Protecting Views

I was talking to someone recently and they brought up the golf course that used to be in what is now extremely prime real estate by the river in Chicago.My friend's claim was that this happened because people wanted to protect their views of the lake, and that building tall towers there (which is eventually what happened, of course) would impact others' views. I'm not here to litigate whether this is actually the reason (though it seems plausible to me). Rather, I want to talk a little bit about this concept of protected views--both why it can make sense, and when it can go too far.1. A View Is A Genuine AmenityLet me start with the most important point: I do think that there are levels at which a view is, legitimately, part of the value of a place, and something to be protected. We can think of this in a reductio ad absurdum: if my neighbors put up tall buildings on every side of my lot and across the street that mean I can see literally nothing but the street straight down and their…