PARKS AND OPEN SPACES 129 



Outdoor facilities for art exhibits and other such special purposes 

 could be improved and expanded, with care being taken to provide 

 adequate lighting. 



Playgrounds and other recreational areas could be beautified and 

 broadened in scope so as to benefit all age groups. 



Restoration of our waterfront areas should also be high on our 

 agenda, and more attention could be given to utilizing our city lake 

 and river systems for boating, fishing, and other leisurely pastimes. 



Furthermore, we must begin exercising more imagination and 

 foresight in developing long-range plans for the shape of our future 

 cities. Each year one million acres of land are lost to urbanization. 

 Much of it is wasted when it might have been effectively utilized if 

 the communities had a better set of blueprints. The failure to plan 

 well now will only spell additional complications and expenditures 

 in the future. 



But perhaps most important of all, we must now launch a massive 

 national effort aimed at establishing beauty in design as a major 

 element in all Federally assisted urban construction programs. I 

 have proposed that we begin by amending the Housing Act of 1949 

 to add language to the declaration of national housing policy that 

 will make explicit the government's objective to provide leadership 

 in the achievement of beauty in all communities. 



Along with this, I am going to ask that a National Council on 

 Urban Design be established for the purpose of reviewing Federal 

 aid projects to secure quality design. 



We will thus be able to put new emphasis on the aesthetics of 

 construction that has been so far lacking. 



These are just a few of the initiatives which are going to be needed 

 if the concept of a more beautiful society is to be realized. The 

 President addressed himself forcefully and eloquently to these prob- 

 lems in his recent landmark message. 



The time is now past when we could defer these goals. Our coun- 

 try is a gift that has been put temporarily into our safekeeping. We 

 do not have the right to spoil that which future generations must one 

 day inherit. 



Questions and Discussion 



JOSEPH A. DIETRICH. I notice, as is usual, that in most of 

 these discussions the emphasis has been placed on the words "city 

 parks." Many of us are also deeply concerned with the problem 



