of the American Institute of Architects.

The array of Federal, State, regional and county parks and other public
areas ringing the metropolis will be more accessible as public transit
improves. Another means to this end, and an especially organic and
appropriate one, will be the urban stretches of the Basinwide network of
hiking, bicycling, and horseback trails which will be discussed a little
farther along.

If, as prophets reiterate, ever-increasing percentages of the American
public in the future will be living in the great cities, a great deal
of nature and conservation education is going to be needed if the mass
of people are not to lose all understanding of natural things and all
sympathy with their working and their preservation. It cannot be
entirely a classroom sort of thing, no matter how many films and
preserved or caged wildlife specimens may be provided. There is need
now, and there will be more need hereafter, for rich nature preserves
and study centers within reach of Washington and specifically dedicated
to such use.

In general, suburbanites have more freedom of choice regarding the
places they play in and the ways in which they play there than do people
at the urban center. Many of them live fairly close to outlying parks
and open areas, and if good planning gains in strength and effectiveness
as the metropolis spreads, this neighborhood availability of outdoor
pleasures will increase, with more Rock Creeks and Pohick Creeks to put
stream-valley parks and pleasant small lakes and streams and such things
within reach of everyone, and more green open space just outside
people's doors. They are going to be needed, for public pressure on the
available recreation areas around the metropolis is already heavy.

Suburbanites also, however, are more mobile than almost any non-nomadic
civilian population in history. A great variety of things to do are
within driving distance of their homes on an afternoon off, or a
weekend, or a vacation. Therefore, the question of providing and
improving outdoor recreation for them, as well as for more mobile
residents of the central city, merges with the wider question of outdoor
recreation on a Basinwide scale, for residents and visitors alike.

Basin recreational needs

If the things are done that need to be done to reverse the environmental
deterioration that has been the subject of so much of this report, the
public's chance to enjoy widespread, high quality outdo