THE NATURALISTNilima & Nivedita

THE NATURALIST

There is the ever present temptation to resolve a problem with UTOPIA(an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect), this must be avoided because utopias vary with people.Instead a very simple and basic views can ensure survival and life , which can be left to their own devices.

Rather presenting in a narrative description of natural law this should be invested in people who would be like ourselves but their attitude towards nature and to man, planning , management and art would differ, Naturalist will be the name.

Their cosmography is more modest and not at all man centred. Evolution is seen as a creative process ,retrogression(the process of returning to an earlier state,

typically a worse one) as reductive.

Creation and reduction, evolution and retroregression are thought to be attributes, examples are :

Sand dune1. Only few decades have elapsed

since the sand dune is emerged, it is sparsely populated by grasses and herbs, supports bacteria and insects, but no mammals.

2. Simple system.

The forest3. Has existed for millennia, so it

represents highest evolutionary expression.

4. Complex system

• If one multiplies simplicity, the result is uniformity.

• The product of complexities is diversity.

• The dune is result of uniform behaviour of sand particles, their angle of repose and grasses bent to the wind, reflecting sunlight.

• The forest is completely diverse with large number of species environments, pathways which indeed are multiplications of complexities.

Relative stability and instability

• The dune is unstable , subject to the vicissitudes of wind and ocean, tempered by anchoring vegetation.

• The forest has its own internal climate, microclimate and water regimen. The processes themselves are the basis of stability.

• When two speices perform identical roles in same place and time ;one will surely succumb.

• Number of species is the indication of roles being performed.

• In the dune ,with the few species ,but large populations, interactions are prepondarantly intraspecies whereas in forests , with many species exhibit inter and intra species interaction.

Click icon to add picture• The process of achieving a fitting between

the organism and environment is a continuous and dynamic process.

• They have no noted that no organism exist independently.

• In consideration of altruism(disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others.), it is important to reject sentimentality, there is no doubt about the fear of prey and ferocity of the predator.

• Several concurrent value sysytems operating in this cosmography, first of these is based upon negentrophy, in this scale plants are supreme.

Conclusion

The first giver is Sun ,1. mountains have many attributes the bringer of rains,Iced and snow caps reserve water and rivers bring water to

us,2. oceans are the second givers with home to ancient life, 3. chloroplast and the plant are the third givers, 4. the decomposers are the fourth givers, those that return all things Naturalist believe that man is natural but there are some special problems dealing with man Its is not as simple to examine amoeba or flatworm. The humans are influenced by various emotional factors also the environment both physical and social offer

maximum opportunity for the elaboration of each unique personality. The observed fact that life eats life and that death is not a problem in their cosmography. Naturalist are commited to acquisition of knowledgeand have a great realm of human understanding . They have in heir own company not only scientist but humanists who have espoused the ecological view.

A STEP FORWARDNilima & Nivedita

BACKGROUND STUDY•This chapter starts with the question can values which nature represents be weighed and measured so that decent prudent men can act in deference to them ? Can same ecological method be employed for complex problems?

•A Highway is a major public investment which affects the economy, the way of life, health and visual experience. So it should be properly located and designed. • In the highway design, the problem is reduced to the simplest and the most commonplace terms: 1. traffics, 2. volume, 3. design speed, 4. capacity,5. pavements6. structures, 7. horizontal and vertical alignment. •These considerations are connected to cost-benefit and the consequences of this are seen in the scars upon the land and in the cities.

Highways

To create a new public values. A device to improve the landscape and

satisfy the visual experience of driver. In least damage to landscape exploit the

qualities of landscape meeting the traffic requirement.

Landscape architects are appointed to heal the scars made by the highway construction.

•The Highway is likely to create new values whether or not this is an act of conscious policy. Without planning, new values may displace existing ones, but even if a net gain results there may well be considered losses.

The issue was a simple one. Should the highway select the Greenbelt for its route in order to reveal it to the public or should it serve the Greenbelt, but avoid the destruction of transaction?

Example :Bronx River parkway

•The example of the Bronx River Parkway and create new values while avoiding destruction of the few oases that remain for twelve million New Yorkers. •The best criteria for interstate highway route selection is 1. slope, 2. surface drainage, 3. soil drainage,4. bedrock foundation, 5. soil foundation, 6. susceptibility to erosion,7. land values,8. tidal inundation, 9. historic values, 10.scenic values, 11. recreation values, 12.water values, 13. forest values, 14.wildlife values, 15. residential values and 16. institutional values.

Example :Bronx River parkway

•The objective of this project is not to just satisfy the traffic problem but also the investment to public fund to rehabilitate the foul river and its landscape to create a new public values. •The objective of an improved method should be to incorporate1. resource values, 2. social values and 3. aesthetic values in addition to the normal criteria of physiographic, traffic and engineering considerations. • In short, the method should

reveal the highway alignment having the maximum social benefit and the minimum social cost.

The Task of Highways

Eg: Blue Ridge Parkway.

•The character of the highway is not changed by entitling it a parkway but this title has been used to describe highways in areas of great natural beauty - the Blue Ridge and Palisades Parkways, for example. •Here, where beautiful landscapes are abundant, there is little social loss and great social benefit.• Where resources are as precious as the Greenbelt in Staten Island, this conception is not appropriate.

Objectives of the highways construction• To use this improved method of highway construction to incorporate resource values, social values and aesthetic values in addition to the normal criteria of physiographic, traffic and engineering consideration.•Method of savings to decrease the causes of accidents on highways.•It is necessary to obtain the ratio of saving cost of 1.2:1.0.•Maximum social benefit minimum social cost.•To quantify either health or beauty.

Eg: Interstate highways

Highways

Water and air values

Residential and

recreational values

Institutional and land

values

Wildlife values

The transparencies of the first group are superimposed upon one another and from this a summary map is produced that reveals the sum of physiographic factors influencing highway route alignment. Each subsequent parameter is then superimposed upon the preceding until all parameters are overlaid. The darkest tone then represents the sum of social values and physiographic obstructions to a highways corridor; the lightest tone reveals the areas of least social value representing the least direct cost for highway construction. The highway should be located in that corridor of least social value and cost, connecting points of origin and destination. Moreover, it should provide new values – not only of convenience, but also of scenic experience – as a product of public investment.

• We can now apply the method to the Richmond Parkway. • The first group of factors included some of those orthodox criteria normally employed by

engineers-• slope, • bedrock geology, • soil foundation conditions, • soil drainage and susceptibility to erosion. • The degree of opportunity or limitation they afford is reflected directly in the cost of

highway construction. The next category concerns danger to life and property and includes area vulnerable to flood inundation from hurricanes. The remaining categories are evaluations of natural and social processes including historic values, water values, forest values, wildlife values, scenic values, recreation values, residential values, institutional values and land values. Each factor with its three grades of values is photographed as a transparent print.

Various attributes of measuring the values of the site:

Soil Soil drainage Bedrock foundation Soil foundation Susceptibility to erosion Land values Tidal inundation Historic values Scenic values Water values Residential values Recreational values Wildlife Institutional values forest