Cluster II — Chapter 26

Beauty

John de Graaf, Filmmaker, United States of America and Europe

Keywords: aesthetics, architecture, green space, national parks, urban renewal

On this page

Definition
History
Different Perspectives
Application
Further Reading

Definition

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, beauty is “a combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight”. In the context of this book, we might explore the relationships between beauty and consumption. Here we are referring to things like the beauty of nature and of human design in architecture – that is, the aesthetic quality of our surroundings.

A focus on creating beautiful environments for human beings might be the goal that can turn our heads away from overconsumption and might create more space for play and relaxation. In the US context, both progressives and conservatives love their flower gardens, and both flock to our national parks and other scenic areas.

First of all, beauty can make us happier. Many studies show that people who report living in beautiful communities enjoy greater life satisfaction than those who feel the places they live are unattractive. A Gallup study, “Soul of the Community”, found that the beauty of their surroundings was among the top three factors that bind people to their communities. Despite this, questions about beauty are not included in even the most comprehensive international indices of well-being (see Well-being Economy).

Secondly, beauty often (but not always) promotes sustainability. In communities with more trees, parks, green spaces, and intimate varied architecture, people walk more and drive less. They slow down and show more appreciation for their surroundings. They have less inclination for mindless consumerism (see Urban Planning and Spatial Allocation). Park visits also can contribute to health. In 1857, Frederick Law Olmsted argued for parks “at points so frequent and convenient they would exert an elevating influence on all the people … cultivating taste and lessening that excessive materialism of purpose in which we are so cursedly absorbed”. However, big houses with large lawns and perhaps artificial grass may be beautiful, but they are usually very unsustainable.

Adding beauty to a neighborhood can also reduce crime. A study in Philadelphia found that cleaning up blighted areas and replacing vacant lots and buildings resulted in a 30% drop in homicide and other crimes and a 50% reduction in mental illness.

History

We cannot say when the concept of beauty emerged in human history. Early wall paintings may reveal a sacral dimension and an appreciation of beauty. What we do know is that early Greeks valued beauty in art, architecture, and philosophy (see Box 26.1). Beauty is present in most civilizations and cultures, although “beauty for beauty’s sake” may be more recent, dating at least from the early Renaissance. Beauty also shows up in science and mathematics.

“Beauty will save the world”, claimed Dostoevsky and Solzhenitsyn. “Everybody needs beauty as well as bread”, wrote John Muir. Might it be that a new focus on protecting the beauty of nature and designing our communities “with an eye to the effect made up on the human spirit by being continually surrounded with a maximum of beauty”, as Thomas Jefferson suggested, could help turn the richer nations of the world to a more sustainable future?

Box 26.1 Beauty in architecture, art, and nature

The Cathedral of Notre Dame testifies that our love of beautiful architecture dates back to at least the 12th century. Versailles has drawn visitors since 1661. Even more remarkable, our love for art predates the Louvre by 30,000 years in the Chauvet Cave and by 17,000 at Lascaux. That’s art. What about nature’s beauty? In 1336, Petrarch became the first to climb mountains for the view when he ascended Mont Ventoux and vividly described the dazzling glories of the Alps from its summit.

Different Perspectives

Needs: The psychologist Abraham Maslow considered the need for beauty to be among the highest needs in his well-known hierarchy. He viewed beauty as an urgent need for many psychologically healthy adults and children. Maslow thought there were people whose need for beauty was so great they grew mentally ill without its presence in their lives.

Basic instincts: One problem is that many do not take beauty seriously, often thinking of it only in terms of the enhancements of cosmetics, another form of consumerism. Others argue that beauty is simply subjective, “in the eyes of the beholder”. Many studies have shown this to be false. The love of beauty is one of our most universal instincts and a result of eons of evolution. Life-supporting landscapes appear beautiful to us. A study of landscape and architectural photographs by thousands of UK residents has shown remarkable agreement as to which are more beautiful.

Poverty and beauty: Some claim that beauty is a distraction from more pressing issues such as social justice, the environment, war, and peace. But, as Harvard philosopher Elaine Scarry has shown, beauty makes us more generous, more tolerant, more inclined toward justice, kinder to one another, and more supportive. There is, in fact, something elitist in the opposite claim – it suggests that the poor do not need or care about beauty. But someone should have told that to the thousands of millworkers in the 1912 textile strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts, who carried banners reading “WE WANT BREAD AND ROSES, TOO!”. As marginalized as they were, these women understood that their lives were even poorer without beauty – and the time to appreciate it.

Application

In the United States, beauty’s true Renaissance came in the 1960s, a tumultuous decade, rocked by struggles and shaped by the will and skill of President Lyndon Johnson. Johnson wished to unify the United States – polarized then as now – around stewardship of its beauty. “Beauty”, Johnson said, “must not be just a holiday treat, but a part of our daily life”. The value of beauty “does not show up in the Gross National Product”, Johnson explained, “but it is one of the most important components of our true national income, not to be left out because statisticians cannot calculate its worth”.

More than half a century later, it’s time to take beauty seriously again. If a Green New Deal might make us more sustainable, a Beauty New Deal could bring us together in pursuit of a proven contributor to happiness. Such a New Deal might include:

Greater public support for artists, writers, poets, and performers.
Expanding parks, wilderness areas, and open spaces, while strengthening protections from commercial encroachment.
Establishing an International Civilian Conservation Corps for beautification and environmental restoration projects, funded by a global capital transaction tax.
Hosting a United Nations Summit on Natural and Architectural Beauty.
Encouraging urban beautification, including planting millions of flowering and shade trees.
Supporting “Renaissance Zones” using grants and tax incentives for beauty-led economic development in poor communities.
Launching an international multi-university, cross-disciplinary research project on the value of beauty, followed by a communications campaign to circulate its findings.

No one can guarantee that a politics of beauty will save the world. But it might well be an antidote to consumerism, so it’s worth a try.