Environmental Problems in the Context of Urban and Regional Planning

There is a general opinion that problems of human environment should be incorporated in a system of management and planning of socio-economic development. Such incorporation gives the best frame for the treatment of these problems according to the requirements of the present time. The aim of this article is to present the way of incorporating environmental problems in the management system and especially in planning systems at urban and regional levels and conditions that ought to be fulfilled in order to make this incorporation effective. We assume the following organizational structure of the national economy. Decisions concerning environment are made along three organizational systems, that is: territorial system, sectoral system, and population. The territorial system consists of three levels: local, regional and national. Large urban-industrial agglomerations are units of regional level. The sectoral system consists of enterprises, industrial corporations and economic ministries. This system includes also cooperatives and social organizations. The third system consists of households. The biggest transformations of environment are caused by the sectoral system. What are the necessary conditions of incorporating environmental problems to management, urban and regional planning at the given organizational structure? The author defines sixteen such conditions. Among them are: 1) Plans of cities and regions ought to take into account guiding principles of the central programme of environment protection, which is a part of the integrated socio-economic programming. 2) It is indispensable to work out new instruments of environment protection planning. They are: quantification of environmental factors and linking data concerning the enviroment with regional statistic data, linking environmental criteria in decision models with technological, economic and social criteria, modelling antropogenic changes in the environment, including environmental factors in cost-benefit analysis. 3) It is indispensable to coordinate plans and activities of territorial and sectoral systems as far as environment development is concerned. 4) The decisive role in coordination of operational character should be given to regional organs of planning and management. 5) Prevention of environmental disturbance should be the main principle of environmental protection. 6) It is necessary to call into being an environmental inspection agency and give it regulatory authority. What way of incorporating environmental problems in the management systems would satisfy the necessary conditions of effective incorporation? The way presented below does not take all conditions into account. In order to ensure clarity of graphic presentation we limit ourselves to two conditions 3 and 4 which play an especially significant role in the author's conception therefore require emphasis.Digitalizacja i deponowanie archiwalnych zeszytów RPEiS sfinansowane przez MNiSW w ramach realizacji umowy nr 541/P-DUN/201