"America stands on a pinnacle of wealth and power and yet we live in a land of vanishing beauty, of increasing ugliness, of shrinking open space – of an overall environment diminished daily by noise, pollution, and blight." Stewart Udall

In many parts of America we suffer the social consequences of living in places that simply aren’t worth caring about. They are littered with ugly signs, tacky franchise architecture, dangerous commercial strips, and a tangle of overhead wires. Techno Blight. Increasingly across America our communities all look the same. We call this community identity theft.

A major factor in the decline in appearance of America’s communities is widespread illiteracy about the visual environment – or what our communities look like. Who cares what your community looks like? Are you doing anything about it? Many Americans have become so accustomed to visual pollution, they no longer are sensitive to it, yet many wonder why pride of place is so rare.

We at the Dunn Foundation believe that an understanding and appreciation of the physical appearance of our communities, both positive and negative, will strengthen the connections people have to places, reinforce community pride, generate positive growth, and foster civic values vital to healthy and sustainable communities.