ence; and, E. C. Lindeman, "The
Community," Chap. X. New York, Association Press, 1921.

CHAPTER XVIII

COMMUNITY PLANNING

So far we have been considering the community with regard to how its
people associate, with community psychology and behavior. But we must
not forget that the community has a physical basis. The buildings which
house these associations at the community center, the church, the
school, the grange hall, the stores, with the roads which radiate from
it and the farmsteads which they serve, these are the structures which,
with the natural topography of stream and hill, give material form to
the community and condition its life.

One of the chief difficulties in the development of rural communities in
the United States is that, like Topsy, they have "just growed." Village
centers have sprung up here and there and gradually the surrounding
countryside becomes associated with them. As a result little
consideration has been given to planning the community either for
efficiency or attractiveness. Sinclair Lewis' description of Gopher
Prairie in "Main Street" may be overdrawn and unjust to many a rural
community, but it describes conditions which are so common that it has
aroused the public conscience concerning the lack of civic spirit in
rural communities.

A community is much like an individual. The man who is slouchy and
careless of his personal appearance is rarely a strong character. The
community whose cemetery is neglected, whose school grounds are a mass
of mud and the outhouses a disgrace, whose lawns are unkept, where
ash-piles and neglected puddles fill the vacant lots, whose roads are
tortuous and unimproved, whose farm houses are unpainted and whose
barnyards are more prominent than the door-yards--such a community is
usually weak. It has little pride in itself or desire for improvement.
In the case of the man who is "down and out," if we wish to give him a
new start, we encourage him to take a bath and a shave and we then
furnish him clean clothes, so that looking more respectable he may act
the part. Likewise in community improvement a "clean up day" is often
one of the best means of starting a new pride among its people.

But improving its looks will not remedy the more fundamental structural
defects which frequently handicap the rural community. Utility as well
as beauty is essential in community arrangement. If the community is to
escape ugliness and inconvenience, it will soo