CHAPTER 16 



LANDSCAPE ACTION PROGRAM 



10:15 a.m., Tuesday, May 25 



The Chairman, Mr. WHYTE. Our subject this morning is land- 

 scape action. Other panels are taking big technical chunks of this. 

 Individually, we are learning a great deal from them; in the aggre- 

 gate, we are learning what a tremendous base for action now exists. 

 We need new tools, certainly; but we already have a lot of tools and 

 separate programs more than most of us have realized. But how 

 do we tie these together and where it counts? This is our 

 assignment. 



We are going to be talking about Federal and State programs, 

 but what we are really after is local action it is the catalyst we are 

 looking for. And never was one so needed. 



There is a big vacuum in our planning apparatus. 



There are hundreds of city, county, and regional planning and 

 recreation commissions and some are exceptional. But by and 

 large when it comes to the landscape, these organizations have an 

 operational defect. 



They don't look at it. I mean this in the literal sense of the word. 

 There are plenty of studies, soil classification and slope maps, open 

 space projects of one kind or another, and these are all very necessary. 

 But the view is bird's-eye. It is from way up there looking down. 

 It is the view of the aerial mosaic, and it is once or twice removed 

 from reality. 



The ultimate reality is what we see and smell and hear and at 

 ground level, as we walk or drive. We are dealing with effect; some 



Members of the Panel on the Landscape Action Program were 

 Representative Wayne N. Aspinall, Edward G. Crafts, Arthur 

 Greeley, Senator Henry M. Jackson, Philip Lewis, Ian McHarg, 

 Max Nicholson, and William H. Whyte (chairman). Staff Asso- 

 ciate was William J. Lucas. 



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