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• <br />• <br />• <br />Sustainability is not a set of concrete ideas; rather it is a decision making process. The goal of <br />this decision making framework is to link ecological integrity, social equity, and economic <br />prosperity. <br />The Lino Lakes Handbook for Environmental Planning and Conservation Development (published <br />in December 1999) included the Ecological and Conservation Development Planning Model <br />(Figure 1 -2) that illustrates ecology, culture, and economy are intrinsically linked components of <br />creating a sustainable community. Its premise is that to successfully protect and preserve the <br />local ecology, it must be considered within the context of, and balanced against, the other two <br />components of community development. As defined in the Handbook, this approach to planning <br />is referred to as conservation development and offers the opportunity to perpetuate an <br />interconnected latticework of natural landscapes, parks, trails, and greenways throughout the <br />city. <br />Figure 1 -2. Ecological and Conservation Development Planning Model <br />Ecology <br />"Conservation and <br />Land Stewardship" <br />Culture <br />"Livable Communities <br />Offering a High Quality <br />of Life" <br />Economy <br />"Economically Viable <br />Development" <br />Given the inherent economic pressures for land development in the city, preserving the natural <br />resource and open space qualities of the community requires a development process that makes <br />ecology integral to, rather than separate from, the other two components of community <br />development. However, the three areas or components of sustainability represented in this <br />model's circles were only linked where all three overlapped. A large portion of each component <br />is portrayed as not being interconnected with the other two components. This leads one to <br />believe that only some economic activities affect the environment, others affect society, a few <br />may affect both the environment and society, but most activities have no effect on the other two <br />components. These areas of no overlap are where this model falls short of explaining the true <br />relationship between ecology, culture, and economy. <br />1 -3 <br />