The city meets nature

“The city is the opposite of the countryside and nature,” it is sometimes said, but without the countryside the essential conditions for the city would not exist. This can be clearly seen in historical studies where cities almost always grow up adjacent to major agricultural areas. If there is additionally a big river or an estuary with access to the sea, conditions for a city are very good. The fact that large groups of people want or need to get outside and take exercise makes increasing demands on community planning. In some places community planning was quick to see need for recreation for all city dwellers, but elsewhere matter has had low priority. The demand for green areas is constantly challenged by the need for land for housing and other activities. Awareness that good arable land should preferably not be used for housing leads to greater development density inside cities, which often means that green areas are filled with buildings.