,
individuals have to weigh the costs of certain behavior against its benefit. What has been
invested in one type of behavior in terms of energy and time is no longer available for another.
An example would be the potential conflict in trade-offs between reproduction and longevity.
It is the integrative study of how and why behavioral mechanisms and processes mediate organisms’
interactions with their biotic and abiotic environment, thereby structuring many ecological and
evolutionary processes.

8. Global and Political Ecology (Schutkowski, 2006)

Global Ecology is closely connected with the topics of Environmental Anthropology, which through
considering and analyzing evolutionary and historical trends of environmental exploitation attempts to
identify and point out the resulting likely consequences for future generations.

Political Ecology a concept where the traditional areas of inter-relations between environment,
technology and social organization meet. It is characterized by an analysis of social conditions against
the background of political economy, the unequal distribution of resources, increasing criticism of
conventional development aid programs and the threateningly increasing environmental consumption
(Netting 1996).

9. Environmental History (Schutkowski, 2006)

Environmental history is understood as an area of comparative research, which is geared towards a
systematization of phenomena across time and nature. It seeks to describe and categorize relations
between humans and their environment in terms of constants or generic principles and to analyze their
causes and their direct and indirect consequences and adaptability.

Humans as Parts of Ecosystems General Framework

An ecosystem is composed of a set of components which act in combination within the system and
which can be divided into the classes of abiotic and biotic components.

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 Far Eastern University 2nd Semester 2021-2022
Institute of Architecture and Fine Arts

Abiotic and biotic components are connected through structuring principles, which at the same
time denote fundamental characteristics of an ecosystem. Accordingly, ecosystems are
characterized by the spatial and temporal distribution patterns of their components, by the transport of
material (flow of matter) and utilization of energy (energy flow), by the exchanging and passing- on of
information (information flow) and by the properties of change and evolution.

Theoretical Considerations (Schutkowski, 2006)

1. Structure and Boundaries of Ecosystems

The choice of local populations has been associated with the potential drawback of implying
that, by their sheer limitation in space, such clearly defined groups could be characterized as
being self-sufficient and closed units; and it was criticized that this would consequently lead to
a simplified, reductionist concept of the ecosystemic integration of human populations
(Winterhalder 1984; Moran 1990).

The reason is that human ecosystems are characterized by two sets of factors. First, they are
defined by the climatic, biological and geomorphological framework, i.e. the natural defaults of
the habitat they occupy. These could also be called the primary ecological basic conditions,
since they entail a pre-steering of, for example, subsistence activities.

Local populations are not self-sufficient, but are connected with other populations outside their
habitat by trade and barter of goods, by exogamous marriage relations or by regional and
supra-regional networks and alliances. The boundaries of ecosystems shaped by human
activity are open and variable, because they are to a substantial part also defined by such
functional contexts.

2. Energy Transformation
The description and analysis of mechanisms of energy production, storage and consumption,
i.e. energy flows in ecosystems, have been of central importance to ecological anthropology for
a long time. Inspired by White’s (1943) theoretical model, according to which cultural evolution
is determined by the control of increasingly larger amounts of energy, there is ample empirical
confirmation for the close relationship of energy extraction and social organization in both
extant and historic societies (e.g. Tainter et al. 2003).

3. The Historic Dimension

Ecosystems have a history. They evolve along a time axis, in the course of which – according
to classic concepts – a characteristic ensemble of organismic and abiotic components develops
(e.g. Odum 1983). But even without having to refer to this construct of natural succession,
developments take place in an ecosystem which can be caused both by external and internal
changes. External factors typically fall within the realm of natural phenomena and hazards,
while internal changes take place, for example, by human interference with ecosystemic
processes. However, humans are equally subject to systemic changes by external factors and
thus do not only adopt the role of the disruptive disturbers who alter and transform natural into
cultured landscapes. If change and alteration are a system property of ecosystems, then it is
the more surprising that the neglect of time factors and historic change in previous studies had
to be deplored at all (Moran 1990).

4. Adaptation

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 Far Eastern University 2nd Semester 2021-2022
Institute of Architecture and Fine Arts
It is the ability of an organism to adjust to a changing environment such that survival
and reproduction are enhanced” (p. 122 in Little 1995), i.e. adaptation denotes any response
to physical and chemical factors of the ecosystem, or to interactions with other species and
with individuals of the same species, which increases the probability of sur- vival and thus the
probability of reproduction. Adaptation is therefore always oriented towards a certain
environment or occurs in relation to a certain environment, natural and social, and is subject to
natural selection (Little 1995; see also p. 236ff in Ellen 1982; for problems related to choosing
the right meaning of adaptation in studies of human behaviour, see Caro and Borgerhoff-
Mulder 1987; Irons 1998).

Modes of adaptation can be distinguished by the different reaction velocities they show towards
environmental changes or by whether they spread biologically or culturally (Irons 1996). Both
aspects are connected by the fact that successful adaptations can be measured by
reproductive success in the long run (Alland 1975).

Population Development and Regulation

The concept of population is closely connected with a system of hierarchical classifications. Depending
on the level of explanation, the classification includes larger or smaller groups; and the categories used
to look at populations overlap. Considering natural, biological and cultural determinants, four central of
aspects result that affect the structure of a population.

1. Demographic aspect stands for the perhaps most abstract category according to which
population structures are defined by fertility, the number of births and deaths (natality,
mortality), disease rates (morbidity) and population movements (migration). These factors have
an effect on the size of a population and its age and sex composition in a given temporal
sequence, i.e. population dynamics.
2. Genetic aspect refers to the extent to which a particular population partakes in the overall
gene pool. It thus describes the consequences of founder effects or genetic drift, but also
genetic kinship relations within and between populations, for example as far as the effect of
geographical conditions for gene flow are concerned, i.e. the presence or absence of nat- ural
boundaries, such as rivers or mountain ranges.
3. Sociological aspect essentially considers the socio-culturally defined internal differentiation
of human communities and their effect on population structures. This includes for example
social, status or occupational groups, religious communities, but also kinship groups (whose
composition, depending on classification, must not necessarily be based on genetic affiliation).
Biologically defined groupings, such as those derived from age and sex, also have sociological
significance.
4. Ecological aspect finally refers to the degree to which populations inhabit the same and/or
similar habitats and share a common resource pool. Effects on the population structure result
both from comparable and/or different environmental conditions the respective populations are
exposed to and from the extent by which strategies are developed in order to adjust the size
and composition of the population to the respective habitat.

Populations and Carrying Capacity

To understand the conditions under which mechanisms of population regulation become necessary at
all, it is helpful to know about density distributions and the growth patterns of populations. Depending
on the abundance in which resources occur in a given habitat, different dispersion patterns result for
the individuals of a population.

ARC 1431: Planning 3 Introduction to Urban and Regional Planning

 Far Eastern University 2nd Semester 2021-2022
Institute of Architecture and Fine Arts
The connection between resource distribution and spatial distribution patterns of populations has a
bearing on the developmental potential, i.e. the growth of the respective populations.

Population size may be observed with respect to the carrying capacity of a habitat leads to
basic problems of comparability, because such an attempt would also have to consider annual
or seasonal fluctuations in resource supply or work intensity, i.e. a temporal depth for the
availability of resources.

Equally, carrying capacity also depends, among other things, on the kind of existing political or
administrative controls in a society, on how land use is regulated, or whether differences in property
and the distribution of land may lead to substantial differences in the respective carrying capacities.

In other words, carrying capacity needs to take into account individual impact, as for example affluence
would reduce the number of people that can be supported by a given resource base.

Carrying capacity has thus been considered to be two-dimensional (Barrett and Odum 2000),
because it represents density and per capita demands in a habitat.

Mechanisms of Population Regulation

Regulation of population is understood as the effect of any form of change in the composition or size of
a population in connection with the availability of resources and their utilization options, without asking
in the first place at which level the changes are caused and bear an influence on demographic
parameters. Thus, intrinsic and extrinsic factors can be equally decisive for an adjustment of changed
numerical relations within a population.

First, connections between the size and possibilities of development of populations and diseases, as
external regulation factors, are briefly addressed. For pre-historic times, in particular, the outline of a
historical epidemiology has to be considered a desideratum.

Environment, Disease and Population

Growth and density distributions of populations should thus show correlations with the emergence and
occurrence of certain diseases and allow a conclusion to be drawn on ecological basic conditions,
because significant transitions in human ecological history are connected with particular disease
patterns

Natural Ecosystem Processes (Ecopolis,2010)

a. Natural ecosystems are involved in a wide variety of natural processes influencing humans and other
organisms.
b. The activities of humans in the environment are changing many of these natural processes in a harmful
fashion.

Maintenance of atmospheric quality

c. Human activities (namely Urbanization & Industrial Growth) have increased the amount of
Pollutants in the atmosphere, negatively affecting the environment (acid rain)

Generation of soils
d. Agricultural practices have exposed soil to the weather resulting in great loss of topsoil

Water cycle interruption

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 Far Eastern University 2nd Semester 2021-2022
Institute of Architecture and Fine Arts
e. The cutting of forests and other human activities have allowed increased uncontrolled runoff
leading to increased erosion and flooding

Waste disposal
f. Untreated sewage wastes and runoff from farms and feedlots have led to increased water
pollution.

Energy Usage
g. Some industries and nuclear plants have added thermal pollution to the environment. The
release of some gases from the burning of fossil fuels may be slowly increasing the Earth's
temperature. -- (Greenhouse Effect)

Nutrient Recycling
h. The use of packaging material which does not break down, burning of refuse, and the placing
of materials in landfills prevents the return of some useful materials to the environment.

Human Population Growth

1. The total population of humans has risen at a rapid rate, partly because of the removal of
natural checks on the population, such as disease.
2. The earth has finite resources, increasing human population and consumption places severe
stress on natural processes that renew some resources and deplete those resources which can
not be renewed.

Some specific human influences on Ecosystem Factors

A. Increasing numbers:
a. results from an increased human life span • health advances largely led to this
B. Food: shortages and inadequate nutrition lead to starvation and malnutrition
a. population growth is outpacing food production in many world regions
b. starvation: body lacks sufficient calories for maintenance
c. malnutrition: diet lacks specific substances needed by the body
C. Soil: much loss of fertile topsoil due to erosion and poor management
a. the use of biocides has contaminated the soil (no prior assessment was taken of their
environmental impact)
b. some causes of topsoil loss include; cutting forests, farming dry grasslands, damming rivers,
draining wetlands, etc.
c. much valuable farmland has been lost due to increasing urbanization & suburbanization

D. Water: cutting forests has led to increased, uncontrolled runoff

a. water pollution leaves water unfit for use and the living things remaining in it unfit for
consumption (typical water pollutants include phosphates, heavy metals, and PCB's)

Biomagnification
a. increase in the concentration of a substance (poison) in living tissue as you move up the
food chain
E. Wildlife: much destruction and damage has been done to many species (hunting, fishing, etc.)
F. Fossil Fuels: are becoming rapidly depleted/add to air pollution problems
a. The search and demand for additional energy resources also impact ecosystems in a
negative way.
b. Industrialization has brought an increased demand for and use of energy.
G. Nuclear fuels - environmental dangers exist in reference to obtaining, using, and storing the
wastes from these fuels

ARC 1431: Planning 3 Introduction to Urban and Regional Planning

 Far Eastern University 2nd Semester 2021-2022
Institute of Architecture and Fine Arts
H. Air is becoming increasingly polluted
• Acid Rain -- sulfur dioxide (also nitrogen oxides) from coal burning sources + rain = ACID
RAIN

I. Forests: are becoming increasingly depleted as a result of timber needs & the need for more
agricultural land
• the direct harvesting of timber has destroyed many forests
• this destruction also impacts land use and atmospheric quality

J. Insects: our chief competitors for food

• we have destroyed many beneficial insects and many enemies of harmful insects with
insecticides

K. Land use (includes increasing urbanization and the cultivation of marginal lands)
• this decreases the space and resources available to other species

Some Other Factors which influence environmental quality

1. Population growth and distribution
2. Capacity of technology to solve problems
3. Economic, political, ethical, and cultural views

Species Preservation
• Some efforts to sustain endangered species have included habitat protection (wildlife
refuges and national parks) and wildlife management (game laws and fisheries).
• Animals which were once endangered but are presently successfully reproducing and
increasing their numbers are the bison, gray wolves and egrets.

ARC 1431: Planning 3 Introduction to Urban and Regional Planning