permaculture

[Milogic@aol.com]

I have found the Lincoln Institute for Land Policy a vital resource over the
years and recommend their level-headed approach to issues.

The September Newsletter has articles on the "The Economic Value of Open
Space" and "Communications Technology and Settlement Patterns". In the latter
article, the much lamented and now Republican-defuncted Office of Technology
Assessment, reported to Congress in 1995 (The Technological Reshaping of
Metropolitan America) that, 

". . .technology is connecting economic activites, enabling them to be
physically farther apart, reducing the competitive advantage of high-cost,
congested urban locations and allowing people and businesses more (but not
total) freedom to choose where they will live and work."

However, the caveat of interest to rural development folks is:

". . .the new wave of information technologies will not prove to be the
salvation of a rural U. S. economy that has undergone decades of population
and job loss as its natural resource-based economy has shrunk." 

"Rather, adds the NILP editor, most economic activity will locate in large
and medium-sized metropolitan areas." 

The article goes on to provide good statistical data to support its
development implications. Likewise, in the article on "The Economic Value of
Open Space" good comparative value or relative value data is given by which
some approaches to valuing of open space are discussed rationally.

Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
113 Brattle Street
Cambridge MA 02138-3400
<lincolnpubs@lincolninst.edu>
<http://www.lincolninst.edu/lincoln>

Milo Clark