PARKS AND OPEN SPACES 117 



we find our place in the street pattern and the street vistas ; in rela- 

 tion to the topography and heights dominated by a building like 

 the National Capitol; or in relation to the density and heights of 

 buildings. In the future, as in the past, the shape of the city may 

 be the key to order and shape is defined by parks and open spaces. 



The point about order is that it is the opposite of disorder and 

 ugliness. It is the disorderliness of litter which so offends us, and 

 the reliance on disorder to attract attention to advertising billboards. 

 To reestablish order we need controls over billboards, greatly im- 

 proved maintenance, police protection and law enforcement, and 

 education to combat Jitterbugs and vandalism. And we have all 

 experienced to greater or less degree, the costs and disadvantages of 

 urban sprawl or growth without shape or order. 



The first necessity for the orderly and efficient growth and develop- 

 ment of our cities large and small is shape and form. Which 

 areas are to be developed and served by expensive roads, schools, 

 and utilities, and which are going to remain open or with low 

 density? The parks and open spaces define the shape of the city. 



"Natural" is the other keyword in this conference. Mankind 

 wants to sense order in what he makes and does, but he also wants to 

 feel and know he is part of a natural order. As a physical animal, 

 man is dependent on the natural and needs refreshment by recurring 

 contact with living things. Too much of our cities is completely 

 manmade and consists of inert objects. We need the contrast of liv- 

 ing trees and grass, flowers and shrubs and birds and squirrels and 

 chipmunks. 



You may remember that the father of the park movement in 

 America Frederick Law Olmsted 100 years ago said that the 

 justifying value of a public park is re-creation as well as recreation, 

 through contact with pleasing natural scenery. 



In other words, the parks and open spaces in and around our 

 cities are not waste lands or unused until they are built upon or cov- 

 ered with concrete. On the contrary they are the essential voids 

 which give meaning to the solids. They are the essential contacts 

 with the natural in an artificial environment. We have a gigantic 

 task ahead of us to emphasize the positive uses and values of open 

 spaces. Since we have become an urban people we have a special 

 obligation to fill the gap in the lives of our children and grandchil- 

 dren caused by their increased separation from the natural. 



