Human behavior and preferences are not homogeneous. Therefore, Complexity and heterogeneity characterize urban landscapes. The purpose of urban landscapes is to create a pleasing and comforting living environment. As a result of these presuppositions, the following statements were drafted by UHE graduate students in relation to their research seminar topics. Horticultural landscapes are driven by a combination of human perceptions and environmental constraints.
Wealth concentrates the essence of human ability to modify the environment to a preceived ideal.
Humans create urban landscapes to provide a pleasing place of refuge that is driven by a deep sense of need for security and creation of a unique point of interaction with nature. Plant distribution and species composition in urban landscapes is an interactive function of preceived self interest and resource availability to service that preceived self interest. People overplant landscapes to gain instant gratification, this creates green waste. People are more likely to participate in green waste recycling when it is more expensive not to participate. People compost out of preceived self interest.