EDUCATION 517 



right over to the White House and put her to work developing a 

 primer of metropolitan area economics, like the Wacker Manual for 

 the plan of Chicago, written in 1920, which has had a huge influence 

 on the whole shape of one of the world's great cities. Will you do 

 that, please? 



Miss WARD. I think the idea of being kidnapped is absolutely 

 swell. I entirely agree that a simple citizen manual to the eco- 

 nomic problems of the big megalopolitan areas is absolutely essen- 

 tial. I hope it will be considered as one of the specific suggestions 

 coming out of this panel discussion. I hope it won't be considered 

 that we are, in fact, in this way moving away from beauty. We 

 are not. We are trying to show people the forces which they 

 will have to master if decisions relating to beauty are going to be 

 made. 



I might just give one small example of this. In Britain we 

 have had the concept of the greenbelt and the greenbelt did 

 many fine things for the London area, but the trouble is that when 

 it was devised, people thought of us as a nation with a static popu- 

 lation and a city as a thing which stayed put. 



Now, what has happened is that our city, like every city, has 

 begun to explode, and what was a greenbelt is now a green 

 halter. This means that it is becoming constantly encroached upon 

 in ways that are incredibly unbeautiful, because it is no longer, 

 as it were, in consonance with the dynamism of the situation. 



I firmly believe that there is an answer, that it is an answer 

 of the utmost importance for London, New York, for Pittsburgh, 

 for Cleveland, for Moscow, wherever you like, because the prob- 

 lem is the same. We must expect dynamic growth, because we won't 

 be able to stop it, but we must see that our parks grow with the 

 dynamism. In other words, we must have not the greenbelt 

 alone, but the wedge parks and the corridor parks, which give 

 the citizens access to the greenbelt laterally and thus keep natural 

 beauty within reach. 



Having said that, I would say it involves the most difficult 

 economic decision that can be made, because it means deciding 

 for your metropolitan area who is not going to be able to build 

 those little villas and make a very large profit. When you reach 

 this decision, you are up against the point where economics and 

 beauty just begin to grind against each other. The dilemma is one 

 citizens have to know. 



