A growing number of anthropologists now believe that North American prior to Columbus' arrival was dotted with impressive cities and towns.
A new generation of anthropologists and archaeologists is saying that "the Americas in 1491 were not a wilderness. They were a huge, special garden, planned and maintained by the active efforts of a wildly diverse range of societies. Environmentalists tend not to like this line of argument, because to them it implies that there is no preferred "natural" stateso let the bulldozers rip. If it is true that the pre-Columbus Americas had tens of millions of people and highly developed civilizations, what happened? Why were there so few traces when the conquistadors and the colonists began to arrive in earnest? One demographer has estimated, that 'in the first 130 years of contact about 95 percent of the people in the Americas diedthe worst demographic calamity in recorded history.'"
Thanks to Terry Mock
FULL STORY: The Pristine Myth

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Map: Where Senate Republicans Want to Sell Your Public Lands
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Toronto Weighs Cheaper Transit, Parking Hikes for Major Events
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Berlin to Consider Car-Free Zone Larger Than Manhattan
The area bound by the 22-mile Ringbahn would still allow 12 uses of a private automobile per year per person, and several other exemptions.
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