Suburban open-space campaigns shaped environmentalist rhetoric and organizing

Evidence

The most direct legacy of the campaign to save open space was increased support for land-use regulation, but the effort also had a significant impact on the emerging environmental movement. The open-space issue pointed conservationists toward a broader, more “environmental” agenda. It created a new group of activists and a new set of grassroots organizations. Perhaps most important, the open-space issue contributed to the development of a distinctly environmentalist rhetoric and imagery. — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside, 541

Categorization

• XREF: Ties directly to the book’s central thesis and the polyad’s land-use theme: suburban land-use fights birthed environmental activism. — connects to: Open-space preservation seeded the local grassroots activism of the postwar environmental movement — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside:…, 559; Environmental history scholarship overlooked the suburban origins of environmentalism — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside:…, 13; Suburban environmental concern, not just affluence or wilderness, fueled environmentalism — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside:…, 43 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Feminized language of rape became standard in suburban open-space advocacy rhetoric #exemplifies (0.93) — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside, 565
• Aesthetic criticisms of sprawl demanded open space to restore community definition and orientation #exemplifies (0.85) — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside, 511
• Aerial photographs of bulldozed subdivisions became a core visual argument for open-space activists #expands (0.82) — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside, 572