With the rise of the great metropolis (大都市) in the industrial era, city planning in the West passed out of the hands of the architect and into the hands of the technical expert. Unlike the architect who thought of the city as a work of art to be built up with an eye toward beauty, the technical expert has always taken a purely functional approach to city planning; the city exists for the sole purpose of serving the needs of its inhabitants. Its outward appearance has no intrinsic (本质的) value.
Over the span of a few centuries, this new breed of planner has succeeded in forever changing the face of the western city. A brief visit to any large metropolis is enough to confirm this fact. Even a casual observe could not fail to notice that the typical landscape is arranged along the lines of the tedious chessboard pattern, with its four-cornered intersections and long, straight and dull streets. Strict building codes have resulted in an overabundance of unsightly (难看的) neighborhoods in which there is only slight variation among structures. Rows of low concrete apartment houses and files of great steel and glass skyscrs have almost completely replaced older, more personal buildings. Moreover, the lovely natural surroundings of many cities are no longer a part of the landscape. For the most part, the hills and rivers which were once so much a part of so many metropolitan settings have now been covered by thoughtless construction.
The lone bright spot amidst all of this blight (贫民区) has been the local park system, which is to be found in most western cities. Large, centrally located parks—for example, New York’s Central Park or London’s Hyde Park—and smaller, remote parks bring a measure of beauty to western cities by breaking up the man-made monotony. With their green grass, dense woods, and pleasant ponds, streams and watells, local park systems also offer a lot of opportunities for city dwellers to rest or recreate, free of the intense burdens of life. if they have understood nothing else about the quality of life in areas, technical experts have at least had the good sense to recognize that people need a quiet refuge (避难所) from the chaotic bustle (忙乱) of the city.
The passage focuses primarily on ______.