A Renewed Approach to the ABC Landscape Assessment Method: An Application to Muntanyes d’Ordal, Barcelona Metropolitan Area

David Serrano Giné

doi:10.3097/lo.201856

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to describe a renewed approach to the ABC landscape assessment method, a procedure that undertakes landscape approach considering abiotic (A), biotic (B) and cultural (C) elements shaping the landscape. This new method is organized in three nested multi-scaled levels defined with high accuracy (1:10,000; 1:20,000; 1:25,000), it combines holistic and parametric approaches and it delineates landscape units from both a typological and chorological point of view. The procedure is based on field work, congruently integrates physical, cultural and perceived landscape components and focuses on the spatial dimension of landscape. Landscape units are hierarchised and classified, leading to a landscape taxonomy. An example is given for Muntanyes d’Ordal, in the Barcelona metropolitan area, with 36 units and 1,019 delineations at Level I, 8 units and 74 delineations at Level II and 14 units at Level III. Overall, 42.5% of Level I delineations are defined by biotic elements and 32.4% by anthropic elements, which shows the peri-urban nature of the area studied. The main interest and originality of the method lies in the fact that the holistic and parametric approaches are integrated using a systematic procedure that can be easily replicated anywhere so that results from different areas can be compared.

Highlights

1.1 MotivationThe European Landscape Convention (ELC, Council of Europe 2000) promotes the study and protection of European landscapes and encourages its member states to identify, describe and characterize the landscapes within their boundaries
In this paper we present a renewed approach to the ABC landscape method (Bolòs 1992; Botequilha Leitão et al 2006); this new approach uses landscape typology and landscape chorology, and parametric and holistic approaches in a stepwise procedure organised in three scale stages
Level III landscape units are accurate at a scale of 1:25,000 and are formed by grouping Level II delineations

Summary

Introduction

1.1 MotivationThe European Landscape Convention (ELC, Council of Europe 2000) promotes the study and protection of European landscapes and encourages its member states to identify, describe and characterize the landscapes within their boundaries. Landscape chorology consists of unique landscape regions of a particular nature or identity. It uses a number of natural and social components and pays particular attention to perceived issues. Chorological studies commonly use a holistic method, this method is not exclusive to this approach (Rougerie & Beroutchachili 1991). Landscape typology systematically classifies landscape by considering generic types that can occur in different places (Zonneveld 1994). It takes components such as morphology, vegetation or settlement patterns and combines them to define particular relationships. It is not exclusive to this approach, parametric methods are commonly used (Mitchell 1991)

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