CIVILIZATION AND THE LANDSCAPE — CROWE 543 



and machines, with the desire for peace and community with nature 

 which only the countryside can give, and which can be destroyed by 

 the same machines which give us leisure and mobility. 



The lines on which we are attempting to work are becoming clearer, 

 although we are very far from either finding a solution or even attain- 

 ing general agreement on our aims. As a first step a certain extent of 

 landscape zoning is accepted, such as the designation of National 

 Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. These designations 

 give varying degrees of protection to the old landscape with its 

 established balance, its peace and its quietness. In defense of these 

 values we have official bodies, such as the National Parks Commission, 

 and the Nature Conservancy, and unofficial bodies such as the Council 

 for the Preservation of Kural England. Change comes to these 

 protected landscapes, but in general it comes slowly enough to be 

 absorbed. 



Secondly, we are progressively trying to improve the design of our 

 new structures and their relationship to the old landscape. The 

 progress in this direction is shown by the growing number of public 

 authorities and industrialists who take architectural and landscape 

 advice on the design, siting, and setting of their structures, whether 

 these be roads, power stations, reservoirs, factories, or housing. 



The third hopeful sign is the beginning of the counterattack on 

 waste areas. Some old slag heaps are being afforested, others cleared' 

 away. Gravel pits are being filled or converted into lakes and stocked 

 with fish. Many county councils, who are the planning authorities 

 for their areas, are actively engaged in this work of regeneration. 



There is a slight lessening of pollution in our rivers, clean air is 

 already increasing the range of plants which will grow in London, 

 and, most important of all, there is a growing public demand for this 

 cleaning-up process. The movement is very slow, but it is perceptible. 



One of the chief causes of failure is that we have not realized that 

 the landscape is one interrelated, biological complex in which water 

 conservation, flooding, afforestation, agriculture, and all the works of 

 man and nature are linked and interacting. If a landscape is to live, 

 all its parts must work together like the cells of an organism. This 

 can only be achieved by overall landscape planning by men who 

 understand the anatomy of the landscape, as a doctor understands the 

 anatomy of the human body. 



Perhaps no country has seen such rapid and extensive inroads into 

 hitherto wild landscapes as the United States of America. In her case 

 a land untouched by civilization has been subjected in the course of 

 two centuries to the most rapidly expanding economy the world has 

 ever seen. 



As a result the two facets of man's relationship to the landscape, 

 man the destroyer and man the creater and preserver, can be seen 



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