Blackwell Reference Online

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At its most basic level, the built environment refers to all elements of the human-made physical environment, i.e., it is defined in contrast to the natural environment. Dunlap and Catton's (1983) distinction between the “built,” the “modified,” and the “natural” environments is heuristically useful inasmuch as it more readily acknowledges the intermediate, mediative, and continuous possibilities of interaction and reciprocal relations between and among these divisions. Given its essentially contrast-dependent definition, it is not surprising that the term has become increasingly in vogue in the era of environmental consciousness. Usage varies widely and not always consistently across disciplines depending on the concreteness (pun intended) of the application, chosen placement along a micro-macro continuum, and over time. Within the engineering professions the phrase typically references infrastructural elements, components, support activities, technology, and/or systems as in, for example, the vast network of roads, rails, bridges, depots, and support facilities that enable the circulation of persons and/or things, i.e., the transportation infrastructure. Similarly, the “built environment” is used to capture the complex of activities, technologies, practices, and structures implicated in the generation, transmission, and delivery of energy and other utilities (e.g., water, sewerage, ... log in or subscribe to read full text