LSE Literary Festival 2017

The Fight for Beauty: Our Path to a Better Future
Podcast: LSE Public Lectures and Events
Date: February 21, 2017

Overview

This episode explores the concept of beauty in relation to the British landscape, policy, and public well-being—focusing on Dame Fiona Reynolds' book "The Fight for Beauty." The discussion traverses history, culture, economics, and geography, tackling why beauty has slipped from public discourse and policy, its implications for national identity and environment, and if and how it can reclaim its vital societal place. Panelists include Dame Fiona Reynolds, Professor Giles Atkinson (environmental economist), and Nicholas Crane (geographer and broadcaster), each providing insights from their unique perspectives.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Meaning and Place of Beauty in Public Life

• Beauty’s disappearance from policy language: Fiona Reynolds laments how "beauty" is absent from political vocabulary and public policy, replaced by terms like "natural capital," "ecosystem services," and "biodiversity."

  "It is not a word that you will hear a politician using today... we've strangled the sheer beauty of the language." (B, 06:22)

• Historical reverence for beauty: From D.H. Lawrence to Chaucer and the Romantic poets, beauty infused British art, culture, and early policy. Reynolds situates beauty as historically integral to British values.
• Beauty as more than aesthetics: Beauty functions as a moral and spiritual guide, a state of mind producing reverence, responsibility, and care for the environment.

  "Beauty is a way in to those deep moral questions about how we deal with climate change, how we deal with Brexit, for heaven's sake... it's a way of being and seeing and feeling." (B, 60:34 & 63:16)

2. The Historical “Fight for Beauty”

• From admiration to defense: Wordsworth is credited with shifting the focus from admiring natural beauty to the need for its defense as threats multiplied from development and industrialization.
• Early conservationist heroes: Reynolds highlights John Ruskin, Octavia Hill, Canon Rawnsley, and Robert Hunter—founders of the National Trust—as pivotal campaigners for beauty amidst rampant urban and rural sprawl.
• Legislative peaks: She notes key moments when beauty guided policy—the 1909 planning bill, post-World War II welfare reforms (1949 National Parks legislation), comprehensive planning and green belts, and the philosophical integration of non-material needs in public welfare.

3. Losses and Modern Campaigns

• Decline amid growth obsession: The ambition of the 1940s “harmony” faded; post-war Britain became preoccupied with economic growth at the expense of beauty.
• Ongoing “fights”: Reynolds describes campaigns for farmland, woods, coasts, and against unchecked road-building, urban sprawl, and planning deregulation, often with mixed success.

  "We delude ourselves into thinking we're doing well while we're undermining the very resources on which we depend." (B, 32:54)

• Children and disconnection: She cautions that today's children are removed from nature and beauty, endangering their ability to care for and defend it in the future.

  "Nobody will protect what they do not care about, and nobody will care about what they haven't experienced." (Attenborough quoted by B, 33:30)

4. Economics, Policy, and Competing Languages

• The “Natural Capital” debate: Professor Giles Atkinson, environmental economist, acknowledges that policies and committees too often favor frameworks like “ecosystem services,” inadvertently sidelining beauty and public perception.

  "Beauty… wasn’t reflected in the reports we published... I think there’s reasons for that." (C, 35:28)

• Valuing beauty: Atkinson discusses historic and potential methods for integrating beauty into cost-benefit analysis and the difficulties and risks in commodifying what is often a deeply personal, spiritual value.

  "Beauty is often in the eye of the beholder... Policy becomes a process of trying to wrestle with those differences of perspective about what beauty is." (C, 39:43-40:33)

• Language and engagement: Reynolds argues for reclaiming beauty as a “democratic” value—accessible to everyone, not just elites or technocrats—and insists on a shared vocabulary.

  "I work quite hard in the book to kind of demonstrate the democratic roots of the debate... it's something that is an entitlement for everyone." (B, 68:56)

• The need for synthesis: Panelists agree the “fight” is not against economics but for integrating beauty as an essential, guiding principle for policy.

5. Geography, Awe, and Landscape Narratives

• Nicholas Crane’s “awe”: Crane introduces “awe” as geography’s companion to beauty, invoking landscapes—from industrial sites to Rannoch Moor—not always pretty, but deeply affecting and narrative-rich.

  "There is an abstract quality to awe that's not often apparent in common understandings of beauty... To feel awe, you must stray into labyrinths of landscape narratives..." (D, 48:15)

• British landscape in deep time: He recounts the 12,000-year story of landscape, from climate swings to Neolithic settlements and the industrial revolution, arguing that knowledge of geography can deepen our appreciation of both beauty and awe.

  "Geography is well placed to build landscape narratives, far better placed than history." (D, 50:25)

• Raw vs. packaged beauty: Crane suggests adventure and exploration are essential, sometimes lost amid over-managed, “packaged” landscapes.

6. Policy Challenges and Practical Questions from the Audience

• Mental health link to nature: Panelists agree on evidence and intuition that access to green space improves mental health, noting the need for further research but emphasizing economic and social incentives for urban greenery.

  "Green space does, without question, benefit people’s mental health and well-being." (B, 63:22)

• Urban and rural reconnections: The panel underscores the presence of green space—even in urbanized Britain—and advocates for reconnecting people locally with nature.

  "98% of the UK is green space... Local reconnections with green space are the way forward." (D, 64:39)

• Beauty vs. ugliness and the need for a positive framing: Reynolds strongly prefers “fighting for beauty” to “fighting against ugliness,” emphasizing aspiration and possibility.
• Integrating moral principles: The idea of a "Hippocratic oath" for planners—“do no harm”—is raised as a potential guiding tenet for integrating beauty and economics in policy. (B, 78:59)
• The global perspective: Audience reminds the panel that “natural capital” and “ecosystem services” can be crucial in less wealthy countries. Reynolds agrees these concepts are vital for policy tools but reiterates that public values require reclaiming “beauty” as a core argument.

  "If you’re dealing with the policy tools, you need every inch of those ecosystem assessments... But...if you’re dealing with what do we value as a society, you need to reinstate beauty as an argument." (B, 81:41)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On Beauty’s Power

• "Beauty is not about aesthetics... It's a way of looking at the world which respects the deep moral, spiritual questions..." – Dame Fiona Reynolds (60:34)
• "We need the things in life that money can't buy, the things that make us happy, the things that give us a sense of satisfaction." – Dame Fiona Reynolds quoting a 1940s American economist (34:01)

On Economics and Policy

• "Beauty is often in the eye of the beholder... Policy becomes a process of trying to wrestle with those differences." – Giles Atkinson (40:33)
• "What environmental economists could do is elevate this idea of cultural services to a far more prominent position." – Giles Atkinson (41:33)
• "There is a basic difference in philosophy... it's not just a difference of language." – Giles Atkinson (71:42)

On Geography and Awe

• "Awe, I guess, is the emotional equivalent of what astronomers call the neutral gravity point... It does work as a word that encapsulates the geographical response to the systems at work in forming landscapes, many of which are not conventionally beautiful." – Nicholas Crane (48:15)
• "Geography is well placed to build landscape narratives, far better placed than history." – Nicholas Crane (50:25)

On Reframing the Fight and GP

• "Everyone frames the trade-offs against the norm that accepts degradation of natural resources... I think the whole point about the risk of framing is that it accepts the econometric norm of today. One of the reasons for trying to get a word like beauty out of that language is that you start to ask yourself quite deep moral questions about where we're going as a society." – Dame Fiona Reynolds (73:09)

On Policy and Community Action

• "When we look around modern Britain, there are quite a few examples now of small local communities making an enormous difference, a hugely proportional difference within their community... it's the old Acorn story that it could well be that these initiatives are going to have to come from the bottom and spread upwards." – Nicholas Crane (92:37)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Introduction, context and panelists: 00:00–05:32
• Fiona Reynolds' main presentation: history, theory, and advocacy: 05:32–35:28
• Giles Atkinson’s response: economics and policy evaluation: 35:28–48:15
• Nicholas Crane’s response: awe, landscape stories, geography: 48:15–60:34
• Panel interaction, synthesis, and clarifications: 60:34–62:26
• Audience Q&A: 62:26–93:39 (highlights include mental health and green space [62:26-67:50], beauty vs. ugliness [68:06-68:54], languages of beauty and economics [68:54-73:09], policy tools & legislation [74:08-79:17], global perspectives [79:36-81:41], packaging of beauty [80:37-87:24], and aspirations beyond growth [89:20-93:39])

Structure and Tone

The tone throughout is passionate, reasoned, and rooted in both personal experience and scholarly expertise, with Dame Fiona Reynolds advocating for a return to public and political appreciation of beauty, Nicholas Crane stressing the emotional and narrative depths of landscapes, and Giles Atkinson providing pragmatic policy insights grounded in economics—yet all recognizing the need for integrated and renewed language and action.

For Listeners Who Missed the Episode

This episode provides a sweeping and accessible meditation on beauty’s place in public life, spanning poetry, policy, and place. The message is clear: beauty, both ancient and ever-changing, matters for our health, culture, and future. Yet protecting it requires reclaiming the language of beauty itself, re-integrating it with economics and policy, and ensuring access and connection for present and future generations. The fight for beauty, the panel emphasizes, is not an abstract or elite notion—it is as relevant in our city parks as in our national landscapes, and it hinges on both system-level shifts and everyday, local, personal engagement.