Puls, New York (ilo Stevar) THE INTERPRETATION OF ORDINARY LANDSCAPES Geographical Essays D. W. Meinig, Editor I. B. Jackson Peirce B Lewis David Lowenthal D. W. Meinig Marwyn S, Samuels David E. Sopher Yi-Fu Tuan OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS NewYork 979 OxfordSymbolic Landscapes Some Idealizations of American Communities D.W. Meinig Three Landscapes Every mature nation has its symbolic landscapes. They are pert ofthe ‘eonography of nationhood, part of dhe shared set of ideas and memories snd felings which bind a people together. ‘The topic Isa complex one, fraught with nuances and diferent ex pressions at various levels of socal consciousness, but the existence of the phenomenon seems clear. One need not argue for some mystical bond of Blut and Boden, one need only point ta the kinds of landscape images widely employed because they are assumed to convey certain mesnings ‘The simplest examples are those which are clearly idenifed with specific major institutions or events, such as in the eave of the United States, the White House nnd Independence Hall. In the great majority of cates the Pictures of these buildings put before us in various media are meant to ‘evoke responses which have little to do with the appreciation fo thelr spe- Symbolic Landscapes 16s cific architecture as buildings: rather they are assumed to prompt some connection with ur national institutions and history, ‘There are also landscape depietins which may be powerfully evoca- tive because they are understood as being particular kind of place rather than a precise building or locality, Among the most famous in Amerie is the scene of a village embowered in great elms and maples, ts location marked by a slender steple rising gracefully above a white wooden church ‘which fces ona village green around which ae arayed large white clap- Doar houses which, like the church, show a simple elegance i form and ‘wim. These few phrases are sufficient to conjure an instant mental image of 4 speclal kid of place im avery famous region. As the author of a recent ‘ldebook confidently stated “To theatre world a stspled church, st ns ramet white woden houses sound a manicured common, remaine a sne whi says "New England = ‘Our intrest i not simply inthe Fact that such a scene “stys” New England, but more especially In what New England "says" tous through ‘the medium ofits villages. That it seys something which is wiely appre ‘lated seems clear from the nationwide popularity of such scenes: on calen- ars, patriotic posters, Christmas cards and other religions materials; the ‘many prints and paintings which adora the walls of homes and offices and public places; in their use in advertising, especially for products or services related to the family, home, and security, Just what meaning is intended and what is received from such depictions might be dif know with any precision, but drawing simply upon one's experience as an American (hich is, after all,an appropriate way to judge a national symbol i seems clear that such scenes eary connotations of continuity (af nt just some thing important in our pat, but a visible bond between past and present, of stability, qulet prosperity, cohesion and intimacy, Taken as whole, the Jmage ofthe New England village is widely assumed to symbolize for many people the best we have known af an intimate, family-centered, Godearin, ‘morally conscious, industrious, thilty, democratic commit ‘That i ofcourse a projection from sn actual landscape and society ‘The New England village was @ distinctive American cretion of a very distinctive society. Although many of its features such as the concept of ‘own and village, the arable strips and common lands, and the centrality of the church obviously had English antecedents there were significant differ ‘ences inform, content, and function. In America the Puritans, who had beet166 American Espressons A seeled church sot in nme of white Howse around a common says “Kew [Enlan,” and ss among the most powerfal tems in the ienography of Americ Iyadon Center, Vermont (Vermone Deelopment Asay) no more than losely assoclated fragments within the larger society of En sland, formed a relatively homogeneous group which attempted at least in some places to ereate "Christian utopian, closed, corporate” communities? ‘Their early settlements stamped a distinct imprint upon the glaciated lowlands of New England, and in rome loosened form that pater was spread over nearly all of New England, mort of Upstate New York and northernmost Peansyivania, major districts of Oho, Michigan, and Indiana, and sporadically vera broad expanse ofthe Upper Middle West* "The New England village as 2 landscape form was thus evident in some degree well beyond its source region, and its fame asa distinct kind of ‘community and setting spread far beyond any local imprint. I became national, andthe means of such effective diffusion seems generally evident. ‘Throughout the nineteenth century New Englanders dominated the writing of American history and literature, they wore the most powerful intuence tupon American education, and they were self-appointed guardians of American moral authority. Kt seems reasonable to assert that in association with such activities an idealized image ofthe New England village became Symbolic Landscapes 167 so powerfully impressed upon such a broad readership as to become 8 national symbol, a model seting for the American community ‘There sre other model landscapes of American community, emerging ‘ut of aur national experfence with other repions and other times, Certainly 1 major successor and rival to the New England village i scene focused not upon the church and village green but upon a street, lined with three or four-story red brick business blocks, whose rather ornate fenestrations and cornices reveal their ninetenth century origins. Above the storefronts and fwnings are the offices of lawyers, dortrs, and dentists, and above these the mosting rooms ofthe various fraternal orders, A courthouse, set apart on ts ow block, may be visible, but i snot an esential element, forthe {reat classical columns fronting the stone temple of busines proclaim the bunk asthe real seat of suthorty. This x Main Street, and parallel with it lies Church Stret, not ofthe church, but of churches: Methodist, Peabyte tan, Baptist, Episcopalian, and if there are Yankees present, Congress: tional, Close by isthe academy and perhaps stall denominational col- lege. The residential area begins with big Italianate and Victorian houses on spacious treeshaded lots and grades out to lesser but sil comfortable Tomes. On the other side of town, below the depot, ate the warshouses and small factories. And around It all le a prosperous farming country dated with handsome farmhouses and big red bars, ‘We may well refer to this landscape as Main Stretof Middle America ‘The basic order Is linear: Moin Street running east and west, a business ‘thoroughfare aligned with theaxsof national development. ttis"midle" in ‘many connotations in location—between the frontier to the west and the cosmopolitan seaports tothe east; in economy—a commercial enter sur rounded by agriculture and augmented by local industry to form a balanced Alversty; in social clase and sructure—with no great exremes of wealth or poverty, with srial gradations but no rigid layers, a genuine community but fot tghilycobesive; im size—nots small as to be atulying nor s0 large as to forfeit friendohip and familiarity. In this generalized image Maln Street is the seat of a business culture of property-minded, law-abiding ctiens de- ‘voted to "fre enterprise” and "socal morality,” a community of sober, sen sible, practical people. The Chamber of Commerce and the Protestant churches are naturally linked in support of "progress" and “improvement. For many poople over many decades of or national ile this isthe landscape of “small town virtues," the “backbone of America," the “real America ‘And ofcourse this, to is an fdeslied version of an actual landscape, ‘one which emerged in the Ohio country, expanded broadly over the Middle‘The cli columns fronting the tae tele of business procaimed the bank at ‘he rel sot of suber asm ha rther ubded yrsion a main sree In Bath, New Yok jut othe eas ol te archetypal Obi Cnty, (ilo Stewart, New Yor StteCounllon the Ars) ‘West, and reappeared in some degre in parts of Colorado, the Sacramento Valle, and the Great Columbia Pain. As cultural form it drew upon three ‘egonal societies ofthe colonial seaboard. The clesrestantecedant is south astern Pennsylvania with its diverse amalgam of peoples forming sclal ‘elghborhoods in the rolling pradoctve farmlands and giving ese to trlv= ing markct towns But Ohio was not conscious imitation and it easly blended in elements from New England, expecially i relerence to religion, ‘education, morality, and Virginia, especially im political Ife and forms Arising in our "national hearth,” ths experimental ground ofthe new re Public daring the frat half-century of our national life and characteristic of ‘uch a brood reali of our most productive lands where so many millions found some real substance tothe American Dream, iti pot surprising that this Main Street became an enormously influential landscape symbol, widely assumed to represent the most “typically Amerieaa.”” (Created ring the canal and early railroad age ofthe miéalneteenth Symbolic Landscapes 169 ‘century, such landscapes were readily adapted to accomodate the electric iterurbans and streetcars ofthe turn of the century. Early eutomobiles ‘were aio quickly and prowdly incorporated, but in time the automobile proved much too powerful to be contained and domesticated within such & landscape. It was such a revolutionary instrument, so penetrating and per ‘vasive in its impact upon American society, that ft erated its own land. Scape ts own physieal and socal form of community. ‘And oo let us visualize third scene: of low, wide-preading, single story houses standing on broad late fronted by open, pefect green Invns: the most prominent feature ofthe hous isthe twocar garage opening onto 4 broad driveway, connecting tothe broad curving street (with no side- ‘walks, for pedestrians are unknown and unwanted) which lads othe great freeways on which these fluent nuclear fells can be catied swifly and cfforlsely in air-conditioned comfort to suring or skiing golfing, boating, or country-clubbing as well as to the great shopping plazas and to drive-in facilities catering to every need and whim ‘his is suburbia, but more specifically itis California Suburbia. OF course suburbs did not originate in California, In American they began to appear on the outskirts of many cites in the liter nineteenth century. Sam Bess Warner's well-known book Strastcer Suburbs refers to. major example ofa type and era. But the idealized suburban andscape awaited the devel- ‘opment of something more: not suburbs as mere adjunets of older urban as, but a discrete and independent landscape, detaching the term from ite itera meaning: not subordinate, but the dominant pattern, That awaited the massownership of automobiles, giving every family auton ‘mous, discretionary mobility over wide areas, whic, In tua, allowed the development of enttely new “urban” atess designed forthe automobile. t seems quite clear thatthe major culture hearth ofthis development was Southern California ‘A streetcar suburbia of great attractiveness had been developed in Southern California in the wake of the great boom of the 1860s. Infsenced by the earlier promotion of subtropical agricultural colonies it had ‘marked horticultural look with homer surrounded by an effusion of Rowers, gardens, and groves. The small irigated plot amidst the orange groves had proved « powerful attraction to Midwestern migrants, but the emphasis steadily sifted from practical agriclture wo simpy the enjoyment of life in 1 wonderfully pleasant environment. It was es an extension from thls dis tinctve kindof regional settlement thatthe new landscape of Automobile CClture rapidly emerged inthe 1920s?Houses amidst an effusion of flowers, gardens, and proves between the mountains Sa these he sunny sbtrepice af Southern Calforia war a new sobubla of feat trctvnes (Los Angeles Publi Libra) ‘As Frank Donovan has stated, “the greatest single factor” in the ‘transformation of Amerie i the twentieth century sees stew concept af the role f the automate. Stating as 2 ich man’s ty Sr the plaything of sports, ad become, during the tensa denendable Ulan mean of rangportation, accepted by farmers andthe mile as. Now It riddenly became way of ie fo ll Atertcans™ ‘Our concern is not with the development of the automobile but ofthe landscape developed as a result of it. A wide array of new elements was involved, such as new types of houses incorporating garages and carports, new street patterns and road designs, new kinds of automobile service st tons and drive-in facilities, motels and shopping plazas, auto clubs and free road maps. Many of thee ems were developed elsewhere, but taken to- tether a6 @ new culture complex shaping Its own landscape i appears rst fd most thoroughly in Southern California, The East built the cars, but California taught us how to live with them. Symbolic Landscapes m Southern California was a srong growth regoa in the 1920s. Eaten sive areas of open land were being urbanized and thus designers could create a new landscape tot the automobile rather than adapt olde ferms tw accomodate « radical fanovation." But there was more to it tha just room for expansion. (Florida was booming too, but had litle noticeable Jmpact on the national landscape.) Southern California was also giving birth to a new kind of society. It might be characterized a6 « lise society, not because most of the people were so rich they need not work, ‘but because it was based on a very different attude toward work which ‘made leisure a postive good, s definite bresk with older Puritan and Middle American mores. Southern California was the chief source-egion fof «new American life-style which has been expanding and elaborating for more than fifty years, featuring a relaxed enjoyment ofeach day in cassal Indoor outdoor living, with an accent upon individual gatieation,physi- cal health, and plearant exercise It wat @ style which took maximum advantage of distinctive geographic setting, The patio, swimming pool, nd backyard barbeque, fariture and clothing designed for selaxed daily Living, the enjoyment of sun bathing, swimming, surfing and tennis were ll beautiflly appropriate tothe sunny summer-dry subtropisaunidst the range groves and fowering shrubs between the mountains and the sea- shore. The automobile was an integral and essential part of this new indie idualstie,lnforml, immediate lifestyle, It was an assumed feature of ‘major importance tothe design of clothing houses, services, whole cities, and what we heve termed the landscape of California Suburbia was the general result. Furthermore, although distinctively regional in some ofits basic ele- ments, this image was Kdealizd and rapidly diflured tothe nation, It was powerful image, for it combined a very attzctve physieal landscape de- signed to serve m very attractive new way of life; I was associated with a reglon which had a mythicel quality about it as pat ofthe persistent deep peychological drives of the westward movement; and its depletion was tarried tothe American public by an unprecedentedly powerful propaganda ‘medium: the cinema. The emergence ofthis new lifestyle and of autor bile culture was intimately and complexly associated withthe emergence of the movie Industry. All were bathed in the sme glamout, the same asocia- ion with that which was reyarded as “modern” and fashionable. Thus Hollywood, mostly unconsciously, perhaps, put before the eyes ofthe world a selective idealized California landscape as if were the best American Iie, an obvious standard to strive for, «model for the future, An for halfm “Amorican Expssions ‘Thornton Wilde's classic Our Town, ane ofthe most popular plays in the history of the American theater, was set in New England at a very specific time and place. The playwright assumed it was a landscape so familiar to audiences anywhere that he relied not on stage scenery but on few descriptive phraset to trigger their imaginations: As the curtain ses the Stage Manager walks onto the blank stage and proceeds to tll the sudlcnce sbout the setting forthe play. He says that the name ofthe town i CGrover's Comers, New Hampshire, just across the Massachusetts ine and ‘that the ist act wil show what happens on May 7, 1901 He then proceeds to deseribe in words and gestures "how our tow es,” indicating the lin of ‘Main Street and of che rallroad, pointing to Polish Town across the track, ‘mentioning in an ase tht some Canuck families lve there. He then notes the locations along Main Stret of the Town Hall and Post Office, the Con srepational, Presbyterian, Methodist, and Unitarian churches. The Baptist, ‘Church is down by the river the Catholic over beyond the tracks If tls sounds more like the landscape of Main Street than of the [New England Vilage, i s because such a village had gotten caught up in ‘the booming business culture ofthe nineteenth century and been arent enlarged and diversified But the special New England elements are ther, ‘ot ony in later references to 1670s gravestones in the town cemetery and to the blanket factory, but in the presence of those “Canucks” (French Canadians, presumably lured by that factory) and the prominence of the ‘Congregational and Unitarian churches, The question here for geographers to investigate i how representative Our Town was ofthe setual landscapes ff that tne along the Massachusets-New Hampshire border. And, if tere was close similarity, to asses how representative the communities of that border zone were of New England and of Yankecinfuenced re- sons. The same kinds of questions and need for geographical investiga- tions apply to the setesment of the actual landscapes undertying Mat Street and Suburbia. Thornton Wilder's play was a conscious attempt to create an ideale Feation of community le and that fact can serve to pose a second question: [HOW Do ACTUAL LANDSCAPES BECOME SYMBOLIC LAXBSCAPES? Such query actually contains two rather distint lines of inquiry: a) What are the ‘means of selection of particular Kinds of loalites for idealization? and b) How do thea choten scenes become generalized and imprinted in the pub lic tind? Tahal touch onthe rt of these later in the content of another Symbolic Ladcaper 15 question, As forthe second, we might beyin with Inventories of landscape depictions in sll kinds of literature and otber visual media. Occasionally se0graphers have made some assessment of important fsional accounts in relation tothe actual landscapes upon which they were based.” We could ‘well do ith many more, but in terms ofthis question we should probably five emphasis to « wide body of more truly “popular” materials: maga ines, newspapers, and advertisements comie books and textkooks;calen- tars and greting cards; photographs, paintings, and sketches, posters and ‘wallpapers. Obviously tls fan enormous bulk of materials and any survey ‘vill have tobe selective. Fr the purpores ofthe theme ofthis essay, special tention might be given to those landscape depictions which are overtly Dropagandistc in relating tothe “American way of life" wo settings which fre assumed to conjure some sesciation with hase values and mores of ‘dealized domestic life? ar the past snty years the cinems has been widely assumed to have had a powerful impact on popular atitudes toward many things. t has displayed an enormous range of landscapes to millions of people, and ‘within those myriad scenes there have een some which were obviously ‘meant to convey settings representative af some concept of the ordinary 00d and happy life in America. An efficient begining for an investigation fof hese would be a study of the character of the outdoor sets which the Imajor motion-picture companies maintained on their lots during the peak Of the Hollywood era circa 1920s-1950s, One suspects, fr example, that “mall town America” wat Slmed time and again on essentially the same set in which te facades of en idealized “typical” Main Steet, church, and a few residences bad boon created. A logical extension of such an inguiry ‘would be an inventory ofthe actual towns which were usd for on-location Slening of sill kind of shows ‘Such an inventory of types of scenes i ofcourse only a beginning, but 1 would allow us to make some ready inferences If we have some under standing ofthe intent behind the use af particular type of seene we may ‘sssume thatthe user believes that such landscapes will indeed provoke the proper response. For example, specialist in advertising could presumably Provides with information, supported in some degree by research, on their Understandings of the common psychological assaciations which various kinds of scenes sue “hese suggested studies only deal with the basic evidence of use and ons of those who employ landscape depictions for some spe cic purpose. They wil not get us very far i understanding why people the assur6 American Expressions regard these landscapes as symbolic of certain values and Ideals, but let us tam next to snother more limited question ow cAX WE ASSESS THE IMRACT, THE FOWER, OF THE SYA? Most s0- ‘lal scientists would likely start with people and ask them questions which ‘might reveal their attitudes about sich matters, but I think geosraphers ‘might best start sith the landscape itself to see what we can find there of how substance is shaped by the symbolic. Tht allows ws to deal with results rather than opinion, with the pastas well ae the present, andi the logical point of departure fora Sed which f fundamentally concerned with avironments and places “Take simple example: thove crude litle steeples of wood, of metal sheets, or, nowadays, plastic which one so often sees perched on litle meet Ing houses of various pentecostl sets all over America. Obviously no archi tect was responsible for them. They surely represent a widespread folk ides of what a church shoul lok lke. And where does tht idea come from? Perhaps from the lcal examples ofthe large churches of major denoming tions, but I suspect @ more influential model ie something close in sie and ‘materials and assumed to be cloer in socal concept: the small, white, ‘wooden church of our God fearing ancestors—and that image is almost pre New England, Or consider a more extensive phenomena: the diffusion over the en tire nation ofa sucession of Cafornia housetypes, the bungalow, mission stucco, ranchhous, and various “contemporary” syle, stone affecting the character of che largest prowing sector of our metropolitan landscapes. ‘Thote were always, ofcourse, competing styles of what a nie, middleclass modern house should Took like, I the Northeast, Cape Cod and various seudocolonlals have long competed effectively with Californian models ‘We need studles in historical geography which will sort out and reveal regional pats ofthe presence, proportions, and timing ofthese distinc- tive styles ‘Or take a more subtle example: consider how New England villages have been remodeled and tidied wp to Bt the symbol. A very selective migration has moved into a great many of there villages, armed with Considerable wealth, taste, and a vision of what a New England Village ‘Should lok like, and has proceded to dressup those villages and to build houses and shops to conform to those eslendar and Christmas eard dep tons. Presumably few of these people would want to try o recreate the Puritan or Yankee Ifestyle, yet there remains a power in that landscape Symbolic Landscopes i” as a symbol of an attractive scale and type of local riety, and some people do indeed move to such villages to try and recover some more Intimate sense of commit. ‘Such topies are small pats ofthe broad study ofthe making of the “American landscape, a task which despite afew relly creative contributors remains in avery early stage and will require the development of an array (fnew kinds of Uterature2® When we have a mich beter grasp ofthis Kind ‘of history we willbe ins better positon to address another question: {WEES THE IDEAL ANDTHE REAL? That there Is lfference sof course inher ent inthe very dea of a symbol, but it seems important to take aclse look st the nature and scale ofthat difeence Take those lovely New England villages just mentioned. The co existence of two "realities" one consciously ted to the symbolic, the other oblivious of or peshaps antagonistic to such an image, can bea vivid and at times bitter dimension of the current scene. For example, the New York Times recently reported on “classic New England confit” in Walpole, New Hampshire, ver a proposal to build large pulpmil on dhe outskirts of the village During a day-long hearing, “the area's more well-to-do, sophisticated residents... wearing goose down parkas and tweed coats" fought the mill as 2 desecration, while local businessmen and workers “ia rough work clothes and boots,” whose families had been natives there for trverations Favored the mill a a source of monty and jobs. The reporter noted that the division was seen as an expression of clas distinctions which ste vivid in the landscape: ‘This i. in ef, to towns lage within the ba brder. Walpole ule 4 plete prtcard New England tow with white Grok revival homes dank Ing the main set inthe town common. --- Long the site of unser homes {forthe welltodo, thas been siracting rtrd people Eom other ees, and ‘he tiny tum center sports an art gallery and’ il shop. “To the nord an Rate 12, les the sharply contrasting rll of North Walpole... whete drab and sometimes ramshackle Trame hovwes ule hovel together by the ralond acs ‘The one group Is Uving conslously and determinedly in symbolic landscape, having selected that setting fra speclal way of fe, one widely ‘understood and admired by Americans. For such exurbanites, the Neve Eng Jand Village is & way of connecting their lives to an idealized past The18 American Expressions other group continues to face the harsh realities of how to make ving out tf this hard New England ground, a problem which has been driving such persons away frm these New England villages for generations, and a prob- Tem which ie simply ignored in te iealizatons. (Or consider Main Street, Inthe idealized version, che people of sack ‘commanities are wally considered to be very largely middle-class white ‘Anglo-Saxon Protestants, In some areas such towns were made up of such populations, but a panorama ofthe landscape af most rowns inthe Middle West, and especially those which were best representative of latter-nine teenth century business culture, would reveal several other groups: Irish Catholic laborers down slong the canal, who were regarded by the spokes- ‘men for Main Stet as a dict. poor, boozing and brawling bunch led by papal agents (the Catholic Church was not oa Church Stret); Poor Whites fon the other side ofthe tracks, regarded as defers and dregs who were ilierate, Unslled, and unsuccessful through their own fault; and in the shantytown down along the riverbank, the “colored folk" simple, shiflss, leresponsbl, fee but never to be equal, destined tobe hewers of wood and drawers of water; and, near the end of the century, new social districts ‘crowded alongside the new industries, fll of “Yoreigners” of strange Tongues and clothes and manners, huddled around ther own churches, tay cms, and social clubs ‘Sach people and their habitations and facilites show up merginally if tall in the symbolic landscape. They are not really welcome on Main Street, they certaily are nt part of theideslized community which was considered representative of basic American virtues. Thus the symbol di not encompass the actual diversity ofits landscape reference: and the gap between the sym bolic and the real, in terms of kinds of people and the way the social system sctually operated, came to represent such a distortion that Main Street bee ‘ame widely discredited as a community form, as alarge body of American Titeratare attests, Much of the eritique focused on sie, intimacy, and the emphasis upon business, “progress” and Protestant morlity—those very features emphasized in the Ideallzation—as sulifying Himitatons. When ith Wharton said in 1927 thet "The Great American Novel mastalwaysbe bout Main tret, geographically, socially, intellectually." twasatonce an {xpression of her urbane contempt (and probably jealousy of Sinclair Lewis) wells a testament tothe power ofthe symbol Despite an avalanche of denunciations in novels and plays and clonic derision in jokes and urban falklore, the small town has retained 3 powerful claim on American sentiment” The meticulously constructed Symbolic Landscapes 119 Main Street remains the most popular ofthe many setions ofthe massively ‘popular Disneyland. Is "two blocks of miniaturized architecture,” modeled fon a Missouri prototype, is «tangible symbolic landscape, a focus for the persisting nostalgia for what is imagined to have been better sale and form of community Ie than most ofits visitors now enjoy. When Ameri ans dream af the ideal place in whieh to live, the concept of "small is beautiful” has been a powerfully persisting counterpoint to the gener ‘national obsession with growth and bigness ‘The case of Suburbia hes some parallels with that of Main Street, ‘Thar sa large literature telling us how tarnished a symbol thas become. Neatly twenty years ago David Refsman summarized the view of most social commentators ofthe ime by saying they had come to regard suburbs with mor lothing than ov, Snding thom heopenaus, conformist, adjatmet ‘fete, contrativ. dll hlé-cntered, male dominated. st indvd flist—In word mpessb ples ve ‘That certainly suggests the emergence of wide gap between the symbol and the substance In part there was also a gap between two actual kinds of suburban landscapes: between the clus grove suburbia of South erm California the 1920s (the primary bass ofthe symbol) and the Levit {owns and other massive suburban crestions in Megalopols ofthe 1950s, (dhe prime focus of socllogicel study). And that reinforces the main point of ‘comment om thls question: that there is an important task for historical ftographers in defining what the landscapes underlying the symbols and the tepioal varetions In those asic types were actually lik. ‘Although all three of these symbolic landscapes still exert some power in American society, it fs certain tha all three are diminished in Infuence and, more significant, none of the three i soundly based upon the Actualites of community ile today. Thus none can be regarded asa satisfy ing image forthe future. Before considering directly the implications of that, however, i will be useful to reflect further upon these three, taken together, and ask: swsnica? Geographers might fist note that its st of regions with the clear implication that New England, the Midle West, nd Southern Call fornia have been successively critical areas in our developing national cul180 Armerican Expressions Converting the symbol nto tangible form: Wale Disneys masterpiece of ented ‘ans (@ Wait Disney Prductond) ‘ue. Each in tum has seemed to embody the bast, oF the essence, of Amer: fea, a model forthe nation, Is that a correct assumption of inuence? If 0, ‘why did these particule landscapes so serve? Was each in Its time the mast creative region, the most vibrant powerful center of American develop ment? Such an inerpreation would not be exactly concordant with com: ‘mon understandings of the American Core Area, of where the major centers of power were through much of our history. Pechaps we need a reexaminas tion ofthese common understandings. (ri it case not so mich of ower in some manipulative sense as of sscing ur experiences in this succession of regions asthe most important wwe have had az a national people? That, to, some hard to square with tmmon interpretations it simply leaves out far too roach of or bistory. Perhaps each reglon has been critically related to some larger American self-image, representative of what Americans wanted 1o believe about the kinds of communitie they were building, of, more narrowly, what those exerting moral influence wanted us to believe about ourselves. Have these thre regions been, in turn, the most important seats ofthe mos inleetial ohicles of propagands, for textbooks, popular literature, and cinema (and perheps ethers)? That question connects us once again with the problems posed in the second of these six major questions, af how actual landscapes became symbolic, which does appear to bea promising entryway into this ‘ind of broad inquiry. However we might address this general question, it seems a central ‘Symbolic Landscopes 11 fone for anyone intrested in pondering regionalism as an important feature inthe course of our national development. A corollary ofthe question Is, of ‘course, why are other regions not represented? What docs it any, for ek ample, about Megalopols—that great urban-auburban-esurban stip along tur Atlantic Seaboard that has been seat of such enormous power and influence in so many realms of American development? But that question might best be considered within another view of these three landscapes as act of symbols. They conetiute a threefold se of inds of places: village-town-suburb, And its obvious thet something im: portant is missing: there i no city, no fully urban, or metropolitan land- Scape in this set (and sequence) of dealizaions, Recall that Suburbia is to be soon not as suburban, but as a distinc, seperate kind of communi Of course America has created some world-famous urben landsespe symbols. That whole breathtaking panorama of Menhattan is the most obvious example. Bu while that symbol has long served our national pide, i isa symbol of power, enerzy, daring, sophistestion; but nots symbol of fan attractive landscape for American family life” Mankattan in particular fand our great urban centers in general have proved attractive to highly selective migrations: o people seeking “success” as defined in terms of ‘money, power, and prestige; arto the poor, domestic and forein, hoping to find some niche and sola support i the vast warren. But for most Ameri cans, the od cliché"a nice place to vit, but I wouldet want tive there” has expressed their feelings well, and in recent years they are much loss Interested in or even fearful ofan occasional vis. tis widely claimed and I think deeply true that Americas in general hhave been and still are strongly anturban in thee emotions. Sain Bass Warner, Je, notes in his recent book the “log tradition... the endless failures of American to build and maintain humane cites” and asserts that ‘Americans have no urban history. They live in one ofthe world’s most urbanized countries as fit were a wilderness We ar stil escapist at heart. When it comes to attractive symbolic landscapes, our propaganda fearures the "wide open space,” "Marlboro Country.” Our ountercultare ‘movernens show the stil strong attraction of Arcadia, back to the simple ‘country lif, the commune In the woods, ways to drop out ofthe metropoli tan maclstrom.® ‘Over many years we have been offered various visions of @ better turban future, but the "garden city” seemed to tur Inte more suburbs ‘urban renewal” became ail too often brutal destruction of landscapes and communities én favor of olfces and parking lots; technocrate pres182 American Expressions tions of tomorrow ssem to display a sterile environment it more for elee- tronic robo rather than living, breathing human beings; Soles complex Iminiatarized ety may sem an inspired step toward the Civitate De tis followers but more an anthl i the desert to onlookers We sem te an tice more urbenied people without @ sense of direction, without an ee: tive symbol of what the god urban landscape and socety might be lke ‘We maybe living therefore In a serious discordance, but we are not aan impasse. America remains an unusually dynamic and creative society land therefore the appropriate question with which to conelude this explo corn comons? Perhaps th st thing we would ote na halo at ny mein cy tat poole ar sill moving outward othe Shut and bed. Deore asuing that this mast ean iter tht the Sis were wrong er subutenlte seal senate fo what was beng fin, shld conser ati ay be that tee have bean lant “hangs othe absence of sburblas* Theresa period when many sGadeat aged withthe soa rit: ers culé nded be des dl Se tltsng pope id to id ast commune wn tei She nella neighborhoods he sheer mse and Homogenithelan- ope und scythe distant partons wesience and work. fbouschold Sid ops of home tnd creation center fx roles and fag ous, provided ample ess forthe usta of sient and cstiations by {ies espoctly inthe oro suburb peas ofp World War But by emis when ewo cas bane the nina fly standard toi hcg tad sun saps ah aa Talat tom eer sy, “commenty" wasn longer a rete nie food itwane wide catering place bond vogethery the Reeves The Dicer ein etnglnesing woninga soang a etapmente mong davn pits operated miles Eom oaths. This srecome the ncucublesbecrvation that heey Inca symbal nate Cement Amerie fot he hme but the igh. pdm SSnotao much deel ta persed socal network raced onthe any bythe moving suo ser aty say the cutomobie ater than te haat ses the mast ows! numer and symbol our be vals Trough We express Terni, nes codon Tove of mobility ad chang os well hr serch for scary. carer corso ll hose amen and Symbolic Landscapes tg services mad familiar and profoundly democratic by she nationwide unifor- rity ofthe MeDonalds, Holiday Inn, and a hundred other franchise opera tions. We move slong linear landscape, intensely developed strips and open interstate routs, made secure and legible by unifrtn rod designs and stan dardized emblems. And now with citizens band radios, wecan communicate diretly and anonymously with athe individuals, disembodied voices broad fastng at random our eraving for contact, as isolated in our steel shells we ‘ule the monotonous uniformity ofthe interstate highways ‘But a nagging question hangs over this seene: can this kin of ato mized dispersal of people living ia motorized and electronic connection with their environment and with one another be called “community”? Cer tainly many would call it a tavesy af such, And so the great American longing for something more humane, intimte, stable, and satistying goes ‘on. The “search” for community, she “quest” of community, he “eclipse” of ‘community persists as major theme in American thought ° OurTown was an explicit response by Thornton Wilder to that quer, a conscious ideslira tion to counter the reality he saw ofthe American a6"a nomad in relation to place, disatached in relation to time, lonely in relation to socety.°™* Despite its obsious power in fact, despite the great American phenomenon of the mobile home and the motorized homie, despite the power of the romantic image of the uncommitted footlcose traveler, the Essy Rider drift ing from one pad to another, most Americans would not be comfortable With the highway as the appropriate symbolic landscape for satisfying concept of community Not only is there no obvious symbolic landscape of Americas com: munity today, there i no clear image or even simple comman terms for the kind of setting and society most Americans lve in. Tt snot “urban the ‘most common sense and symbol references ofthat term. The encompass: ‘ng unit is @ metropolitan system of diverse parts, inclading old densely urbanized areas, suburbs of various ages and character, engulfed towns, roadside strips, shopping plazas a beltway interchanges, a wide variety of dliserete residential waes, former hamlets, towns farms, nd all manner of Individual shacks, cotages, mobile homes, houses, and estates scattered over the countryside. The whole complex is bound together by intricate ‘lreulation and communication system and i pulses with an intense and Intimate daily lif. Tt is so vast and variegated and changing that Ie is Aificult to define, but its residents have an intuitive and empirical under standing of its essential character. The highway ie the fundamental sruc- ‘ural element ofthis landscape, and residents must become travelers sie14 American Expressions ‘routes, landmarks, and estimates of travel time. In common parlance, going to "the mall” may be replacing going “downtown,” but » sense of place with reference to many features may be rather vague and confused, ding response to the question "Where do you live?” Insofar as people thik in terms of “community,” iti key to iavalve more than one partof this metropolitan area and the parcular combination of parts may difer realy among residents ofthe same street. Thus the concept, rarely sharp even In the simplest of settings, becomes ever more blurred socially and seographically, and i Is not surprising that we have no ready translations from the realities of such settings into evecatve positive symnbos. What we Ihave are no more than fragments, most especially the generalized image af the shopping mal, end the upper midaleclass suburb with its special style of residences and country club amenities, standardized tocater to executive families transferred every few years from one metropolis to another by national corporations It js clear that symbolic landscapes of the character and power we have been considering ae not simply designed and marksted toa awaiting public. They arise ut of deep cultural processes axa society adapts to act) cnvironments, technologies, and opportunities and as it reformulates its basic concepts related to family, community, and the good lfe. Such changes do not come quickly, and at any particular moment we ae likely 12 bbe more impreted with continuities than with masked departures from pest patterns. Certainly the individual home inthe mst of an ample lt, ‘with ready acess major highway remains the most prominent element {nthe landscape of domestic Ife in America, The relentless outward spreed of our cities is powered to a large degree by the emotional bias of an lntiurban people caught in an ineluctably urbanicing system, But new Clement has rather suddenly emerged within thet archetypical domertic landscape: the tovenhouse condominium, Modern counterparts ofthe arch typical urban row house, the great majority of thee have been built ia the suburbs and their acceptance ac nn alternative to "the free-standing, owner ‘cccupled house of mythologized ‘suburbia’ involves changes in the symbol- {nm ofthe house a well as some changes inthe funetinal organization of residential neghborhoods."* Such developments reflect important sc ‘8 wel a demographic and economic changes, and while the townhouse by feslf may not denote a fundamental sh, isthe kind of Indscape clue to broader movements which we may expect ultimately to have significant impact. 11 is widely agreed thatthe past decade or so seems to mark the onset, ‘Symboic Landscapes 185 ‘of portentous qualitative changes in American society even though itis hardly possible ss yet to define very prcisly what these are or #9 suggest thelr probable power and trajectory. At best we ean perhaps lok for spe- cole signs of change and try to sess their meaning within limited com texts In geography itis axiomatic that social movements do not upwell ll across a continent with simultaneous and uniform effect. Rather they arise {na particular place or kind of place, and are wubsequently difused unew- nly. We may expect that the national landscape In the fature will be shaped, as in the past, by the influence ofa pattem which can first be identified as typical of « particular region One Possibility 1 we search the surface of Ameria today for major regions of change, rather than for simpy elements of change suchas suburban townhouses, we will ave our attention drawn to portions of what journalists have recently dubbed the Sun Belt, a regional concept which encompasses so much fan- ‘damental diversity a8 to be of very limited wility ass framework fr careful f2ographie analysis, Certainly the South has undergone transforming so- ‘lal, demographie, nd economic change, including a vigorous expension of ‘tes and an extensive reorganivation ofthe countryside. But the overall result appears to be best characterized as belated integration ofthe region into the mainstream of national life rather than oflering any realy new rection, Urban and suburban developments and problems seem basically ta reflect thote common in recent years tall the nation, modified by the ‘eply-roted rural tradition af the South which has result in a some what loowe scattering of homes and Industries and a more quasi-rural ub. Urban lifestyle" Houston, atthe western corner ofthe South, is intensely ‘modern, but also not fundamentally new. Here great wealth and vitality have produced the most splendid urban strips, shopping malls, entertain ment palaces, office clusters, and residential enclaves, all served by the ‘most efficient freeway and parking facilities. But all ofthis i essentially 2 projection of well-established pattems, a display whichis authentically ‘Texan in sal, verve and taste, and deply national n the social values and technology it represents. Hourton of the 1970s represents significantly amplifed center inthe geography of American corporate power, but it has little national impact a » distinctive and erative cultural landscape: And something af the same can be sad for other major sectors ofthe Belt such186 American Expressions ‘as Florida, Central Arizona, and Southern California, These have been areas ‘of great growth, but in patterns largely reflective of national trends that, in terms of lifestyle and landscape, had been strongly influenced by Southern California during the period between the World Wars, However i we look jst bit farther, we come to an area which has not only undergone ery tetensve growth but has been the vortex ofa variety of social movements ‘hich have so directly challenged national pattern as to become loosely labeled as the “counterculture,” The search for new centers of cultural reativity inexorably brings us into focus on San Francisco, the Bay Re- sion, and, breadly. Northern California, ‘Since Gold Rush times Califrnis has been "he Great Exceptlon," to Dorrve Carey MeWillisms's phrase and arguments! a vigorous erative area which has always done many things which dfler from the American ‘norm. From the fret t had considerable influence upon neighboring regions (ofthe Far West and Pacie Rim, but not unit Southern California emerged 18 the hearth ofthe new automobilesuburbia culture did it have a strong Impact upon the nation asa whole. All during the cours fis fest century the City by the Golden Gate came to have great symbolic power, but always 35 8 unique place, "everybody's favorite American city” loved because it Seamed so diffrent from the general character of American cities attractive fespeclally to those who sought an alternative to the commen pattems of Ameriean society and landscape However, during World War Il and its immediate aftermath San Francisco rather suddenly became much more closely articulated tothe nation. As Vance as noted, "the founding ofthe United Nations in the San Francisco Opers Hose fn 1945,.ymboized the intepration of Carla Int the heartland of ideas and actions,” and we can draw heavily upon his seminal exposition ofthe decades which fllowed during which “in fase nating cultural geographical isostasy, the Bay Area, California, and the West Caast have risen in heir impact on American settlement structure as New York and Megalopalis have sunk"? The mere mention of names such 1 North Beach, Haight Ashbury, Berkeley, Bl Sur the Black Panthers, the Slerra Club, and, indeed, Governor Jerry Brown suggests something of the range of movements which have reverberated through the nation. The Bay Area has heen & fertile seedbed of new at, musi, literature, religious ex pression, prychologcal exploration, and educational experiment: i has ‘been che principal set of the ecological and environmental movements and of challenges to national attitudes toward waited growth, consumption, ‘nd technological proliferation thas been the enest frou setting fr the ‘Symbole Landscapes wr assertion of new pattems of individual and group consciousness and of = treat variety of experiments in alternative styles of if, Although many of the speci expressions of these movements have been merely sensational, superficial, ephemeral, or parochial, there fs no doubt but what they have ‘deeper levels that do represent a critique of some ofthe fundamentals ofthe ‘American way of life, and no doubt that they presage Important social change ‘Vance suggests that “we are witnesing the Blrth of a new complex urbana in which the specialized socal districts have begun to replace a ‘synoptic patter (of land ren) in shaping the morphology of settlement." He secs the Bay Area as being gradually reorganized through a selé-orting of people not by clas or income, nor even very firmly by ethnicity or race, but by lifestyle, resulting in "voluntary districts" (to use Zelinaky’s term Tormed out of the search for a way of life which may be quit at variance ‘with what have been the cultural norms. It ls concefable that from such tlevelopments San Francisco might shed its od anomalous status and serve ts the chief basis for a new generalized concept of urban life featuring tractive towahouse living, the vibrancy of wcial heterogeneity, «greater Sppreciaton of townseape, a deeper sense of history and of place, and a {greater emphass upon the humane rather than the material aspects of lle so that the core becomes increasingly more a central socal district than a ‘central business district. I is conceivable, but far rom certain. Even inthis region the anti ‘ban bias remains strong and Vance deseribes at some length how the old American search forthe ideal has resulted in a stong centrifugal move- rent, spreading an essentially cosmopolitan population deeply into the ‘woods and mountains of Northern California radiating northward into Ore fm, creating a new Arcadia whichis in fact «fardhing Enurbia, the outer Inost sector of a new metropolitan society, Vance ses this overall complex fs the eity-inshe countryside,” a new landscape expression of basically old American Ideals, and argues that we should be examining the recent history land scial geography of California, seeking “to discover not the economl- Callyoriented normative geography, for which Towa serves well, but rather the cultural dynamics which will foretell the seial geography that may wall await ue all in the ear Future." ‘Whether Norther California is dhe culture hearth ofthe next in sue cession of symbolic landscapes we have been discussing remains tobe see. ‘We sill know far too litle about it, and the whole complex has yet to be defined in terms sufcently clear and evocative to serve as the means of8 American Expressions powerful symbolic expression. What is certain is that new landscapes, ac- tual and symbolic, are being created, nd like those we have already exper enced they wil be at once a mold and a mirror of the society that creates thom. IF we are interested in interpreting the nature and course of our rational life i might be well o give them closer ate Notes 1. CL Philp L. Wagner, "Ostural Landscapes ad Regions Arpect of Communlce- on." in Mn wd Cura Heap, Papers in Honor of Fr Brien Geocience land Man, ol 3.e8.H.. Walker sod WG. Hang ton Rove: Louisiana State Univeralty Pro, 1878), where, under the subtopic "The Morality of Landscape.” be ls“ should like to venture the eugestion tha all cites very ‘where and throughout sory have regarded sme parca sort of enone Sr ngary conducive othe ood, and have labored to eat Christin Tre, How New Engl Happened (Boston: Lite, Brow 1976p 135. {CJohn M Marin “Review Easy” History and Phe 1, n-2 G972 226-5, {ei p. 2; this characieraatin te quotation fron Lockridge with specie ‘erence thirsty of Dedham, Massachusetts 4 The lame intrdacton to hs spread ols Kimball Mathews, The Expansion of Now England: The Spread of Now England Stone and Tnttons tthe seep! Ror, 1620-1625 (Boston: Houghton Min, 190). There i alge Ieratre onthe Yankee impact upon the West, but no genera survey of ii term al andscape. JW. Reps Phe Making of Ubu Amari rnctos, NI Princeton Unters Pes, 1968), has excellent material op New Engl ard ‘Ohio, pp 15-86, 227-9, Whe ees been suggested tha there remain auch preponderant cpus {pon Now Eaglend sade nou ital writing on commute cnt ‘tes Kn of epon imperial’ see David 1s, Faisal Comm hs, Now Viw of Amarin soy, The American Assocation a Sate nd {aca History (Nase 1974), p 258, 4 James T- Leman, The Best Poor Man's County, A Geographies! Sy of Eat ‘Souhaastars Povuybanie (altimoe: The Jos Hopkins res, 1972). 1. The clase satent of hin lim is that of Frederick Jackson Tare, “The Sigifcance ofthe Prosi n Arpercan Mistry,” Aral Repor of he Amerion Histor Asociatio or the Yar 1893, 9p 190-227 Ave ey empha: ing th importance a hs Min Str culture of Mile Ameria (alors with he ‘New England Tow and te Southern Couns) x Conrad M.Arenabers, "Amer 2 Comma," Amercan Anthropol 87 no (1885): 143-80 Sat Bas Warne, 3 Soar Subwbs, The Process of Growth Boston 1670- 1900 (Cambri Harvard Univers rss and MLLT. Pres, 1962. 9 Gary Meili, Southam Cabforia Comey, A Ind ow the Land (New ‘York Duel, Slo & Pears, 1548) Symbolic Landscapes 189 Frank Donovan, Wha fora Nation (New York: Thmss¥. Cowell 60,1965). Howard 1. Neon, "The Sprea of n Artif Landicae over Souther Call ‘in Annas, Association of Amrcan Geographers, 4,3. prt 2 959): 80 100; ares Pak, Phe Cor Cube (Cambridge WAT: ress, 1979). 6 Marke ‘SFonter, "The Model, the Hord Sel, and Lor Angles Urtan Growth: The Decentralization of Low Angsls daring the 190%,” Pace Historie! Revisw 6 (November 1979) 49-06. Ses E.Vanoe Jr alfa ad the Search fo the "Aas Aszcition of Amarcan Gnorapars 62, np. 2 (1972) 182210; Kein Ste, Amercone and ‘he California Drea 1850-1915 (New York: Onord University Pes, 1973) Danie. Elaar, Cites of the Par, The Manopeian Fro and Amerie Pats (New York: Basie Boks, 1970, p46 ‘Wilbar Zein, “The Penalvaia Town: An Overdve Geographical Aon” ‘he Guopraphic! Review 87, no. 2 (IST 127- He als ates that te New and ilps sed the Bde Wester sal town are "perhaps te leas {imple of ejects that represent the fnteraction af comity Personality sed yea! eran, at Int inthe form of doable age nthe opel on haley minds" (Note 6.128) Marin, “Review Esey” Russo, Foils and Communes CL Zalinay, "The Feonyania Towa, Sata thi book was going to press, ose Subcland Woods exemplary study "The Origin ofthe Nee England Villagr (Ph.D. de, Penayvania State Univer sy, 1978 hos come to apd to anser these very questions. Wood cael ‘ines the “eomveotionA” views of New England setement a process ae ‘S's pe, and tests these aguost an Impresie array of eidece region by ‘een wibin New England. He cocles that very fo ealanal New England ‘silements wore tly clstred at lathe conventlonal depictions, rater the Fermatian of tlativey compact villages took place during igrous but ble peti of commercial prosperity during the exty federal period. However, the ‘oncept of eammuniey was reltvely stung fom the beginning and the church ‘or meringue war the focal otf each own. Hesrs around thes planes of fecioic eebly that most commercial vlages evenly fered. Unt ved {ig Word, my oun view Bad born greundel pon convene! Ierpetations, ‘though Ind sumed that the as orn wat vared and far fom stable 1a teen impresed wit he lndsape changes Impl inthe atalyals of Richard ‘shan, From Purteno Yank, Chretr and he Soa Orde in Connactu 1690-1785 (Cambri Harvard University Pres, 1967 ‘Thornton Wilder, Our Town, Ply 0 Thro Acs (Nee York: Harper & Row 1938), pp. 5-6 Hildegard Binder Johnson has recently asserted that “pubic interest inching that of erogtaphers Ina darminating typology of rural towns inthe Middle ‘Wiest has been dled immeasureably by Sinclar Lewes novel Main Set, luhich eteted for Europeane and American ale the “typical” midwestern town” Onder Upow the Land, the U.S. Retaguar Lae Stoney an he UeberEs Msisippt County (New York: Oford University Pres, 1976. 182. Lewis Caricature was of coue a harsh gue of he dealed small ow, Jobson beck is Gn aample of he Kind of fedamental Mtr geographiclaaly- ‘ened in the sty of American ctrl landscapes Foe Suburb the ot ‘occnetc empha of fmes Vance and is stent at Becley would appeet to provide cling eographie penetration of the common image See Jes E ‘Vance his Seon of Man, The Rae end ttre of he Ci he Garey of ‘etry Caton (Sen Yok: Harper College Pes 1979, Tina Honaer Herron, The Small Town in Amwrcan Drama (Dalla: Southern Methodist Univer Press, 195), pp 810-1, Bag chnles 5 Aken, "Faulkner Yolanapatawphs Coane: Geographical Fact. Int Peto,” The Gographical Rew 67, No.1 (1977: 1-21. Two prominent Bri example ave LG Darby "Te Regional Geseraphy of Thomas Hardy's Noses” The Geographical Reviw 38, no. 3 (148). 426-8, spd Grace WAI- ‘nto, “The Repent e Lewis Gre Gibbon,” Seok Geopapieal Magi- ine 90, 9.2998): 75-8, IM would be interning to have sone saplings ofthe entice ara af landscape {epctions ever biel peso for tex ger tmportant les othe psycholaal ‘cunestons beeen people nd tsand this terms a tyes fenitonment ‘I olepri eins and localities, Soe Vee Tun, Toph A Sal of E> omen Perception, Aituds, and Vanes (Englewond lilt, NJ Prentice Hall {on for a simultingrecounlsance of many aopect of wich relationships, “The op so phrased core calle stenton to the work of Profesor WG Hoe ins and hs asoclts in Brita, Hoskins’ he Making of te Ege Landscape (Conn: Hodder & Stouphon, 1958), andor study which tinued Inne sere umes on auto and regins and erie tevin lens by [BBC Ameria, 1. lachsom, the crestor sd long the polisher of Landcape Inga, ha bean the hi ata the coelading ex in this bak ‘Te ci spokesman forthe opponents of the mil, acsording tthe Times r= [over wate ur managing tor of Yanks Magarin," pop Prtod (hl devored to sterng an appreciation of the story ncity, bd landscapes of New Eneland potent inerument inthe symbolzation procs. Cte in George Koon "The Great Amerian Novel: inl Chapter,” Amerion ‘Quan 21 no 8 1989-67-82. AC ile, The Rel From the Vilage (Chapel UI University of North Carona Pres, 1965, ia ponetrling wisest. Herron. The Sal Te in American Dram tod Th Sal Tow Lraire {Burhans Dake Uiversiy Prem, 195) ler am exelent rconmaietance ofthe Wide rane of Sepietons through the whole course of ou story. Rlchard V. Franevilia "Mate Steet Revise,” Places 1 no. 3 (1874s 7-1 Francavga ote the portant departve fom the prototype Marling, Mi {Sut ed the tot cemnonfrn ftw Ma test own nha tbe Deland Gerson termine fn neque and pla, ging 2 seme of ensure and Insimacy, senso place, which en marked contrast the linea rouge sf the al gran Midwestern ow, 3s, Symbolic Landscapes 191 ‘As quoted in Scot Donalds, “Cty and County Mariage Proposals," Amarican Quarry 20, o. 3 (968s 54-6 Anselm L Stas, Imag fhe American City (New Yor: Fre Pez 1961), sd The Americar Cy, A Sours of Urban Imagen, ed Strauss (Chicago Aidine 1968 are ich in oxamples. Soe alio Tuan, Toppa, Chapter 13 ‘Sem Buss Warner, J The Urbon Widens, A soy of de Amare Cit (New York: Harper & Row, 1972) pp. 3, 4Cf aio Arthur Selasngr Tes comets cn the deep hostility tard propre fo oral seistance to save New York {hy tram banoupty, “Main Strats Revenge.” New York Times 29 Ocicher Vance, "Calfoni and te Search forthe ds” Such gl cheracterizain dec violence tote vison and energy which the challenge a resing beter urban Inndcapes ae Brg forth but es ta Inappropriate summation within he context of ti ex. ‘Thete Is now a large trature on changes ovr the par 30 years bth the brane ad the symbol esburin eg. The Changing Fae te Subbed Barry Schwarta(Chlego University of Chiago Pres, 1970, expecially the can ‘hing essay by the elo, maps of Suburta: Some Reson Commentary nd Conchusent: The Suurbon Svs, of, Laue H. aot also the ‘mercan Academy of Plea! and Sil Science, Noveber 1975, Peer 0, Male, The Oza Ci, Ganpaphical Consgances of the Ubanation of he Se tbs, Asscation af Amerian Goographrs Resource Paper No, 72, 1976 Sab bee Groth: Genpaphical Process a the Be of te Wester City, eae Shimer London Sh Wily Sons, 1979, ‘The phrase are les of prominent oaks 00 the thee: The Search fr Con ‘ity tm Moder rc, ed Digby Halt New York Harper & Row, 1968 1. Jackson Wilson, In Ques of Comma Sail Plospy th Unio Stats, 1860-1920 (New Yor: Sen Wiley & Sons, 1968 Maree R Stain, Th Blip &f Conmuiy, 4nInopraaton of Amercon Studies Pinson: Princeton Un Testy Press 196). CE The opening sentence af Heron, The Smal Tow Jmercan Drama: "i the curse of mre thn three centuries of developing iter fry exprenton in America, two Sharsctsncs have speared rented te dency toward ntrospstion, and longing for com ‘Quoted fom his Harvard crs athe lengthy bt in the New Yor Times, Decerber 1975, ‘The literary evidence in support of mich scnchilon ses very tng Boks ‘magazines, aed newspapers recurenly cho the the. Analyt random ex Spl she "oper leer" by Orvile Schelinthe New York Times, 24 Febuary 197, under she headline "You Can Move On and On. ‘But Severe I Must End: "in which he describes how "the word eommuni isa poet one fr ‘e"how he fond tin "above all pople wll hive to decide that they have hai with moving on ‘Demis J. Dingemans, "The Urbaniaton of Suburia: The Renae ofthe Row House" Landscape 20, not (1975) 20-3.1. ‘American Expressions 59, Which snot say tt the Seth as ot been creative note way as ‘ana power fare leratre in part Because, a Vann Woodard bas note, [erepna! experience has been anotalor th Ameria but analogs to that tf mach ofthe word eu Vann Woawar, The Burd of Sao History (Ba on Rouge Loliana State University Press, 190, 40, Ade Lone Hantale, "Deep ia th Heart of Nowhere” New Yor Tins, 18 Tebruay 1976 For a bel sseamen of es bistrcal role in Texas andthe tation See DW. Maing, mparalTear, A errs Essay Cla Goer Phy (hosts University of Tras Pres, 1983. 41, Corey Milas, Cara The Gras Exception (New York: Curent Boks 1549, Se ao James. Penns, “The Uniqueness of Calon, Amazan Qua fe 700.1 (1989) 4555 42. Vane, "Calforni nd he Search for The lel” p20 ‘i 44, Wilbur Zoli, Phe Cultural Gagrphy ofthe Unita States (Enaiewood Ci, NJ Preto Hl, 1973), pp. 13639. 445 anon "California nd he Search forthe Tea Iv Teachers