Open-space advocates reframed recreation land as an exhaustible resource.

Evidence

Often, the recreation issue was discussed in abstract statistical terms. The boom in population, the reduction in the industrial workweek, the intensified demands on existing parks and recreational facilities – all argued that the nation had to make a concerted effort to provide new recreational space. Thus recreational space became a resource, like trees or energy or water, which could be overexploited. Indeed, one of the first major studies of the issue was done by Resources for the Future, which also offered long-term analyses of the more conventional resources. For many residents of suburbia, however, the recreation issue was much more tangible and personal. — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside, 514

Categorization

• XREF: This ‘recreational space as a resource that can be overexploited’ framing is a direct bridge to Eco-Justice course readings on resource scarcity and to the shared polyad thread on how land comes to be treated as a commodity/resource rather than a place. — connects to: Open-space activism fused three distinct arguments with separate constituencies — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside:…, 508; Parks are society’s best hope for teaching fruitful use of leisure — Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, 608; Open-space preservation logically expanded conservation’s scope to the whole environment — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside:…, 620

Broader Connections

• Open-space preservation logically expanded conservation’s scope to the whole environment #expands (0.80) — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside, 620