Abstract
Assessment of landscape attractiveness often struggles with the challenge of differences in human tastes. In the present study, the relationship between preferences shaped by the biological and cultural evolution of mankind and the qualities of landscape attractiveness were examined. The aim of the study was to determine the types of landscape as related to evolutionary behavior patterns and preferences regarding the choice of a partner in different types of relationships. The research hypothesis was that the sets of traits preferred by human partners can be reflected in sets of preferred qualities of landscape attractiveness. The translation of human qualities into qualities of landscape was done through anthropomorphization using the phenomenological method and research techniques based on branding (e.g., the brand personality construct). During the investigation, the following types of landscape attractiveness were identified: Landscape of Prosperity, Youth, Femininity, Temptation, Friendship, Transition, and Money. The developed typological division is a step towards recognizing new sources of preferences for aesthetic and cognitive landscape values. This framework could be interesting for landscape valuation and planning, as well as research on the cultural character of the landscape, as a resource important in the context of sustainable development.
Highlights
Assessment of a landscape in terms of such an elusive phenomenon as attractiveness almost always collides with the problem of differences in people’s tastes and needs
To capture the problem of attractiveness, understood as a feature that arouses interest, desire or attraction to something or someone [1] the following problems were posed with regard to landscape: what are human preferences in experiencing landscape and evaluating it?
The findings presented in this publication show yet another source of human preference in assessing the attractiveness of a landscape—our evolutionary roots both biologically and culturally originating from extremely powerful evolutionary mechanisms—sexual selection [46]
Summary
Assessment of a landscape in terms of such an elusive phenomenon as attractiveness almost always collides with the problem of differences in people’s tastes and needs. The discussion raised will help to understand the phenomenon of landscape attractiveness as related to various sources of preferences. It will indicate the aspect of protection of cultural values that could be lost in dynamically changing contemporary landscapes and facilitate optimal planning decisions in sustainable space management. Research problems outlined in the Introduction fit the trend of humanistic perception, analysis, and description of the landscape [2]. This slightly differs from the approach rooted in the natural sciences, where the starting point is the geo-ecological and biophysical characteristics of the landscape analyzed largely based on statistical and physiographic research of its elements and properties [2,3]. Starting from the approach to the landscape that recognizes man as an almost “geological” driving force, creating, next to the biosphere, a specific noosphere, as described by Vladimir Vernadsky and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin [4] and a holistic view of the landscape [5], as initiated by Tuan [6], a number of researchers have begun to recognize
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