| Thomas Kuhn's paradigm shift theory was applied to the evolution of the landscape in a defined area of South Portland, Maine. Beginning in 1624, this longitudinal case study describes the way that this landscape has been used and altered over 389 years. By the nineteenth century, the landscape had been changed into a place called Crockett's Corner.The people who created this place were a diverse set of migrants from the West Country, Borderlands, and Midlands regions of England. Slaves were also imported from West Africa. The seventeenth century colonial settlement generated a stable and cohesive nineteenth century American agrarian landscape that was the result of communicative actions and personal agency guided by paradigmic world views, models and mindsets. During the twentieth century, in a rapid but staged process, the landscape was changed into an edge city. These changes were the direct result, especially after 1938, of prevailing public policies which acted to constrain some land uses while supporting others. The most important of these policies were: eminent domain land takings, a change in electoral structure, the GI Bill, zoning, accelerated depreciation, municipal revenue sharing, the active solicitation of commercial development, and Tax Increment Funding [TIF] laws. Historic Preservation and environmental protection did not play a significant role in this change process. Changes that have been described as a "March of Progress" can be better explained as the result of both intense applications of power and paradigmic shifts in the mindset, mental models, and agency possessed by people in control of the landscape. Landscape change has had unintended consequences, including local social network destruction, historic building demolition, and unmitigated air and non-point source water pollution. Public policy must play a crucial role in efforts to make the landscape more sustainable. The West End Trails System, The Brick Hill Development, and the Long Creek Restoration Project have introduced sustainable practice into the modern landscape. Raising awareness of the deep history of this place may help empower advocates for historic preservation, open space, environmental protection and more sustainable land use practices in the future. |
