82 CONFERENCE ON NATURAL BEAUTY 



nature. He said to me with a bit of sadness in his voice that he was 

 sorry that he never knew until he grew old that the world was so 

 beautiful. 



The National Council of State Garden Clubs plans to set up con- 

 servation conferences and workshops in the next two years, the 

 first held at Jackson Hole, Wyo., from September 3 to September 8. 

 The theme chosen is "Natural Beauty: The Follow-through." At 

 this meeting, suggestions and recommendations coming out of this 

 White House Conference on Natural Beauty are to be studied and 

 discussed. We are so pleased that Mrs. Lyndon Johnson will be 

 one of the conference speakers. 



By actually following through with beautification projects, we 

 hope to play a vital part in the great crusade of this present genera- 

 tion to help bring about the flowering of America. 



Mr. HAMILTON. What is the image of beauty a city should have? 



Those of you who are planners are aware of the work of Kevin 

 Lynch on the factors of what he calls the image-ability of a city. 

 Then there is Mr. Lewis' work in Wisconsin in identifying resources 

 and Mr. Bacon's own work in Philadelphia. In Pittsburgh we 

 tackled what we called the image of Pittsburgh. What we were try- 

 ing to do was to identify, through an effective inventory, the concept 

 of what that city is today, analyze its strengths and its weaknesses, its 

 principal factors of beauty, its topography and the historic buildings 

 that should be protected. We attempted to develop an over-all 

 conceptual arrangement which could be implemented specifically 

 by the improvement or revision of public policies and ordinances. 



It seems to me, in looking at this question of beauty in a city, we 

 need think not only in terms of our individual elements, but of the 

 way they fit together. For example, one of the great strengths of 

 Pittsburgh is the fact that there are many ethnic groups that created 

 communities with beautiful churches. These churches and some of 

 the housing of the individuals have unique qualities. In zoning pol- 

 icies, in the building code and in urban renewal such strengths should 

 be built upon so that the city, in fact, maintains its unique qualities. 



In Los Angeles, we do not have quite as many unique areas and 

 yet we are nevertheless attempting to formulate policies which are 

 aimed at developing beauty through local action. For instance, when 

 someone wants a rezoning he must form, with his neighbors, a sort 

 of special assessment district, and as a requirement for putting in a 



