An Appraisal on the Landscape elements of Ondo state - Case studies of ALAGBAKA OJA-OBA AND FUTA

CHAPTER ONE 1.0 

INTRODUCTION 

1.1.1 BACKGROUND INFORMATION 

Landscape basically means the appearance of the land. It also refers to an area of land that has a specific quality or appearance. The landscape of a region is the physical features of that region as a  whole.  Landscape  is  very  key  to  sustainable  environmental  development  which  is  now  a buzzword  in  environmental literature (Ibimilua 2014). Essaghah  (1997)  argued that  landscape planning is consists of activities that are aimed at the enunciation of existing open space in order to improve the quality of the built environment. It is everywhere and may comprise rural landscape, urban landscape (or townscape), urban fringe landscape, coastal landscape, seascape, among others (Fadamiro et al, 2014). Landscape design, like painting, sculpture, and architecture, is a form of art. “Design” is defined as “the planned arrangement of elements to form a visual pattern” in David Laurer’s  Design  Basics. The  opposite  of  design  is  to  place  elements by chance  or  at  random (Melvin 2006). Landscape Installation is the act of setting up the landscape for use. The installation procedure  involves  sod  removal,  edging,  weed  barriers,  installing  the  plants,  mulching,  and retaining walls, after which the landscape is constantly maintained. There exists various methods of landscape design and installation. Lynch and Hack identify the  following  twelve  methods  used  in  landscape  architecture:  Learning  probes,  subconscious suggestion,  brainstorming,  evaluation  criteria,  well-spaced  alternatives,  focus  on  the  means, incremental  improvement,  incremental  adaption,  behavior  settings,  structure  of  the  problem, optimizing the essential function and disaggregation. Lynch and Hack do not talk about process or design  theory.  Rather,  they  concentrate  on  the  identification  and  definitions  of  the  methods (Lynch&Hack undated). 

The effective management of landscape is particularly buttressed by landscape assessment. If robustly and rigorously applied, landscape assessment should inform both the approach and decision-making process relating to how landscapes are managed and thereby reduce subsequent costs in policy-making process or proposed project (Fadamiro et al, 2014).    Man and his environment are inseparable and must be considered in their relationship with each other. Steps have been taken over the years to create a workable interaction between the two phenomena. In the bid to rise up to the situation, the environmental scientists and other related professionals have shown a great concern in various researches which have led to world summits and conferences. These are brainstorms that are meant to fashion out reliable modalities for the control of the environment both at the micro and macro levels (Fadamiro et al, 2014).   Landscape assessment is concerned with assessment of the landscape quality. It is a sub-category of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). Landscape quality is assessed either as a part of a strategic planning process or in connection with a specific development which will have an impact  on  the  landscape.  The  term  landscape  assessment  can  be  used  to  either  mean  Visual assessment or Character assessment. Visual assessment is concerned with the nature and extent of visual impacts and qualities relating to locations and proposals. Character assessment includes assessments  of  each  aspect  of  the  landscape:  geology,  hydrology,  soils,  ecology,  settlement patterns,  cultural  history,  scenic  characteristics,  land  use  etc.  It  typically  includes  distinct descriptive and evaluative components (Fadamiro et al, 2014). 

1.1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS Chaotic Landscape Management as a result of Unplanned Population Explosion The unplanned, uncontrolled, chaotic city growth, population explosion, pollution, erosion, misuse of  natural  and  man-made  resources  are  posing  far  reaching  challenges  to  the  environmental 3  designers in Akure. So also are the urban drift, neglect of rural areas, overcrowding, environmental degeneration and degradation in the urban areas. Hence, the search for quality urban and rural environments which are crucial developmental issues calling for maximum attention and concerted efforts of all environmental designers in the developing countries. (Fadamiro et al, 2014) One of the critical issues of concern to most national governments world over is the need to stem the  rate  of  urbanization  induced  by  the  incidence  of  globalization,  industrialization  and  an unprecedented population growth rate in the cities. (Jiboye, 2005). This concern has led to several global Summits organized at various level of government, international Agencies including the United Nations. Specifically among such are, the millennium Development Goals Summits, the 2002 world summit in Johannesburg and the 2005 La-Havana UN sustainable cities documentation of  experience  programme  among  several  others.  In  each  of  these  summits,  member  nations reiterate  the  need  for  good  and  effective  governance  as  a  means  of  achieving  sustainable development in the cities (Oladunjoye, 2005).