Abstract
In this work we report a methodological procedure with an integrated physical-perceptual approach that allows units of landscape in protected natural areas to be differentiated. First, indirect methods were applied by means of a mapping procedure, which identified the physical components of major relevance. We then generated maps of natural units, anlyzing the “printed” landscape of a territory. Secondly, we developed direct methods to identify and describe the reresentative elements of the landscape, analyzing the “perceived” landscape. The identification and delimitation of these landscape units with geographical information systems provide detailed maps facilitate the tasks of planning and management. The procedure was validated by means of its application in two protected natural spaces. The treatment used here considers landscape not only as an aesthetic element but also as something “live” elaborating maps that should be of use in land planning and management of natural areas.
Highlights
Study of the landscape has developed based on different disciplines—geology, geography, architecture, biology— generating different definitions, including intangible and tangible values of the same one, constituting a multisensory perception of a system of ecological relations that differentiate a perceptible part and an intangible part: functional and causal factors [1]
In this work we report a methodological procedure with an integrated physical-perceptual approach that allows units of landscape in protected natural areas to be differentiated
Analysis of the landscape of the natural parks of Las Batuecas-Sierra de Francia and the Quilamas, the attitudinal and topographic variation, the geobotanical differentiation and the different forms of human activities and life-styles govern the occupation of the territory and allow a landscape differentiation to be made according to the large geomorphological domains that form part of the landscape units, characterized by their natural components and elements, as detailed below
Summary
Study of the landscape has developed based on different disciplines—geology, geography, architecture, biology— generating different definitions, including intangible and tangible values of the same one, constituting a multisensory perception of a system of ecological relations that differentiate a perceptible part and an intangible part: functional and causal factors [1]. Correct analysis of the landscape is usually complex since it must bear in mind all the components of the physical medium (geology, geomorphology, vegetation, fauna, soils and human activities) and their interacttions [6,7]. This has elicited a multiplicity of approaches, most of them complementary, to the physical medium, with a common basis: territorial reality, objective procedures being used in the analysis, and subjective evaluations of the natural quality to estimate the way it is perceived or its beauty [8,9]. Odological level, and at the practical level Such that territorial planning establishes a model that is integrated, on the one hand, by structures and territorial systems that increase its internal cohesion (equipment and public services, human settlements, systems of communications and transport). The landscape constitutes a meeting point between the technical, scientific, social and political aspects, allowing civilian participation in proposals of territorial planning (since the term landscape includes the physical spaces where people carry out their daily activities for reasons of work or residence), establishing aims for the conservation of the landscape quality of the territory, as established by the European Landscape Convention
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