Thomas Hylton, President of Save Our Land, Save Our Towns Inc.

Identification of Place

Thomas Hylton was the opening speaker for the workshop.  His presentation provided a general overview of how to create a sense of place in a community.  The National Trust for Historic Preservation's definition of sense of place:  "Those things that add up to a feeling that a community is a special place, distinct from anywhere else.  When you move into a new home, you are not just buying a house; you are buying a community and a tradition."  Therefore, the first rule of conservation is to plan development.  However, all across America we are tearing down buildings. 

Tearing down a building is not a problem if you are going to build something better.  Today we tear down buildings to build parking lots.  This is fueled by the development of the U.S. Interstate Highway System, which was based on the German Autobahn.  As this highway system propagated over 50 years, little was done to plan for the resulting sprawl.  Walking has become impractical if not impossible in many towns and neighborhoods. 

In the past, towns were built on a scale amenable to walking.  The average person can walk approximately 300 feet in one minute.  Cities were designed to allow a person to traverse the town within 20 minutes.  Today, cities are designed to promote auto-dependency.  Parking lots have taken over the landscape, creating environmental problems such as rainwater runoff. 

The most desirable communities have the following characteristics:  a sense of place, they are walkable, they have diversity, they are built on a human walking scale, they are well-maintained and they have trees for both beauty and order.

Furthermore, desirable communities have comprehensive plans and design standards for new construction.  Even commercial franchises, such as McDonald's, will construct their facilities to a town's specifications, if design standards are in place and rigorously maintained and enforced.

Development and protection of green space and green belts through ordinances is vital: suburban sprawl is not sustainable; it is costly and damaging to the environment.

Thomas Hylton
222 Chestnut Street
Pottstown, PA 19464
(610) 323-6837
fax (610) 323-6841
email: thomashylton@comcast.net

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