Conceptual Framework For Scientific Research Program in Department of Planning and Designing the Environment

It is the aim of this article to show what contribution landscape modeling can make to the analysis of environmental effects and environmental planning. The term landscape modeling is used instead of regional modeling to clarify that both, ecological effects related to area and economic effects related to human action, are concerned. Landscape planning is from its origin interdisciplinary which is reflected in the fact that soil scientists, landscape ecologists, landscape planners, etc. should work together on this realm. In the modeling procedure, the principle of primary integration of disciplines is followed. The concept suggests a real interaction between all the disciplinary modules. It exceeds the commonly used concept of secondary integration, where only the results of independently calculated models are interpreted together, at the end. In the Environmental Sciences Research Institute of Shahid Beheshti University, the Department of Planning and Designing the Environment has directed its research program towards scientific themes with a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach, and has aimed to practice the conceptual framework of causes and effects of landscape change as a scientific base for land-use decisions in planning. This article outlines an introductory explanation for practice demands and landscape trends. It presents a framework based on a particular type of landscape change research that uses the principles and theories of landscape ecology as an underlying paradigm for explaining changes in landscapes. It introduces principal recommendations for interdisciplinary landscape change research program, and characterizes the key themes and issues about the conceptual framework of ecological networks in landscape ecological modeling.