Yet it is for the very reason that these changes took place so long ago that they are so important. Their significance has seeped into every corner of our lives. The issue has been invisible to us not because it is so small, but because it is so big. We simply can't step far enough back to see it. Let's look at it, to begin with, from the environmental point of view.
Environmental quality is a function of development.
In the world's wilderness areas it depends on the absence of development. In managed landscapes like Britain's it depends on the balance of built and non-built development, and the quality and character of both categories. This quality and character rest in turn on who is making the development decisions. If a decision arises from an informed consensus of the views of local people and anyone else the development might affect, then we are likely to see people's vested interest in the quality of their surroundings, and hence the quality of their lives, reflected in that decision. If, on the other hand, a decision emerges from an impenetrable cabal of landowners, developers and government officials, accountable to no one but shareholders and the head of department, who don't have to suffer the adverse consequences of the development they choose, it is likely to have a far more negative impact on the environment and its inhabitants.