Science-Based Landscape Planning in Urban Watersheds - Urban Watersheds: Geology, Contamination, and Sustainable Development - page 503

15.5 Summary and Conclusion
Science and planning are cut from similar cloths, with both performing some of the same
steps during their implementation. Yet, there is a science-policy gap existing in the United
States that has prevented a full application of scientific knowledge and methods to land
planning problems at different geographic scales. The reasons for this gap are complex,
although opportunities exist during the land planning process to narrow it.
At the parcel-level scale, the specification of density through the uniform subdivision
of a large land parcel often precedes the physical analysis of the landscape. This process
compromises the ability to account for micro-scale landscape processes. Since a large per-
centage of the land in U.S. urbanized watersheds consists of subdivisions, ending this
practice and instituting an analysis first, density last approach provides one opportunity
to narrow the science-policy gap. Ending the practice of ordinance cloning and employing
environmental scientists during the land development process are other ways to reduce
this gap.
A science-based landscape planning approach, carried out at the parcel scale, provides
additional potential to narrow the science-policy gap. Because of the site and situation
relationships within watersheds, and the legal framework for land development in the
United States, successful planning at the parcel scale is a prerequisite to effective water-
shed management.
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