Some places on earth are stunning just as they are – Utah’s Bryce Canyon; the rock formations of the Pitons in St. Lucia; the Canadian Rocky Mountains; Kaieteur Falls in Guyana; Seven Mile Beach in Grand Cayman Island – but many of the beautiful places we encounter in the more affluent countries are actually landscapes converted into eye-catching scenery by development and enhancement.
There is, for example, a valley in Toronto, that was simply bush in the early 1960s; today the six-lane Don Valley Parkway winds through the city, following a dried up river bed, in what can be an almost countryside drive (when there are no traffic jams, that is) in the middle of a huge city. That area, now a very busy roadway, is also a singular scenic experience, much admired, but it wasn’t always there; it was created.
