Sustainable Urban Futures: Environmental Planning for Sustainable Urban Development

Urban Design derived as a separate profession after the determinations of the international conference about the future of cities. City beautification was the fundamental purpose of urban design at the time it was introduced as a separate profession. Over time, the scope and objectives of the urban design have changed This poses great challenges, but also great opportunities in terms of tackling environmental degradation In recent years, cities show increasing signs of environmental problems due to the negative impacts of urban activities. The degradation and depletion of natural resources, climate change pressure on green areas have become major concerns for cities. In response to these problems, urban planning policies have shifted to a sustainable focus and cities have begun to develop new strategies for improving the quality of urban ecosystems. An extremely important function of an urban ecosystem is to provide healthy and sustainable environments for both natural systems and communities. Therefore, ecological planning is a functional requirement in the establishment of sustainable built environment. With ecological planning human needs are supplied while natural resources are used in the most effective and sustainable manner. And the maintenance of ecological balance is sustained. Protecting environmental health, having healthy ecosystems, eliminating environmental pollution and providing green spaces are just a few of the many benefits of ecological planning. In this context, the paper presents a short overview of the importance of the implementation of ecological planning into sustainable urban development. Furthermore, the paper defines conceptual framework of a new method for developing sustainable urban ecosystems through ecological planning approach. In the future of the research, this model will be developed as a guideline for the assessment of the ecological sustainability in built environments. An important goal in the new millennium is to make existing and new urban areas more self-sufficient and,sustainable.