94-04-19 U.Va. Professor Offers Ethical Guidelines in New Book Examining Land-Use Policy

(REPORTERS PLEASE NOTE:  Friday, April 22, is Earth Day.)

U.VA. PROFESSOR OFFERS ETHICAL GUIDELINES 
IN NEW BOOK EXAMINING LAND-USE POLICY

       CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., April 19 -- Should a community that
needs affordable housing develop the remaining wetlands within
its jurisdiction?  Does a farmer continue farming despite
surrounding urbanization and higher taxes, or does he sell the
land to a developer for profit?
       "Ethical Land Use," a new book by University of Virginia
urban and environmental planner Timothy Beatley, explores such
questions and stands as the first comprehensive book-length
examination of the ethics involved in land-use policy.
       Beatley, associate professor and chair of the department of
urban and environmental planning at U.Va.'s School of
Architecture, says that perhaps more than any other public policy
area today, land-use decisions require extremely difficult and
far-reaching value choices.  "Whether to build an interstate
highway or maintain a suburban lawn with chemical fertilizers
invariably involve ethical choices," he says.  
       Beatley observes that historically, land-use choices were
made on legal and economic grounds without considering moral and
ethical complexities.  By drawing on actual land-use conflicts
from around the country, he analyzes some of the difficult
choices policy-makers and individual citizens face.  In addition
to case studies, he offers an ethical framework to view land-use
issues.
        Building on Aldo Leopold's 1949 classic, "A Sand County
Almanac," that opened discussion on forming a land ethic, Beatley
begins his examination with a discussion of basic land-use ethics
-- ways to assign non-economic value to land.
       He offers an in-depth examination of issues with examples: 
are there obligations to future generations in protecting the
Pacific Northwest's disappearing virgin forests?  Can safety,
conservation and individual rights be balanced in developing the
country's barrier islands?  Why is "not-in-my-backyard" thinking
so prevalent in communities with a need for waste disposal
facilities?  Can the Fifth Amendment's just compensation clause,
requiring compensation for private land taken for public use, be
upheld in all land-use decisions?
       The book, published by Johns Hopkins University Press,
closes with an ethical framework that Beatley hopes will not
stifle further debate, but rather stimulate and encourage it.  "I
want to expose the reader -- whether a public planner, elected
official, developer or citizen -- to the various ethical
dimensions and considerations that ought to go into land-use
decisions," he says.  According to Beatley, ethical land-use:
       o  maximizes benefits for the majority, while improving the
conditions of the least-      advantaged in society 

       o  minimizes potential harm to people and the environment,
while keeping land-use    promises and respecting basic land-use
rights

       o  acknowledges fundamental obligations to protect the
natural                                    environment and its
organisms

       o  recognizes the rights and interests of future generations
and of people in             communities beyond one's
jurisdictional boundaries

       o  promotes safety, while encouraging maintenance of
community character

       o  sees the development of land as a privilege, not a right
       Beatley views his book as a jumping-off point so that the
reader can define his or her own land-use values.

                                             ###
                                                                             
 April 18, 1994
       FOR INTERVIEWS OR MORE INFORMATION, contact Timothy Beatley
at (804) 924-6459.

Karen A. Castle
University News Office
kac@uva.pcmail.virginia.edu
(804) 924-7116


[Submitted by: Karen A. Castle  (kac@uva.pcmail.virginia.edu)
               Tue, 19 Apr 94 11:07:15 EDT]