P.A.Yeomans

The City Forest

THE KEYLINE PLAN

FOR THE

HUMAN ENVIRONMENT

REVOLUTION

Keyline

Sydney

First published 1971 by KeylinePublishing Pty. Ltd.

Registered at the G.P.O. Sydneyfor transmission by post as a book.

National Library of AustraliaCard Number and I.S.B.N.0959957804

Copyright.@ P.A. Yeomans Pty.Limited

117 Pitt Street, Sydney, 2000,Australia.

Offered here with the permissionof Al an Yeomans(soilandhealth.org/) To Jane andJulie

Acknowledgements

To my three sons for readingand discussing themanuscript.

To Ken, the youngest, for five yearsof dedication; I am greatly pleasedhe has chosen Keyline for hiscareer!

To Nevil e and Al an, for 25 years ofhelp and wide debate; Nevil e, aspsychiatrist and sociologist, for

keeping me up to date on the socialand community implications and Alan for his skil s on theengineeringindustrial side.

Together we have completed thehorizons of Keylihe.

A A. Yeomans

October, 1971.

Table of Contents

Foreword

1 H. E. R

2 The Proposition

3 The Landscape Design of Nature(1)

4 The Landscape Design of Nature(2)

5 The Fragment Between

6 Design for Environment

7 Design a New City

8 Review the New City

9 To Clean a City

10 Soil Sense

11 Soil and Trees

12 Water the Forest

13 The Desert Rain Forest

14 The Bastardisation ofAgriculture

15 Water, Life or Death

16 The Family Farm

Afterword by Al an Yeomans

Foreword

A major change in values and inbehaviour is beginning to occur inAustralia. For too long we havebeen exploiting both our continentand each other. Patterns of humanliving based on selfishness andruthless competitiveness arebecoming selfdestructive. A new erais dawningequality between the

sexes, generosity in humanrelationships and honesty innegotiation. With this goes a respectfor the environment that sustains us.

Humankind is a biosocial species.His biological survival depends onharmonious working with Nature.Harmony comes only when we giveas wel as take.

The world has paid a terrible pricefor the Industrial Revolution and theadvance of science. We had to beruthless to control and harness the

forces of Nature; to becomemachinelike to make machines andto think like computers to conquerignorance. But the battle is won.Now we must rehumanise ourselvesand share the fruits of our labour.The swing away from the mistakesof the chemical solution ofbiological problems, is beginning.Natural food movements suggest weare searching for a healthier way.The growth of community groups inecology, welfare, education and thearts suggest we want to becomebetter and happier humans.

Australia is the only continent onearth never split by warring nationsor states. We are fortunate in beingunimportant in the great powercompetition. As inheritors of theindustrial era we are on theperiphery of both European andAsian civilizations.

We alone are in a position to acceptthe best from al continents in ideas,people and ways of living.

History took humanity from thetribe to the City State, to the Nation

State. The next step is theContinental Nation at peace withitself and with its neighbours. It isour unique opportunity and duty tobecome the example to the rest ofthe world for that next step. In thisprocess the Machine City must bereplaced by the Human City. Theexploited landscape must behusbanded with loving care. Thesoil which gives us life must bedeveloped in its own livingprocesses so that it grows richeryear by year rather than poorer. Thebeauty and freedom of personal

space depends on caring for theintegrity of al our environment. Wemay not be the most varied andbeautiful continent on earth, but wecan and must be the most human.

My father's work and thecontributions of al Australians isneeded for the task ahead.

Nevil e Yeomans.

CHAPTER ONE

H.E.R.

There is a wide feeling ofpessimism about halting pol utionwhich is frequently accompanied byan individual sense of guilt; therehave been too many shocks!

It seemed simple enough tocleanup smog; it was only factorysmoke and stuff! But it was a shockto learn that the worst air pol utionwas caused by the invisible gases

from our own motor cars.

Water pol ution seemed just amatter of being careful withdrinking water and treating alsewerage; but it was another shockto discover that after treatment, theeffluents which look quite clear stilpol ute the rivers and the seas.

It was a shock to learn that themilkman delivers the D.D.T. everymorning and that it is in everythingwe eat.

The disclosures about how thechemicals concentrate along theliving foodchains was veryinteresting. The crunch came whenwe realised we were the final linkand got the bigeest dose.

D.D.T. in penguins in the Antarcticagave cause to wonder how much weeat in a meal of fish caught alongour coastline. And in October, 1971there was a locust plague and 20,000square miles of our country wassprayed with tons of syntheticchemical poisons and not an

alternative suggestion or a word ofprotest from anyone until it was toolatejust a fatal acceptance of theinevitable? Hel ! What a world andthere is sure to be worse to come!

Pol ution in this country was not aninevitable part of progress or ofovercrowded cities.

Pol ution is the result of the normalfunctioning over many decades ofan inefficient, arrogant andimpersonal establishment. Theenvironment is pol uted because it is

made up of the chaotic landscapesof the establishment.

WE NEED A HUMANENVIRONMENT REVOLUTION.Not until there is health andharmony in al our landscapes canthere be humanity and commonsense in the society of man. Thisbook is concerned with correctingthe two fundamental causes of ourrapidly deteriorating environment.

THE FIRST CAUSE IS THECOMPLETELY INEXPLICABLE

FAILURE OF MANKIND TO

DESIGN HIS LANDSCAPEHISTRUE LIVING PLACE.

THE SECOND CAUSE IS THEBASTARDISATION OFAGRICULTURE. (see Chapter 14).

Mankind ages ago used his skil s todesign a shelter from the rain wherehe could sleep safely at night, but helived in the natural landscape.Eventual y he designed a house, hiscastles and cathedrals, even a place

for the repose of his corpse, but hedid not design the landscape whichhe came to completely dominate. Hebecame an architect but stil heignored the architecture of thenatural landscapes. But if he hadused his developing skil s and hadlearned to understand the landscapedesign of Nature and also had cometo terms with the soil which fedhim, he could have avoided hiscrimes against Nature which havecaused his problems of today.

He could have designed a landscape

that was; healthy, pleasant, efficientand clean by using his skil s and artsas they developed and combiningthem harmoniously in his livingenvironment.

If he had, he could not have fal enprey to the utter foolishness ofdivorcing his advancing knowledgeinto separated compartments. Thefragments of science, which are hisprincipal downfal , would surely insuch an environment, have beencombined in wisdom and commonsense. if he had remained at peace

with Nature he may have been ableto live more peaceful y with his felow man and have avoided hisproblems of pol ution and ofperpetual fear.

The principal difficulty ineliminating pol ution may be themental attitudes of people. Theolder members of the populationhave been brainwashed andconditioned al their lives to believein doctrines which in today'scrowded world are false andantilandscape. There has been no

preparation in their education or intheir lives for understanding theproblems of today which haveseemingly rushed at them soquickly! It is difficult to accept thatmodern science is often differentfrom wisdom and that technologysometimes loses itself in its ownclever creations. They do not ful yunderstand why their own kids areso different from themselves asyouths. They have not yetappreciated that the revolt of kidsagainst the establishment.represents the dawning of sanity and

common sense in a societyotherwise hel bent on its owndestruction.

Those who were born after theSecond World War entered the newworld of man's unlimited.

power of annihilation. And duringthe years since then, the greatnations have been equippingthemselves for just that purpose.And if not the military, there is polutionthe second road toannihilation! Youth had no part in

causing it, yet they are suffering themost from its healthdestroying andlifeshortening effects.

Thanks to the attitudes of theestablishment over the past fewyears, youth has been robbed of anyreason to be proud of its country.But stil the real hope lies today inthe questioning disbelief of youngpeople and in their contempt forauthority, whether traditional,financial, scientific or government,which does not make sense. Theyknow the things that are wrong; they

are searching for truth and realfreedom, and many are devotingthemselves to changing society forthe better. It is a healthy sign thatthe wisdom and intuition of thesepeople in Australia is leading themnorth in the search for a newfrontier of life style. In the moreheavily populated and overemphasised south eastern corner ofAustralia, where we have copied theexploitation of the environmentfrom other countries, the situationlooks hopeless. But NorthernQueensland appears to offer a

chance to move in bold newdirections and to influence futurecultural, industrial and populationadvances in the quality of life.Countless others would like to folow them out of the environs of thebig city and live in the countrywhere they could grow their ownfood free from artificial fertilisersand poison sprays and col ect theirdrinking water from the rainfal .

BUT IT IS TOO LATE! The poisonwave is too al pervading for them tofind either health or life satisfaction

in any form of isolation.

The young people of today are themost important to world survival inal human history and their destinyoffers them only two courses ofpurposeful action: Firstly, that theyselect and, by using their votingrights, take over a place and buildan environment of humanity andhealthy balance as a demonstrationof living; secondly, that they startthe Human Environment Revolutionnow wherever they are; get with itand stay with it, no matter what!

They have the numbers and thestrengths to do it. They have whatno other age group ever possessed; acapacity to organise their thoughtsand their actions to proceed almostspontaneously both as individualsand as a multitude. And they have amutual integrity which is not aparticular characteristic of theEstablishment.

In the past, the great revolutionscame from empty bel ies. TheHuman Environment Revolution isdifferent. The dissatisfaction of

youth and its demanding search fora better way of life is the power. Ofcourse the Establishment is theenemy, where the stupid and thecomplacent within government, andthe evils and the avarice of finance,science and big business, can neverbe reconciled in a common sensesolution to the problems of the sicklandscape or the inhumanity ofsociety.

The chemical sciences which havebeen debauched by business to makebil ions from pol uting the Planet

wil continue to outshout the healthybut financial y crippled biologicaland social sciences. Business wilfight strenuously and as ruthlesslyas ever against changes whichthreaten their influence and theirprofits, while at the same time, theywil advertise with the power of theirmoney, that they wil save the world.

Youth has a task on its hands butthey do not have to fight everyone.The strangers, the confused and thelost in this world are not the youngpeople, but their parents. Youth

should not dismiss them but shouldguide and teach their elders. Theirmost valuable al y may be the

'healthy' farmers and theirwholesome food. It could wel bethat city kids and these 'rebel'

farmers wil create the humanenvironment revolution.

There was variety and durability inthe natural landscapes, but mankindhas merely imposed his smotheringclutter on Nature's living

environment. He failed to design thespecial purpose landscapes forhimself. The older professions andeach of the new professions whichhad to do with land use, merelyadded their random pieces. Even theEnglish countryside has no logicalbasis of design. Its pleasingappearance today arose from an eraof tree planting which engendered aconsciousness of landscape, at theend of the seventeenth century andcontinued through the eighteenthcentury. There were fears that thenation was in danger of running

short of hardwood for the fleet andfor building purposes general y.Evelyn's book on forestry, "Silva",was published in 1678 and exerted astrong influence on the landedgentry.

I saw these landscapes during thespring and summer of 1958 andvisited some of the majestic homes,manors and castles. These buildingswith their mature trees and artificiallakes seemed to lord it over the lushgreen fields with their copses,hedgerows, and planted forests.

Even the fences and gatewayspossessed their measure of conceit.The near perfection of eachindividual factor had combined in amild and gentle climate to create amosaic scene of great beauty.

The fragile nature of the landscapewas apparent in the drought of 1959when it reminded an Australian ofhis droughty homeland.

This book shows that the harmonyof pure design in the landscapes ofNature has always been overlooked.

It offers a simple extension ofNature's way for the design of theenvironment of man.

CHAPTER TWO

The Proposition

For reasons which become apparentlater, pol ution started with water.Rectifying the water position is thestarting point for designing theelimination of pol ution. The CityForest refers to a specific area of theremedy. As a first step, it isproposed that the filtered effluentfrom sewerage treatment works andother used waters of town and city,be delivered via pump and pipeline

to selected areas of land and not tothe rivers and the seas as it is today.On the selected land these wastewaters would be reused to growforests in the likeness of Nature'srain forest. The growth stimulantsof the effluents would stimulate thegrowth of the trees. The waterwould be cleaned and reconstitutedin the natural processes of theforests and flow from the forest soilto join the common waters of theland and the seas as clear freshwater.

While nothing which man hasdevised for either getting rid ofwater or for reconstituting usedwater approached the efficiency ofthe natural rain forests, the designedCity Forest wil far excel them ineffectiveness for the purpose.

This is the immediate actionsuggested for today's cities in orderto partly offset the mistakes of thepast and the problems of water polution now. But because air, waterand soil are the trinity of life andindivisable, this is also an attack on

air and soil pol ution.

The prospects for tomorrow arebrighter. A balance of the waterbudget in our take and return ofgood water would extend to balanceand health in the total environment.

Cities on their own cannot be madepol ution free; the problem iscontinent wide and world wide. TheCity Forest and a Strip Forest forevery farm, would be an integralpart of the new landscape design forcity, town and country. New cities

can then be made pol ution free andfunction with a degree of efficiencynot now approached. The wideagricultural landscape can beredesigned economical y andprofitably in farmscapes withcomplete control of water, withtrees planted to enhance andimprove the land and with fertilesoil to add the final elegance to thecountryside. Instead of farming landbeing the greater pol uter it is now,it would become the perpetualguardian of the health and balanceof the environment.

Even great industrial complexes andlarge mining enterprises can bedesigned to remain in balance withthe landscape and not destroy anddegrade it.

Our Australia is a divergent land. Ithas landscapes and plant life andanimal life which are unique. Thosewho have control ed its land politiesand those also who have occupied somuch of this land in the past, havenot always discharged theirresponsibilities to it or to itspeoples.

Australia is a damaged land. Thereare places which few Australianshave seen where the surface toseveral feet has been taken by windfrom thousands of square miles.

The tough land has proved to be afragile land.

The impaired landscapes can berecovered and made the mostattractive land on earth both forAustralians to live in and for theworld's people to visit and enjoy.But al our landscapes have to be

guarded and enhanced, because evennow big business interests areplanning the

"development" of land where thedestruction of al trees over vastareas, together with other orthodoxagricultural practices, wil inevitablylead to further wide landscapedestruction.

The acquisition of low priced landin Australia by overseas investors,has placed a value of a few cents inthe dol ar on our land, compared

with similar land in their owncountries. Already the areas lost inthe North are than the states ofVictoria and Tasmania combined.This is a form of pol ution by theEstablishment which needs to bereversed.

First, The Farm

I became involved with the problemof designing a healthy landscapewhen I bought 1,000

acres of poor land in a region of

unreliable rainfal in 1943 and triedto farm it. The objective was toproduce 1,000 acres of fertile soil ina landscape which was plannedlogical y. I was singularlyunsuccessful for a time. Buteventual y I found a quick way toconvert very poor earths into fertilesoil and a logical way to design alandscape.

The relevances of these experimentsand experiences on the land, whichwere recorded in my three earlierbooks and various papers, are many.

For instance, the first specialpurpose landscape of man was thefarm, where everyone lived on theland. It was not only the place wherethe food was produced, it was alsothe home of the arts and skil s whichwere the foundation of theindustries. Therefore, if the soil ofthe farm deteriorated and lost itsfertility, or the land was wronglydesigned or lacked designaltogether, thus weakening thebalance of the natural landscape,there was little chance that later andfar more populous landscapes would

be better. On the other hand, if thefarming of land was right and thedesign of the farm was in balance,the wider landscapes of city, townand country could not be in such aplight today.

THE FARM WAS AND STILLREMAINS THE CRITICALLYIMPORTANT LANDSCAPE OF

MAN. However a healthy and weldesigned farm is almost as rare asthe sensibly designedcitynevertheless it is on the farms

where the problems of unhealthysoil and good landscape design mustfirst be solved and where designsfor health and balance must beintegrated. Many of the arts and skils of good farming are important tothe design and workings of the cleancity.

Fertile soil is a precious thing. it hasalso been found to very temporary;its fertility can be lost by faultymanagement in a few decades. Butit wil be shown that the process canbe reversed and the impoverished

soil be made more fertile and deeperthan it ever was, and in a few years.

The responses of the disorderedlandscape to good design andmanagement can likewise be rapid.The redesign of the landscapes forhealth and efficiency can beapproached with optimism.

The professions have producedmany masterpieces of design withinthe environment but for thelandscapes of town and country,which should have been planned to

last indefinitely, there is no logicalbasis of design. The best of citiesappear to be Topsy plannedthey justgrew and grew out of a series ofaccidents into the malignancies theyare now.

Landscapes

There are two classes of landscapes.Class one is the Wide EnfoldingLandscapes of Nature.

Class two is the Special PurposeLandscapes of Man.

The landscapes within class one arethe larger of the two. They are thelandscapes of the great mountainchains and river systems; of coastalplains and shore lines; of the greatrain forests to the savannah type ofgrassland with its few scatteredtrees; of the wide grasslands of thecontinents of the worldthe pampas,the great plains, the steppes and theprairiesof the marshes and the wetlands, of the semiarid lands and thedeserts.

They are the landscapes of the

geographer, the geologist and theanthropologist; the landscapes ofthe migrating birds, of our emu andkangaroo, of the elephant and thegiraffe, of the lion and the leopard,and of the herds of the grasseaters.

The landscapes within class twothespecial purpose landscapes ofmanhave been imposed on thenatural landscapes of class one andnow appear to dominate them; evenclimates have been affected andland shape has been altered by greatmovements of soil and earth. These

landscapes are the cityscapes andtownscapes; they are the landscapesof the grazing properties and thefarms, of the planted forests, of therail systems and the roads, of thenature reserves and the parklands,and of the many smal er landscapeswithin them, down to the houseblock with the doghouse in thebackyard.

They are the landscapes of the citydwel ers and townsfolk, of thefarmers and the foresters; of thesociologists, the biologists and the

doctors; of the industrialists and theminers; the golfers and the skiers;of the scientists and the artistsof alof us. This is our world.

These are the landscapes ofmismanagement which areoffending Nature and pol uting theplanet.

CHAPTER THREE

The Landscape

Design of Nature

(1)

THE GEOGRAPHY OFLANDSCAPE

There is a landscape design ofNature. It is made up of three waterlines and three land shapes. Itincludes also three land forms and

one special pattern.

We start a trip to the origins oflandscape in order to learn how todesign better landscapes forourselves.

In the beginnings of the world therewas chaos. There were no forms, nodesign and no life.

Then there was a great change; theland was divided from the water; thecontinents and the islands becameseparated and defined from the seas.

The dividing line around each was acontour. THE FIRST LINE OFNATURE'S LANDSCAPE

DESIGN IS A CONTOUR WATERLINE. The natural contour linesshow where the surface of stil watermakes contact with the land.

Now the water attacked the landwith the blitzkrieg of sea tides andtidal waves, the artil ery of stormsand the infantry of raindrops. Thewater drained off the land back tothe sea to attack again. THE

SECOND LINE OF NATURE'SLANDSCAPE DESIGN IS THEWATERDRAINAGE

LINE. It is the line of the watercourses, the streams and the rivers.

Here in the drainage lines of theland, Nature made first use of thebranching and joining pattern whichbecame one of her favourites.

The draining of the water back tothe sea also divided the landsurfaces into watershed regions.

THE THIRD LINE OF NATURE'SLANDSCAPE DESIGN IS THEWATERDIVIDE LINE.

It separated al the lands of the Earthinto great regions and divided al theland within them into lesser regions.

The attack by water on the land andthe draining of the water back to thesea, aided by the other forces ofland disintegration, fashioned andsculptured the surface while muchof the land was lost to the sea. Theresult was the foundation for the

GREAT REGIONAL DESIGN OF

NATURE, and for the shapes andthe forms of the land.

The grand strategy of Nature wasthe creation and the deployment oflife to protect the land from theagression of water. The movementsof the water over the land wereslowed down by the soil, the grassand the trees. Slowly thereafter thenatural landscapes developed as thelife forms within them becamenumerous and varied. Nature sided

with the land against the water tocreate great variety in life anddurability in Her landscapes.

* * *

THERE ARE THREE SHAPES OFLAND; THE MAIN RIDGE, THEPRIMARY VALLEY AND

THE PRIMARY RIDGE.

The main ridge is the first landshape. It carries the waterdivide lineand is thus the boundary of al theregions of Nature's landscape

design. Look at the skyline; it is theline of a main ridge.

A main ridge almost surrounds thecatchment areas of the great riversystems of the world; a main ridgealmost surrounds the catchments ofevery water course and streamwithin these regions. The 'almost'indicates there is a low place wherewater escapes from the confiningregion and main ridge, as it doeswhere two streams join and where ariver flows into the sea.

Just as al the low places within thegreat regions are connected up bythe joining of every water course,stream and tributary river to themain river, so also are al the higherplacesthe ridges, with theirwaterdivide linesconnected up fromthe smal est ridge to the largestmain ridge. This fact was vividlydemonstrated with a hol ow and thinfibreglass model of an actuallandscape. When turned upsidedown and sprayed with water, itdisclosed what could have been theworking model of a different

landscape. The val eys and ridgeswere reversed; the stream coursesbecame the main ridges, the mainridges became stream courses. Thehil s became lakesa lake is anupsidedown hil . The branching andjoining pattern of the ridges wasclearly disclosed.

In Nature's landscape design thebranching and joining pattern of thetwo water linesthe drainage linesand the waterdivide linesareintertwined. Together they form analmost neverending interlacing, yet

the two different water lines do nottouch each other. They disclose theanatomy of the landscape.

The water drainage lines areobvious in the water courses, thecreeks, the streams and the rivers.The waterdivide lines of the ridgesare not so readily seen.

To il ustrate the waterdivide lineand to examine the shapes of theland, imagine we stand between twocreeks where they join on thecleared and undulating land of a

farm. We turn out backs on thejunction and walk uphil away fromit fol owing the highest landbetween the creeks;

the land widens out as we go. Weare walking along the crest of amain ridgeon a waterdivide linebutwe cannot see it. If it were rainingheavily we could see it. The rainwater would be flowing away fromthe waterdivide line in bothdirections, some to flow to the creekon our left, the rest to the creek onour right. Eventual y the water

would join up and flow together atthe junction we left behind us.

The crest line of a ridge and thewaterdivide line are synonymous.The centre of a road and the ridge ofa roof are waterdivide lines; waterflows in opposite directions fromboth.

From the main ridge the two creeksare in view. The sides of the mainridge slope more or less uniformlyto the creeks below. Val eys forminto the sides of the main ridge.

They are named primary val eys.The side slopes of the main ridgeleft standing, as it were, on eachside of these val eys are also cal ed'primary'primary ridges.

There wil be a few or many primaryval eys and primary ridgesbelonging to each main ridge.

Since the primary val ey has aprimary ridge on both sides of it,there is always one more primaryridge than there are primary val eysin any main ridge system.

The primary val ey is the smal est ofthe three shapes of land. It is thefirst val ey and the only true val eyshape in the landscape. The socal edval eys of streams and rivers are inreality, watershed areasNature'sregionsand they contain bothprimary ridges and primary val eys.

The primary val ey has a specialshape. The start of the val ey at thetop end is the steepest slope in thelandscape. This first steep slope atthe head of the val ey is short, thenthe slope changes to a flatter and

longer slope which extends to thecreek below.

I named the point of slopechange inthe primary val ey, the Keypoint. Acontour line around and across theval ey from side to side though thispoint is the Keyline of the val ey.ONLY A PRIMARY VALLEY HASA KEYLINE.

The primary val ey col ects its wateronly from ridges; from the mainridge out of which it was born andfrom the primary ridges on either

side of it. Water flows down theprimary val ey when it is raining. Itis the first water course to ceaseflowing after the rain.

In the wide agricultural areas theprimary val ey was grassed over andof a smooth rounded bed, downwhich the runoff waters from rainfalflowedthat was before so manybecame eroded into gutters and guleys, to bleed the moisture from thesurrounding land.

The primary ridge is the largest of

the individual shapes of the land.Because there are many moreprimary ridges than main ridges andbecause the primary val eys are thesmal est shape, the primary ridgesinclude more of the land surfacethan the other two shapes combined.

From the crest line of the mainridge it wil be plain to see that themain ridge is not level or evenuniformly rising. It may depart fromits general rise and dip down, thenrise again. The low place is a saddlein the main ridge and it often shows

where a primary val ey has intrudeddeeply and reached the crest line ofa main ridge. When the saddle isdeep the first steep slope of theprimary val ey may be gone. TheKeypoint of such a primary val ey isthe saddle point.

A saddle is a unique land formwhich has significance for landplanning. Road makers make use ofthe saddle of a main ridge to crossover from one watershed region tothe next.

The saddle has left a higher piece ofland sticking up on the main ridge.This land form is a hil .

It often has a saddle on each side ofit.

The third land form is displayed inthe depression of lakes and ponds.

Continuing along the crest of themain ridge, a place is eventual yreached where it appears to go twoways, as indeed it does. To the leftthe main ridge continues to almost

surround the creek on our left andthe right branch goes on to almostsurround the creek on our right. Butthe main ridges of the watershedregions of the two creeks have nowjoined up with other main ridges,which surround other creeks andstreams and provide the boundariesfor their separate watershed regions.They have become a part of themain ridge system of Nature'sdesign.

Each of the two junctioning creekshas its own region bounded by the

crest line of its own main ridge.These regions thus include al theland from which rain runoff waterflows to each creek.

The land covers the one side of thesurrounding main ridge whichslopes towards the creek and theseries of primary val eys andprimary ridges which likewise falfrom the side of the main ridge tothe creek below. This is the basic,the single, THE UNITREGION OFTHE LAND. It may contain onlyhalf a square mile or many square

miles.

The main ridge which startedbetween the creeks at the junction,divides, and the two branchesbecome widely separated beforethey come closer together at thesingle stream below the junction ofthe two creeks. This main ridgewithout the branch between thecreeks is thus the boundary of alarger regiona twin regionwhichincludes the two single unitregionsof the two creeks. In like manner althe regions of Nature expand in

numbers of unitregions within them,where each larger region has its ownmain ridge, up to the largest regionof Nature. It may contain half a milion square miles and embrace theentire watershed region of the greatriver.

This is the landscape design ofNature. It is repeated endlessly tocover the land surface of the Earth.But what is the purpose of thisdesign?

The purpose of Nature's landscape

design must surely be the protectionof the land from the attack of thewaters. The waterline design and theland shapes appear to be designedfor no other purpose than to get ridof water as quickly as possible. Theshapes of the land reach the absolutein efficiency for achieving thisobjective.

The harmony of the landscape hasbeen produced over aeons of timeby the evolution, interaction andfusion of the three shapes of land.

THE HARMONY OF PUREDESIGN IN THE LANDSCAPESOF NATURE IS THE RESULT OF

LAND'S LONG BATTLEAGAINST WATER'S CONSTANTCOMMAND"COME BACK TOTHE

SEA."

The evolution of the design ofNature on the many and variedgeological structures below thesurface of the land, has provided the

natural landscapes with characterand variety. But there is hidden inthe three shapes of landthe mainridge, the primary val ey and theprimary ridgesomething more toadd to the wonder of the landscapedesign of Nature; for each of thethree shapes of land there is aunique and constant geometry whichis disclosed in their contours andwhich wil shortly be reviewed. Incombination with their depths,lengths and widths, there is endlessvariety. But multiplied by theeffects of the profusion of climates,

variety approaches infinity. Yet ourmanmade landscapes so oftenreflect only monotony and boredom.

CHAPTER FOUR

The Landscape

Design of Nature

(2)

THE GEOMETRY OF SHAPESAND FORMS

The contour lines of Nature's seasand lakes have been borrowed andare used as a device by the manyprofessions concerned with

landuse, so as to il ustrate in apractical and accurate manner onpaper, the shapes and the forms ofland surfaces.

A contour line surrounds the land. Acontour line surrounds the wateroflakes and ponds. The water linearound a swimming pool or a bathare contour lines.

For the purpose of il ustrating landon paper, the lines are used on'contour' maps where the individualcontour lines show where the land is

the same height as indicated by thecontours.

The lines are placed to show setvertical distances below each other,such as one foot or ten feet.

On a map the highest contour line isplaced as if al the contour lineswhich indicate lower land, wereunder the water of an imaginarylake and this first contour line waspart of the shoreline of the lake orof an island in the lake. The nextcontour line of the map, say ten feet

vertical y lower than the top line, isagain part of the shoreline when thewater of the lake has dropped tenfeetand so on downwards.

The contour lines on a map show theshapes and the forms of the land andthe positions and relationships ofwater courses and ponds. They showalso how water wil behave anywhereon the land, because the natural pathof water flowing over the surface isalways at right angles to thecontours of the land. This naturalpath of water is the steepest and

fastest route, but it is never astraight line; it always forms a flat Scurve from ridge to val ey.

The main ridge is the top of theland, the backbone and the outlineof the landscape. Look again at theskyline!

The contour diagram of the mainridge displays the contours as aseries of elongated loops, oneoutside the other downwards, withthe distance from loop to loop widerat the crest line of the main ridge

and narrower elsewhere.

The head of the primary val eyintrudes into this contour pattern ofthe main ridge where part of acontour line swings in closer to thecontour line above. The change ofpattern shows the first slope at thehead of the primary val ey to besteeper than the nearby slope of themain ridge.

The elongated loop pattern of themain ridges changes to a series offlatter loop patterns of the primary

ridges between the closer togethercontours at the head of the primaryval eys. The loop pattern of theprimary ridge contours approachmore the shape of the arcs of acircle than the hairpin like loops ofthe main ridge. The contours arewidest apart at the centre or divideline of the primary ridge andnarrowest at the head of the primaryval ey.

The primary val ey has two slopeswhich change from steep to muchflatter at the Keyline of the val ey.

At the Keyline the contour patternchanges. The contours becomecloser together near the primary valey before they open out to displaythe flatter slope of the primary valey below the Keyline. Then theyconverge again on the other side ofthe primary val ey to open out againto display the next primary ridgeshape. A line through the contours,joining the points of greatestconvergence on each side of theprimary val ey, marks the boundarybetween val ey and ridge shape.

This combined contour pattern ofthe three shapes of the land maychange again near the creek below,by the contours coming closertogether near the centre of theprimary ridge and being wider apartin the primary val ey. This newpattern indicates that the primaryridge has

'nosed over' just above its lowerboundarythe creek below.

The land forms of hil , saddle andpond also have their contour

patterns. If there is a saddle in themain ridge at the level, say, of thesecond contour, the two topcontours wil be elongated ovals todisplay the hil on the main ridge.Near the saddle they may be closertogether or sometimes further apart.A saddle point is always on the crestline (waterdivide line) of a ridge.

A saddle point can be, on i i ioccasions, the Keypoint of aprimary val ey or more often be atthe top of the first steep slope of aprimary val ey. A hil on a primary

ridge wil have the same closedcontours, each outside the other, butwith the oval form less pronouncedor gone altogether.

From a saddle point, contours gofour ways. If there is another saddleat the same height or lower, thecontours join up and form a figure8.

The contour diagram of a ponddisplays the same pattern as for a hil, but the inside contour is the lowestline and the outside contour, the

highest.

Since the main ridge rises into therising country towards the head ofthe watershed, the height

of the Keylines of the series ofprimary val eys tend to have a risingrelationship also.

The creek is the lower boundary ofits tributary primary val eys and ofthe primary ridges on each side ofthe primary val eys.

Runoff water from rainfal on themain ridge and the higher parts ofthe primary ridges, flows to theprimary val ey by the steepest pathand the fastest route. The pattern offlow is at right angles to the

contours. The contour diagram ilustrates that the steepest slopes ofland are in the

primary val ey above the Keyline.The contours show also that therunoff from rain converges from thesteep head of the primary val ey toconcentrate at the Keypoint.Therefore the stability andpermanence of the naturallandscapes depend largely on thefertility and thus the strength of theprimary val ey to resist the force offlowing water.

The combined contour diagram ofthe land il ustrates further, theparamount efficiency of Nature's

landscape design for getting rid ofwater quickly.

If you look for a primary val ey inthe city you may not recognise it soeasily. It has been disguised bybeing overlooked and by oureducation which ignores it. Even ifyou look at a primary val ey in thecleared countryside you wil not seethe Keyline, unless a farmer hasmarked it with a water channel orhas disclosed it with the water lineof a farm dam. But you may discernthe. Keypoint where the two slopes

of the primary val ey meet.

If you do go out in the country andfind the Keypoint of a primary valey and stand there, you wil see thefamily place of the three shapes ofland where they meet; you may lookupwards and see THEAMPHITHEATRE OF THELANDSCAPE. If this place were filed with people, you would be thecentre of al eyesthe centre of thestage. In the same way, if a sheet ofwater flowed from al around thehighest tier of the theatre, you

would cop the lot.

The functions of the primary val eysin the landscape have beenoverlooked by those who wereresponsible for devising the specialpurpose landscapes of manwith oneexception. By accident or byinstincts developed from long andintimate association with land, afew farming families have improvedand strengthened the primary valeys. In doing so they increased thefertility and the durability of theirfarmscape.

There are thus specialcharacteristics disclosed by Nature'slandscape design for considerationwhen we attempt to superimpose onthem the special purpose landscapesfor ourselves. There is theefficiency of the shapes of land forgetting rid of water and the onlyway water is retained for the benefitof the land, by being slowed downand some of it being stored by thesoil, the grass and the treesby al thelife in the landscape. Then the waterwhich fal s as rain on al the ridges,which occupy so. much of the land,

flows as runoff to concentrate in theprimary val eys which are so littleof the land surface; yet the value oflandrural land in Australiacertainlyis as high as 80% a watervalue.

Water flows from farming land inthe same efficient manner as it doesfrom the natural landscapes.Therefore much water passeswithout being used effectively in thelandscape.

NATURAL WASTE PRODUCTS

FROM PLANTS AND ANIMALSAND FROM ARTIFICIAL

SUBSTANCES USED ON THEFARM, ARE RUSHED TO THEWATER COURSES TO

POLLUTE THE COMMONWATERS OF THE LAND ANDTHE SEAS. This type of pol ution,when it does not contain artificialsubstances, is named Primitive Polution.

The natural landscapes had come to

terms with the water. A state ofbalance existed which was in accordwith the amount of water availableto the land. Where the rainfal washigh and reliable, rain forests haddeveloped; where the rainfal wasmoderate and its incidence lessreliable, the grasslands of naturewere found. When the manmadelandscapes of farm and city wereimposed on those of nature, thebalance of the association of landand water was changed.

The flow of water off the land was

speededup, instead of being sloweddown.

It is evident that landscape designmust firstly be concerned with waterto (1), to control positively and touse more effectively the waterwhich flows from the land to thewater courses and (2), to improve onor change the pattern of behaviourof water which fal s on the ridgeshapes.

The design which achieves theoptimum control and beneficial use

of water for the development ofhigh fertility, efficiency and balancefor the farmscape, wil be the logicaldesign for townscape and cityscapeand for al the special purposeslandscapes of man. And the controland better use of water is the firstanswer for the control and finalelimination of pol ution.

The life in the landscape of Naturewas principal y a process of slowlymoving water: even our own bodiesare 70% water. Nature slowed downthe water, with the life of the

landscape. Surely the next stepwhich is up to us is to control and touse every drop of water before itreaches the streams and the rivers,for the aggrandisement of al thespecial purpose landscapes of man.

CHAPTER FIVE

The Fragment Between

The landscape design of Nature hasbeen examined on undulating land,but the design and the shapes andthe forms of the land are there in the'flat' country. The shapes and formsmay not always be identified by thenaked eye, yet the marking in ofcontours on the land with the aid ofa level ing instrument and manypegs, wil clearly disclose them.

Then there is the primordiallandscape with its vistas ofmountain crags and caps andpanoramas of cliffs and chasmswhere the hard geological structuresbelow appear to have thrust throughthe landscape. There may be only athin soil here and there whichsupports a few patches of scrub orscattered trees among the rocks,Even in this harsh angular land therewil be the waterdivide lines of themain ridges and the drainage linesof the water courses, al twisted andbizarre. With the rocky foundations

of the primary val eys and primaryridges, there wil be the rough landforms of saddle, hil and pond.

The wind has intervened in thebattle of water and the land. Thesigns of its victories are the hilforms in val eys which have createdmany saddle forms and pond formswhich may not hold water. Wherethe structures below are previousand on the strips of dunelands,Nature's drainage lines have beenobliterated, But where water hasmade good its retreat to the sea to

attack again in rain and hasreestablished the drainage lines, thewind and the water have fashionedlandscapes of sparkling variety.There are occasional flood plainswhere deeply flowing water hasfashioned landscapes like those ofthe dunelandsof many hil , saddleand pond forms.

THERE ARE FRAGMENTS INTHE LANDSCAPE. They have greatimportance but are not always of thethree shapes of the land. Thesefragments are land which is covered

with water some of the time. Firstly,there are the areas between thetides. This is land at low tide andwater at high tide. Secondly, thereare the flood plains of streams andrivers. This is land for most of thetime and becomes water once eachyear over many parts of the world.In Australia it is different: theweather patterns do not produce theregular annual floodings. On theother hand the flood plain of theHawkesbury River, near Sydney inNew South Wales, was covered bywater six times in five weeks in

1951.

This landwater or waterland shouldbe kept inviolate from wrongfulintrusions. Towns and buildings orstock care centres should notintrude. Towns were moved off thisparticular flood plain by GovernorMacquarie in 1810. They are knowntoday as the MacquarietownsRichmond, Windsor,Wilberforce, Pitttown andCastlereagh.

These fragments are the thickening

of the vital contact lines of waterand the land. They are, as it were,adored and courted by each of theantagonists in the battle of waterand land. It is always the front line,the fragment between, the piece inthe middlebut it must not be anoman's land.

It should be cherished and kept forthe landscape.

Through al history man has battledman and il ogical y fought withNature over these vital water lines.

Now mankind at last shouldappreciate that the contact line ofwater and land has become hisbattle line of survival.

Yet in al the special purposelandscapes of man, the movement ofthe water off the land has beenspeeded up instead of being controled and slowed down. Water movesfaster off the farms than it did fromthe former natural landscapes, whilethe farms carry more animals thatprovide waste products which arewashed to the streams and pol ute

them. Rainfal runoff water rushesfrom the roofed and paved areas ofthe city and waste water is lostquickly without reuse.

Pol uted water should not be alowed to cross these vital lines todestroy the sanctity of the commonwaters of the land and to upset thegreat balancing medium of earthlylifethe seas.

In the design for the environmentsubmitted in fol owing chapters, thewater which final y moves off the

land surface flows first through thestrip forests of the farm and grazinglands; and from the towns andcities, through the CityForestswhere the water is cleansedand reconstituted.

When the nations of the worldagreeas they must doto protect thevital line of land's contact withwater the battle of pol ution wil bequickly won and there wil soonemerge landscapes of unparal elefficiency and beauty.

CHAPTER SIX

Design for Environment

If there had been no primary val eysthere would be no primary ridgesand the main ridge would be theonly shape in the landscape andstretch from creek to creek and thecreeks would be its boundaries.

But the intrusion, so to speak, ofprimary val eys into this onemassive main ridge shape, gave theland three shapes and assisted in

making three land forms. Theprimary val eys provided highergathering places for water andhigher sites for storing it below theamphitheatre where the three shapesunite and where water continues itsattack. This is the place where thelandscape can be made stronger, thefocal point for improvements to becarried forwardthe Keypoint forlandscape designs.

The objective of landscape designhas been stated at the end of Chapter4, (1) to control and to use for the

benefit of the landscape the waterwhich, in the natural landscapes andin the present landscapes of man,flows over the surface of the land tothe water courses, and (2) toimprove the pattern of behaviour ofwater which fal s as rain on theridge shapes of the land, for thebenefit of the landscape. The secondis accomplished by designs fortechniques which operate within thenew design for the landscape and isdealt with in Chapter 12, Water theForest.

The first objectivethe control andbetter use of wateris the basis oflandscape design. It is simply theaddition of two new water lines tothe landscape design of Nature.

The first water line is for the bettercontrol of water, the second is forthe improved use of water.

We start off on a farm: if the area ofland to be designed has a boundaryfence which encloses only a part ofthe main ridge and one primary valey and its adjacent primary ridges,

the first new water line would beplaced so as. to divert the runofffrom rainfal on the higher land to astorage site at the Keyline of theprimary val ey. This is the highestsite for water storage in the highestval ey of the landscape.

The storage dam in the primary valey is equipped with an outlet pipe torelease the water to the second newwater line. It uses the stored waterto irrigate the land. Added to thisplan can be a lower storage fromwhich water would be pumped up to

the irrigation dam.

The first new water line is adiversion channel to control therunoff water from rainfal ; thesecond new water line is anirrigation channel to water the land.The design is made to suit theimproved use of water during heavyrunoff periods which provide waterbeyond the absorption capacity ofthe (and and the limits of thestorages, (Chapter 12, Water theForest).

These two new water lines aredifferent from the water lines ofNature's landscape design.

Whereas the natural drainage linesand waterdivide lines do not touch,the new water lines cross over thedrainage line of the primary val eyand the waterdivide line of theprimary ridge.

They may go on to cross the landand join up several primary val eydrainage lines and primary ridgedivide lines. In the same manner

they cross over the waterdivide lineof a main ridge and join up with thedrainage line of a creek or stream.They may thus connect up two ormany unitregions.

Now a concept is introduced whichyears ago helped solve the author'sproblem of designs for thefarmscape. Cal ed THE KEYLINESCALE OF PERMANENCE, it is anorder for planning based on therelative permanence of the variousitems which together make up thecompleted landscape. In the next

chapter the concept wil be appliedto the design of the town and theCityscape.

This is the scale:

1. Climate.

2. Land shape.

3. Water.

4. Roads.

5. Trees.

6. Buildings.

7. Subdivision.

8. Soil.

The first three of the eight factors ofthe scale of permanenceclimate,land shape and waterare THEINSEPARABLE TRINITY OFLANDSCAPE DESIGN.

The first two factors, climate andland shape, are the more or lessunalterable background of thelandscape. Water, with its lines and

its patterns of flow, is the firstfactor of the landscape design ofNature which we change.

The two new water lines added tothe landscape have a fal down thelandthe same way the creek fal sbuttheir gradient is made less than thatof the creek below. Therefore thefurther the two new lines areextended, the greater the heightdifference between them and thecreek below, and progressivelymore land lies between the newwater lines and the drainage line of

the creek.

Water is thus retained at higherlevels on the land. Before it mayjoin the water courses to flow on tothe sea, it must crossover thesurface or go through the soil of thelandscape.

The new water lines for city as welas for farm, are permanent featuresof the designed landscape. Alfactors below them on the scale aremade to fit in with these new butnow permanent water lines.

The fourth factor, roads, fit in withthe new water lines. A road fol owsalongside the diversion channelright through to the boundary. Thediversion channel with itsassociated road, has now added a'zone' to the land by dividing themain ridge and the higher parts ofthe primary ridgesthe highcatchment areafrom the rest of theland. Another road fol ows along thecrest line of the main ridge toservice this zone. The sites forshelter trees (the fifth factor) andfor buildings (the sixth factor) with

their work areas are positioned inthis first zone of the land.

A second zone is added by the lineof the irrigation channel whichlikewise, with its service road,divides the region from end to end.The second zone is thus bounded bythe diversion channel above, theirrigation channel below, and theboundary fence at opposite ends.

The land which contains the areasfor irrigating thus lies in anotherzonethe third zone of the land. This

zone has a lower boundary; achannel; which controls the finaloverflow of water when it is inexcess of the capacity of the soiland the storages.

The land lying between the lowerboundary of the irrigation land andthe creek, is yet another zone, thefourth zone of the land.

The four zones, with their serviceroads are connected. The site forthis road is along the dividelines, orcentre lines, of the one or two large

primary ridges in each unitregion. Aprimary ridge usual y has a more orless uniform slope from the mainridge through to the creek below.

The system of new water lines andtheir roads has not only added fourzones to the regions of Nature'slandscape design; it has dividedthose zones in either two or in threeparts by the one or two roads whichconnect and go through them. Thisfurther division of the naturalregions provides the basis for thecomplete subdivision of the

farmscape, or the cityscapetheseventh factor of the scale.

The fifth factor on the scale ofpermanence is trees.

Trees are absolutely essential forthe health, for the balance, for theefficiency and for theaggrandisement of al the specialpurpose landscapes of man. If, as issaid, they are second only in placeto the diatoms of the seas for thesupply of atmospheric oxygen, thentrees and mil ions more trees are

essential for the total environment.

They must be planted or 'left' in theright places. A plant, or a tree in thewrong place is a weed.

In the farmscape some trees wil beassociated with the layout of thenew water lines, the roads and thefencing of the new zones. They areplantedor left in the initial clearingof landto shade the stock and tobreak the winds which dry out theland. They provide in their leaf falthe elements from deepdown for the

balance of the soil. But in landscapedesign, trees have another andspecial province. The strip forestsfor the farm and the City Forest fortown and city, protect the naturaldrainage lines and the seas from thewaste products which may remain inthe water that flows from the land.

The strip forests of the farmscapeare located principal y in the fourthzone of the land. Al water whichmay flow overland from the threehigher zones is directed automaticaly into them.

The water is absorbed into the deepsoil of the strip forests and iscleaned and reconstituted before itflows to the streams. (Chapter 11,"Soil and Trees").

Al primary val eys or perhaps evenmost of them do not possesssuitable sites for storing water attheir Keylines; the shape of the valey must have economic andpractical significance for thepurpose. If three primary val eys ofthe series in the one main ridgesystem have good storage shapes,

these three val eys govern theposition of the diversion channel.Because main ridges have a generalrise toward the top of the region, theprimary val eys tend to have aprogressively rising relationship. Inthe opposite directionwith the fal ofthe creekit is a failing relationship.The heights of the Keylines of theselected primary val eys aredetermined so that the one diversionchannel may fal to the first storagesite and continue beyond it toconnect up with the other two sites.In this way the overflow water from

the highest storage dam fol ows thediversion channel to help fil thedams further on down. In likemanner the second new waterlinethe irrigation channelconnectsup from dam to dam. When there ismore water to be stared and moresites needed for storing it, thediversion channel and the irrigationchannel are repeated and connect upthe new storages lower down in theprimary val eys. Zones two andthree are then repeated above zonefour.

The countryside has not beendivided along the naturalwaterdivide lines or according to theunitregions, the twin regions and thelarger regions of Nature. Boundarylines of farms general y cut acrossnatural unitregions since so manyhave been determined with astraightedge on paper. Landscapedesign is not simply a matter to beapplied only within the boundariesof the regions of Nature'ssubdivisions of the land, but withinboundary fences. For instance, thehigher boundary of a farm may start

on a main ridge and divide aunitregion by crossing over a creekand the main ridge on the other side,and may include the head and onehalf of the next unitregion. Theproperty may already have a goodboundary fence, many subdivisionfences, a stock dam in eachpaddock, roads through the farm, ahomestead, other buildings andwork areas. Moreover it may havebeen overcleared of timber withtrees left only in the steep places orstanding in the "backpaddock."

Of the development work which wasput in over the course of manyyears, only the boundary fence maybe correctly located. There is a goodchance also that the homesteadthesixth factor of the scaleis welpositioned since this is oftendecided by the womenfolk. Becausethey like to overlook the entrance tothe farm and the work areas, thehomesteadmore often than notislocated on a main ridge or on thehigher part of a primary ridge.

To redesign such a farm the same

two new water lines dominate theplan but there are severalconsiderations which maydetermined their location. Forinstance on this particular propertythe water to be control ed does notal fal as rain on the farm, since, asone boundary fence crosses aregion, water from outside the farmflows in via a creek. This source ofwater may be greater than from rainfailing on the farm itself.

Design starts with the control of thewater of greatest landscape

significance, This is invariablywater of greatest quantity andlowest cost.

Firstly the entire property isexamined to determine the waterresources available, to pinpoint thefeatures of the landscape and toenvisage and decide on thelandscape design for the farm.

Secondly, the most advantageousplace for a startingoff project isselected. The prime requirementsare that it fit the landscape design

and be of such significance that itwil quickly enhance the overalproduction and value of the farm. Itproceeds by progressively controling al the water resources whichhave profitable significance.

While these principles of design areuniversal in their application, therewil be only one way to design eachlandscape. Every special purposelandscape wil be unique; there wilbe no other like it on the face of theearth.

The last of the eight factors of thescale of permanence is soil.

Natural soils were not always fertilebut when soil was fertile it was thegreat storehouse of the renewingand renewable surpluses of Nature.In the fertile natural grasslands andnearby forests, al the life in thelandscape lived on the surpluses ofNature which had been provided bytime and the reactions of the air, thewater, the rocks of the earth and theheat and the light of the sun.

They have lived, bred and died forcountless generations yet thesurpluses of Nature remained intact.THIS IS THE BALANCE OF THELANDSCAPE.

The history of mankind in his seriesof leaps and retreats type ofconquest of the earth, is the story ofhis discovery and exploitations ofthe great surpluses of Nature held inthe soil and in the earth.

A fertile natural soil may bedeprived of its fertility surpluses in

a few decades as the various racesof man have ably demonstrated overthousands of years.

But there is another side to the storyof soil, which wil be dealt with inthe Chapters "Soil Sense" and and"The Bastardisation of Agriculture".Impoverished soil can be madefertile again and soil which wasoriginal y low fertility, can be madedeep and fertileboth in a short spaceof time.

The management of this design for

the farmscape is concerned with theimprovement of the fertility of thesoil. Therefore it is concerned to seethat al the wastes of the farm fromplants and from the urine and thedung of animals is absorbed againinto the soil where it rightful ybelongs.

It is concerned to see that waterwhich leaves the farm does so byfirst being absorbed into the soil toimprove it, so that, as acoincidental, nothing from the farmmay pol ute the common waters of

the land and the seas. Themanagement of the design for thecityscape and for al the specialpurpose landscapes of man islikewise concerned with these samematters.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Design A New City

The basis of design for anylandscape is the control and use ofthe water which has greatestsignificance for the efficiency andaggrandisement of the landscape.On the farm there are two generalwater resource avenues; one is thewater which flows from rain on thefarm, the other is water which flowsto the farm from outside it. On someoccasions the most significant

source may be water fromunderground.

The provision of household andstock water at the several pointswhere it is needed and where it mustalways be available even in thelongest drought, is a subject forgood design. But it is a flexiblefeature within the landscape and notof particular significance tolandscape design.

The principal water for city design,in like manner, is not the water

supply for houses and industry butthe runoff from rainfal and thewaste water of the effluents fromthe city. This water is to move bygravity flow.

The first three factors of the scale ofpermanence have been named, "theinseparable trinity of landscapedesign;" they are climate, landshape and water. These same factorsare the special considerations forthe selection of a site for a new city.Climate is eternal y the mostdiscussed aspect of anywhereit is

always of importance. It is the mostpermanent factor of the landscape.

Land shape wil guide site selectionby the influence of such matters asthe size of the primary ridges andtheir lengths and slopes downwardsand the size of the unitregions andtheir association with regionalunities. Land shape is second toclimate in the order ofpermanencies.

Water for the city is a siteconsideration but it comes from

outside and may be brought in froma considerable distance. City watermust be reliable, pure andpermanent.

A great influence for site selectionmay wel be, in the first place, somegeographical or geological featureof the wide landscape which offersparticular advantages for cityconsiderations.

The basis of design for the new cityis the same as for the farmscape, itis designed from the Keylines or the

primary val eys which have greatestlandscape significance.

The city should have a definite sizeand a boundary which may beselected as an appropriately sizednatural region. The boundary of thecity may be principal y the crest lineof a large main ridge. The land forthe city would first be surveyed andput on paper as a contour map. Thenatural drainage lines and thenatural waterdivide lines wouldclearly display the naturalunitregions within ever larger

regions within the boundary of thedesign.

The flow of water of greatestlandscape and design significance isthe runoff from rainfal .

While these flows in aggregate maybe little more than that from citywaste water, their peak flows wilgreatly exceed the flows of wastewater. The average percentage ofrainfal which becomes runoff fromthe natural landscape may be under30 or even less than 12 per cent. But

from the roofed and sealed areas ofa city, rainfal runoff is very high. Itis necessary to design for 100 percent runoff from the biggest stormrains.

New water lines would be added tothe map in similar fashion to thediversion channel lines for thefarmscape; but there is a differencein slope consideration: On thefarmscape the gradient of thechannels are governed by twofactors, firstly, being made flatterthan the creek below and secondly

by being flat enough so that theflowing water does not wash out thechannels in the earth. In the citythese slope matters are critical.They arise from the movements ofwater which carries and transportssuch materials as raw sewerage.They become the governinggradients and determine the lines ofthe design for the new city. Thesegrades may vary in relation to ratesand distances of flow which in turndetermines the sizes of theunderground conduits. The levels ofpopulation density for the designed

city would be determinedbeforehand so the conduits and theirspecial gradients and margins ofsafety, become a matter of routinefor water and sewerage authorities.

The gradients for the lines ofrunoff control and for seweragetransport would be plotted in on thecontour map but with thisdifference; they would be designedto flow at uniform depths below thesurface of the land. These lines forwater control would not result instraights but would be made up of

curves related to the contours of theland. Conduits for the main lines ofa particular size would always lie ata set depth below the surface of theland. Roads would fol ow alongthese lines. Submains would besmal er and be at a uniform butlesser depth below the surface.

The notable visual effects of theroads would be the emphasis of thegreat beauty that resides in thenatural shapes and forms of theland. The homesites would final ybe arranged like seats in a great

amphitheatre.

The layout of the new water linesand their roads would divide theland into its characteristic zones aswas il ustrated for the farmscape.The higher land of the first zonewould have a lower boundaryrelated to the particular features andshapes of the primary val eys attheir Keylines.

But there would be other water lineswithin this zone. For instance thefirst of such lines would be located

along the main ridge just above thefirst steep heads of the significantprimary val eys.

The underground conduits for thetwo classes of waterfrom rainrunoff and from seweragecould beplaced near each other and lie undera common road, or be some distanceapart and have their own separateroads.

The principal road of the first zonewould fol ow, as in farmscapedesign, along the crest line of the

main ridges.

The new city, like al landscapes, isdesigned from the main ridgesdownwards, and not as in the past,upwards from the shore lines andthe river lines.

The second zone would lie betweenthe lines of control and lines for useof the rain runoff water. The runofffrom the two higher zones would bedirected to City Forest areas locatedin the third zonethe zone on thefarmscape which contains the

blocks of irrigation land.

The sewage treatment works, whichremove the clutter of the largersolids and grease, and partly cleanthe effluents, would be located atselected places along the lowerboundary of the third zone. Theywould discharge their final effluentsto irrigate the City Forests locatedin the fourth zone. The variouswater lines would then be connectedby pipe lines with valve control upand down selected primary ridges.Their roads would lie above them.

Reverting to the scale ofpermanence: the first two factors ofthe scale, climate and land shape,have aided the selection of the sitefor the new city. The third factor,waterand the control and the use ofthe water of greatest landscapesignificancehas laid in the broad andbasic waterline design of the city.The other waterfor city homes andindustriesis brought in from outsidevia PUMP, pipeline and/or gravityflow, to be delivered to water towerslocated on the hil s of the mainridges. The present manner and

considerations for its supply are fuly adequate.

The fourth factor of the scale, roads,have fol owed along the uniquelylocated water lines to provide theirservice access. They have connectedup the main ridges and the newzones of the landscape. They haveadded the final lines to the anatomyof the cityscape.

The fifth factor of the scale, trees,have been located to use for thebenefit of the landscape, the rain

runoff and the waste water of thecity.

The sixth factor of the scale isbuildings. On the farms they are thehomesteads which are the centresfor control, administration andmanagement.

The sixth factor for city design isthe location of centres; for control,administration and management.The locations of these centres fitinto the overal pattern of the waterlines, the roads and the City Forests,

so that they al serve their particularpurposes.

The seventh factor of the scale ofpermanence is subdivision.

The design thus far is skeletal andon the surface is il ustrated by theinterconnected system of roads,runoff water holding areas at theKeylines of the selected primary valeys and the layout for the CityForests. Each of these separatedareas are subdivided by appropriatefurther water lines, roads and

streets. The rain runoff from everyroad and street and from the roofedand paved areas, and the wastewater of the sewer lines from homesand buildings, are guided to theirspecial underground mains to flowby gravity to their proper places.Such designs in detail within thedesign of the cityscape are theprovince of the municipal councils,the planners and the architects.

Soil is the eighth and last factor onthe scale of permanence. Just howimportant this factor is, wil be made

clear in Chapter 10, Soil Sense.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Review The New City

What has this design achieved?What if any, are the benefits for thecityscape and for the people who willive there?

Firstly it has ensured a logical andforward planned sequence ofdevelopments, natural region bynatural region, which can be studiedon paper and ful y understood by themany divergent professional

peoples from sociologists toengineers and from biologists toarchitects who must play their partsin the countless, final and detaileddesigns within the framework of thecity design. Each can appreciate thespecial province of the other andreach agreements and decisionsmore readily. A wide unity ofpurpose would be an expectedresult.

Construction and engineeringaspects of the design, ensure that themajor water lines with their roads,

precede other developments as theyshould rightful y do. The locating ofunderground mains at uniformdepths below the surface is efficientand economical, particularly bycomparison with present citypractices where the placement andservicing of these mains turn manycities into vast underground miningoperations where excavations areoften very deep and pumpingstations innumerable. Moreover,other service mains which are notdependent on gravity alonecitywater supply, electricity, gas and

telephonewould be associated in apractical manner with the waterdesign lines. Each would have itsappropriate and regular place inrelation to al others, to be tappedand serviced with simplicity andexpedition at low cost.

The major new divisions of the landinto zones by the gravity flowingwater lines and their overhead andinterconnecting roads, offersopportunities for rationalsubdivisions into suburban areasand for subdivisions within the

suburbs. The excel ence of manyfacets of design within the presentcities, but which exist now only asdisconnected and disorderedmosaics, would produce in the newcity, an overal harmony ofefficiency and beauty.

The first zone of the main ridgeswith its principal roads along thecrest lines is the place for many ofthe centres of administration andmanagement, the sites for thecultural and commercial centres.

The fourth zone along and above theshoreline and the drainage lines ofthe streams, is a critical zone for thebalance and health of the widelandscape.

This is the zone for the principalsport and playgrounds, of the largerparks and gardens as wel assewerage treatments and CityForests. Treatment works wil be ascompatible with sportsgrounds astoilets are with gymnasiums;everything is clean. This is aCLEAN city, where waste water

treatment works have trees in masssurrounds. The water which movesto the rivers and harbours from thesoil of the City Forests wil probablybe better than the water stored todayin the great supply dams on therivers.

Indeed, the natural regions whichcol ect the water for these dams,should be designed on the same newwater lines, so that al the water goesinto special cleansing forests beforeit can reach the streams and riversto flow to the storages.

Sewerage treatment works wildischarge their effluents to irrigatewhat must become the fastestgrowing forests. The growthstimulating products which remaineven in effluents which appearcrystal clear, such as the variousphosphate and nitrogen factors, nowbid fair by their effects on thecommon waters of the land and theseas, to eventual y destroy theoxygen balance of the world'satmosphereand al life. But in thesoil of the City Forest they wouldproduce an opposite effect where

the mil ions of rapidly growing treeswould work to maintain the oxygenbalance.

Of al landscapes, the greatest bulkof luxuriantly growing living matterwil be in the City Forest.

Therefore the City Forest must bealso an important biologicalresearch centre. Because there maybe certain trees in the world whichwould concentrate one or other ofthe harmful substances now in theenvironment; every kind of tree

should be grown so that their woodcould be analysed and such specialproperties discovered.

The fourth zone of the land protectsthe common waters and theatmosphere. There are to be nounnecessary intrusions into it butthere wil be public enterpriseswhich are essential for the livingand the workings of the city. Eventhese special facilities, wherepossible, must stand back from thewater's edge and the shore lines, sothat the water they shed and the

waste water they release can be colected and pumped back to the mainsalong the upper boundary of thefourth zone, to be processed andreconstituted in the City Forest.

Many of the larger industrialcomplexes now intrude into the landof the fourth zone because of theease and low cost convenience ofgetting rid of their obnoxious wastesin water by dumping them directlyinto the streams and the sea. Theywould be excluded and positioned inthe second zone, where they would,

if necessary, carry out the firstprocessing of their wastes before itflows with the more normal citywaste waters. Since the contents ofwaste water are valuable, designsfor profitable extraction wilcontinuously emerge. Where thesize of such undertakings and theireffluent discharge warrants, theirindividual design would provide fortheir own treatment works andforest. These businesses would soonlearn ways to make both profitable.

What of the high cost of city land

which would be used for growingforests? The cost of the land for anew city would be low. Only whenpeople live there and other peoplewant to live there does such landbecome valuable. It is morevaluable when the facilities forhomes and for industries have beencompleted at low cost efficiency inthe roads and the service linebeneath the roads. So why shouldn'ta new city compete with older citiesby offering clean air, good waterand fertile soil and far better living,social and working conditions, as

wel as cheaper and better land forhomes and for industries?

The land of the several City Forestswil receive al the rain runoff andwaste water from the city to use andreconstitute it and must continue tofunction even when it rains for afortnight. To ensure its capacity inthis direction and for economicreasons, dams for holding runoffrain water temporarily, would belocated at the Keylines of theselected primary val eys, as in thefarmscape. Concrete lined, they

could be kept empty. The first rainrunoff after a dry period carries withit greatly increased amounts of oiland other matter. The empty damscould be used to store temporarilythis first flow, so that it could becleaned when necessary. Even so,because the water goes in at the topand comes out at the bottom, the oilwastes which float and others whichsink could be trapped and retainedin the holding dams for treatment,sale or disposal after the rain hasceased. The dams would havecontrols which either turn the water

into the dam or divert it around orbelow them. The bugbear of localfloodings, which now occurs witheach heavy rain storm, would beavoided.

The City Forest is a multiforest.Firstly the various species of thetrees would be selected for theirameliorating effects on the air, thewaters and soil. Secondly theselection of tree species could bebased on economic considerations.The City Forest is designed to be aworking, perpetual forest for the

profitable production of fertile soiland valuable timber (Chapter 11,"Soil and Trees".)

CHAPTER NINE

To Clean A City

The application of landscape designto the established farm and grazingproperties is simple and direct.Although the designs are neverrepetitive but are of wide andfascinating variety, the principles ofdesign are constant and essential yuncomplicated. The potential ofeach farm may be ful y disclosedand design decisions reached in amatter of an hour or two's

inspection with the owner. Onlyrarely would it take longer than twodays. The markingin of the designon the land with hundreds of pegs,may occupy only two or three days,and the practical constructionsthereafter, be completed by theowner in a matter of weeks.

Because the landscape designerworks with only those who have anadequate appreciation of theconcepts and the principlesinvolved, al decisions are theowner's; it is his farm; the design is

his and he knows there is no otherlike his farm. Now he wil live andwork with the landscape design,knowing that everything he does onthe land adds to the enrichment ofthe soil and to the glorious maturityof the farmscape.

Nature is the Master Designer. Sheis not slow and may be fast in Herappreciative reactions to gooddesign, which is deeply satisfyingand very flattering to the pridefulowner.

But the application of the samelandscape design to a large city issomething entirely different.

There is no enthusiastical ycooperative owner who knows welthe entire landscape, but instead amultitude of city officials, who areinterested and knowledgeable eachin his particular segment of a vastand complicated undertaking. Onthe farm the boundary fence, atleast, is correctly located and thehomesteadthe centre ofadministration and

managementusual y so. But the citydoesn't even have a boundary andthe centres of administration andmanagement are either scatteredwith apparent abandon or, with lesssense of practical reality, clusteredtogether in overcrowded citycanyons. They possess no related ordesigned location but simply occupyland which happened to be availableat the time, or was cheaper, oroccupied only by poorer, smal andoutofdate structures.

On the farm, only fences need be

altered but in the city, great capitalstructures stand everywhere in theway. Even without any furtherconsiderations the thing appearsimpossible!

What is there to do? Just what hasalways been done; give priority tothe work which if not done is mostlikely to bring the city closer to agrinding halt or do the thing whichpublic clamour demands should bedone. And the clamour now is acommandclean up the bloody mess!

The response of the establishment ispredictable with certainty. It wil dowhat it always does;

create highly inefficientbureaucratic structures whoseimmediate interest wil be their ownelevation to power and permanence.They wil have the one efficientdepartment of Public Relations toconvince the people of theirnecessity and efficiency. Sincesome aspects of pol ution are nicelyphotogenic, the Public Relationsdepartment wil soon have good

'beforeandafter pictures' of successto add to the mess of words they wilissue. Their attack wil be on thedirty, the untidy and the smel y. Theattack on pol ution of the air wil beagainst smoke, the most obvious butthe least dangerous area. The attackon pol ution of the water wil beagainst the scums and the floatingrubbish, again the most obvious butthe least harmful. The smotheringand dehumanising consequences ofthe lack of balanced unity in thelandscapes and the approachingdestruction of the whole

environment wil be ignored. Thewide pol ution of the soil which nowil feeds us, won't be thought of. Howcan such creations of theEstablishment, attack the greatestsource of pol ution, theEstablishment itself? So what is theanswer?

The major effort must be the designof City Forests on areas of landimmediately outside the city, andthe delivery to them, via pump andpipeline, of the effluents of the city.

The effect of this measure wouldstop water pol ution. It also wouldreverse the process of oxygendepletion caused by effluents which,wherever they go, destroy thebalance of waterlife byoverstimulating the slimes, thescums and the algae.Overstimulated to deathin theirdecay they use up the oxygen of thewater to cause the death of myriadsof smal animals and great numbersof fish which likewise in theirdecay, further reduce the water'soxygen. These effluents effect the

production of oxygen by the seas.They have already caused the deathof great fresh water lakes.

The indivisable pol utions of air andwater can thus be attacked at theprincipal source.

The next great influence for thebenefit of city people may be whathappens on the farms and in theredesign of country towns, both ofwhich are simple andstraightforward. The largepopulations of the cities can have

great influence on the countrywhenever they choose to use it.

This is the time for choosing,because the effect of the countrysidein pol uting the total environment isalmost overwhelming. Sinceprimitive pol ution arises directlyfrom population, the humanequivalent of the stock numbers addup to a high population in thecountry. But as wel there are themore insidious materials used onfarms which, together with theircounterparts in industry, are the

most dangerous destroyers of thebalance of the environment.

The pol ution problems of city andcountry cannot be separated, theyare merely different aspects on theone great threatening catastrophe.

Present large cities cannot beredesigned or altered quickly tosubstantial y improve the efficiencyand economy of city functions. It istoo late for that. They are morelikely to become less efficient andmore costly until, if and when, they

cease to grow. But growth could bestopped and a new city designednearby, but divorced from thefunction of the present city, exceptfor the joining of the two by roads,public transport andcommunications. Who. could doubtthat this would be the best for thelarger cities and for the greatmajority of their citizens?

The provision of those facilitieswhich now lag behind populationdemands could catch up.

Progressively rain runoff watercontrol could be applied in the morecritical areas and the water added toeffluent movements to the CityForests. Although the efficiency ofthe city operations are not improvedimmediately great environmentalamelioration would be achieved.The city would cease to be a majorcontributor to environmentdestruction.

CHAPTER TEN

Soil Sense

The foundation trio of a healthyenvironment is clean air, good waterand fertile soils. These are theinseparables and the essentials.

Soil is a science of its own and apart of a lot of other sciences; so itis fortunate that it is not necessaryto know al about soil in order todevelop it and to use it. Few goodgardeners have degrees in soil

science, but they know how to makesoil deeper and more fertile.

Soil may be considered as theconversion of rock by twoprocesses. One is a process ofageing, the other is a process ofliving.

The ageing process is thedisintegration of rock to dust andthe mixings, the combinings, andthe transformings through so manyaeons of time. Eventual y thesurface of the land was little bits of

everything from everywhere.

For a long time the earth remainedin this state; then there was a greatchange. The living process startedand covered and steadied therestless dust: the living soil wascreated. But there were ripples andwave motions, and great thundersfrom below to disturb the steadieddust; the soil was covered up andnew soil was recreated many times.The evidence of past rain forestsand wet lands is there in the coalseams which are mined now.

The result today is a thin coveringof soil which, together with the sea,supports the life of the earth. Thistopsoil is underlaid by the greatreserves of rock debris and softrockthe dead subsoil. together theyare from a few times to a hundredtimes or more thicker than the soilitself.

This subsoil, or soil material, is ofgreat importance. It is thefoundation of life now and for thefuture. Firstly, it can be turned intoreal soil quickly, and secondly,

there are these immense quantitiesof it almost everywhere beneath thesurface of agricultural land. This isthe type of land on which cities arebuilt.

This is how soil is formed. Theageing process of soil formation hastaken unknown mil ions of years.But the point is, IT HAS ALREADYHAPPENED! THE LIVINGPROCESS IS RAPID.

These are the simple facts which thepropagandists of antilandscape

artificial agriculture want almankind to forget. The livingprocess is very rapid. It merely hasto convert the subsoil into fertilesoil. The length of time that thistakes is related to the life cycles ofthe life in the soil. This includeseven the most minute forms. Thereare many books dealing with thisone aspect in the study of themicrobiology of the soil. There aremil ions of organisms in an ounce offertile soil and they breed, die andbreed again in a matter of days oreven hours. There are other larger

forms of life in the soil which arepart of the process. The animal lifein the soil runs to many hundreds ofspecies. Of these the giant is theearthworm, which is not only thegreat animal friend of man but isalso a completely reliable soilinformant. If a spadeful or two ofsoil discloses several sizes ofearthworms ranging to seven incheslong, then the soil is fertile.

The living process has been goingon for a long time. Some soils arethousands or even mil ions of years

old. Soil is a proc