Landscape Aesthetics Theories in Modeling the Image of the Rurban Landscape

Abstract

In the era of massive urbanization and suburbanization the urban fringe is no longer the clear line separating urban and rural or natural landscapes, but often the continuous fragmented mix of rural and urban features. These territories of rural-urban interface - rurban landscapes - become the everyday living and working environment of the increasing numbers of people around the world including Lithuania. Those, who have a possibility to choose to live in rurban areas usually expect the combination of benefits of life in the city and in the countryside. However, what they more often get is ether visual chaos or suburban uniformity. This encourages looking at the aesthetics of rurban landscapes more carefully. Thus in this research we raise and try to answer the following questions: what makes particular landscapes acceptable and attractive to us and how this can be applied to rurban landscapes?; how rurban landscape aesthetics could be regulated or modeled? In the first part of our research we have discussed the excising landscape aesthetics theories and analyzed whether and how they can be applicable to rurban landscapes. In the second part of the research we have tried to answer the question of rurban landscape assessment and modeling integrating the approaches by W. Nohl, A. Ode et al. and M. Tveit et al. and Lithuanian experience of landscape aesthetic assessment and rurban landscape peculiarities. The research allowed formulating the conclusions regarding the importance of aesthetics in our everyday living landscapes including the dynamic and complex rurban landscapes. It has demonstrated that the entire spectrum of landscape aesthetics theories can be successfully applied to these particular landscapes and suggest important criteria for their aesthetic assessment. These findings suggested our approach towards developing the image of rurban landscapes presented in this research integrating the aesthetic perceptual categories under sustainable landscape conditions by W. Nohl and the system of visual landscape characterization concepts by Ode et al. and M. Tveit et al. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.sace.7.2.6731