Historically, elm-lined streets made neighborhoods comprised of smaller homes more attractive: http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/news/images/amelmstreet.jpg htt

Historically, elm-lined streets made neighborhoods comprised of smaller homes more attractive: http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/news/images/amelmstreet.jpg http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/news/images/amelmstreet.jpg Todays municipalities are shunning urban forestry for miserly xeroscape landscaping. "Native landscaping" is often anything but, and has turned entire neighborhoods and towns into gravel strewn deserts. Obsession over costs has reduced much of America into a series of soulless strip malls and gated communities. Historic districts are today largely devoted to tourists while the rest of America lives in chicken wire and stucco tract homes made by economic refugees rather than craftsman. America is ugly because its people will not pay for beauty. Regarding smaller yards, a return to < 1000 sq. ft. Sears-Catalog style architecture may be a more aesthetic alternative than heaping up duplexes or townhouses, or heaven forbid, closely packed trailer parks. Also, building codes should be loosened. Nothing kills the spirit of a neighborhood like "military review" uniformity in home construction.