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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIn 1985, Partners for Livable Places published a review of 16 cities, including Indianapolis, titled “The Economics of Amenity—Community Futures and Quality of Life.”
Among the amenity assets, it included a chapter that advocated “a return to nature.” It quotes author Anne Whiston Spirn: “The potential of the natural environment to contribute to a distinctive, memorable, and symbolic urban form is unrecognized and forfeited.”
It also quotes Frederick Law Olmstead, writing about his design of Central Park: “We want a ground to which people may easily go after their day’s work is done and where they may stroll for an hour, seeing, hearing, and feeling nothing of the bustle and jar of the streets, where they shall, in effect find the city put far away from them.”
It advocates water as a development asset, noting that “water has magical possibilities.” Former Mayor William Hudnut recognized this, and in 1989, he created Indianapolis’ greenways development initiative along our streams and former rail corridors, which has greatly expanded recreational opportunity and human connections to nature.
In 2017, Indianapolis partnered with Hamilton County to prepare a White River Vision Plan, which seeks to boost tourism while also protecting the natural fabric.
It’s been 40 years since Partners for Livable Places published its review. Indianapolis has taken significant steps to enhance our natural attributes. This has greatly improved quality of life and stimulated economic development. As our growth continues, we should take special care not to lose sight of the importance of protecting nature.
—Clarke Kahlo
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