As Americans, we are the recipients and stewards of an incredible heritage of natural beauty and distinctive, attractive communities. From sea to shining sea, the beauty of our land, our cities, and our towns has shaped the character of America. Yet America the Beautiful is disappearing bit by bit, day by day. We see this loss everywhere around us as our towns and cities sprawl outward with cookie-cutter subdivisions and strip development. New roads pave over farmland and demolish historic sites to make way for subdivisions and strip malls.
Billboards clutter our roadsides and streetscapes.
Cellular towers crowd the ridgelines of our treasured hills and mountains. Meanwhile, our cities, once vibrant repositories of outstanding architecture and cultural institutions, lose people, investment, and talent to this dispersed, sprawl settlement. In the last two years, there has been a tremendous increase in public interest in land use decisions and the character of our communities. Now is the perfect time for communities to incorporate better scenic conservation practices as an explicit part of their plans for growth. Land use solutions should both limit land consumption and make for better, more attractive communities.