Man-Made environment

The phrase built environment refers to the man-made surroundings that provide the setting for human activity, ranging from the large-scale civic surroundings to the personal places.

In architecture and environmental psychology, the phrase is a useful acknowledgement that a small fraction of buildings constructed annually, even in the industrialized world, are designed by architects, and that users of the built environment encounter issues that cross the traditional professional boundaries between urban planners, traffic engineers, zoning authorities, architects, interior designers, industrial designers, etc. Historically, much of the built environment has taken the
form of vernacular architecture, and this is still the case in large parts of the world. In the industrialized world, many buildings are produced by large scale development remote from its eventual users.

In landscape architecture, the built environment is identified as opposed to the natural environment, with the recognition that places like Central Park may have the look, feel, and nourishing quality of natural surroundings while being completely artificial and "built", thus blurring the line between the two.

In urban planning, the phrase connotes the idea that a large percentage of the human environment is manmade, and these artificial surroundings are so extensive and cohesive that they function as organisms in the consumption of resources, disposal of wastes, and facilitation of productive enterprise within its bounds.Recently there has also been considerable dialogue and research into the impact of the built environment's impact on population health

Natural Environment

The natural environment, commonly referred to simply as the environment, is a terminology that comprises all living and non-living things that occur naturally on Earth or some part of it:

1. Complete ecological units that function as natural systems without massive human intervention, including all vegetable, animals, microorganisms, rocks, atmosphere and natural phenomena that occur within their boundaries.
2. Universal natural resources and physical resources that lack clear-cut boundaries, such as air, water, and climate, as well as energy, radiation, electric charge, and radiation, electric charge, and magnetism, not originating from human activity.

The natural environment is contrasted with the built environment, which comprises the areas and components that are strongly influenced by man. A geographical area is regarded as a natural environment, if the human impact on it is kept under a certain limited level. This level depends on the specific context, and changes in different areas and contexts. The term wilderness, on the other hand, refers to areas without any human intervention whatsoever .

It is the common understanding of natural environment that underlies environmentalism — a broad politicaland philosophical movement that advocates various actions and policies in the interest of protecting what nature remains in the natural environment, or restoring or expanding the role of nature in this environment. While true wilderness is increasingly rare, wild nature can be found in many locations previously inhabited by humans.

Goals commonly expressed by environmental environment include:

• reduction and clean up of pollution with future goals of zero pollution;
• cleanly converting non recyclable materials into energy through direct combustion or after conversion into secondary fuels;
• reducing societal consumption of non-renewable fuels;
• development of alternative, green, low-carbon or renewable energy sources;
• conservation and sustainable use of scarce resources such as water, land, and air;
• protection of representative or unique or pristine ecosystems;
• preservation of threatened and endangered species extinction;
• the establishment of nature and biosphere reserves under various types of protection; and, most generally,
• the protection of biodiversity and ecosystems upon which all human and other life on earth depends.

Very large development projects - also called mega projects - pose special challenges and risks to the natural environment. Major dams and power plants are cases in point. The challenge to the environment from such projects is growing because more and bigger mega projects are being built, in developed and developing nations alike.