Assessing the value of future landscapes

Abstract

Landscapes can change over time as a consequence of economic demands and technological innovation in agriculture. This study assesses the preferences for and the values of different landscapes, which could arise in the future in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The landscapes assessed were comprised of images of a range of possible future agricultural landscapes: today's landscape, abandoned, semi-intensive agricultural intensive agricultural, planned, conserved, sporting, and wild landscapes. A majority of both visitors to and residents of the Dales preferred today's landscapes, although the conserved landscape was also valued highly. A comparison of the costs of maintaining each landscape with their respective benefits indicates that more public expenditure should be devoted to protecting and enhancing environmental attributes such as dry stone walls and stone barns, wild flowers and hay meadows, and small broadleaved woodlands. Methodological tests on the contingent valuation technique underpinning this study suggest that the results are reliable and robust.