84 CONFERENCE ON NATURAL BEAUTY 



to the city's formation, developments which were largely social and 

 economic in nature. 



Just as there must be good manners in buildings and in the relation- 

 ship of these buildings to the environment, so should good manners 

 be exercised in relating people to the area in which they live. We 

 should not impose patterns upon people which are so unfamiliar 

 as to make them unhappy. Nor must the monotony of endless, repeti- 

 tive forms be imposed upon them, destroying the diversity of a city 

 area which developed out of the social character of those who formed 

 it. 



Go home and look around you. See what community forms 

 exist, what ethnic groups, and look at the economic situation. Unless 

 something is done now not tomorrow or next year, but now the 

 character so essential to the vitality of a city will be obscured and ero- 

 sion will set in. Let us maintain the contrasting patterns and shapes 

 of our cities and preserve their landmarks, historic and otherwise. 



Let us also begin to police the decay in our city areas and side 

 streets. Rows of trees and plantings cannot hide the rotting areas 

 and the beginning of slums; we must remember that leaves fall in 

 winter and that the gray, cold days will reveal the grime and decay 

 hidden during the summer. 



Mr. ECKBO. There is a series of steps which I think we will have 

 to go through in order to develop a positive program of townscape 

 development or urban design. 



First, we must recognize that the quality of the environment is 

 an important subject. It should be given front rank attention. It 

 has not had very much of this until now. 



When we speak of natural beauty and townscape we are really 

 talking about the total landscape, including all its structural elements. 

 The work of man is a part of nature. Beauty is something that 

 results from the relationship between the observer and scene and 

 is not something that is simply part of the scene. In other words, the 

 observer participates in creating the experience. 



I think the basic elements that mostly establish the quality of our 

 urban scene are the series of relationships between buildings and 

 open spaces, and pedestrians and open spaces. Of course, as you 

 know, the buildings and the motor vehicles tend to take over and 

 the pedestrians get crowded out. That is really the central design 

 problem in all our cities. 



