Landscape Aesthetic Value Research Articles

Mapping and assessment of karst landscape aesthetic value from a world heritage perspective: a case study of the Huangguoshu Scenic area

Aesthetic value is an essential component of outstanding universal value (OUV) for natural world heritage (NWH) site. However, comparisons of aesthetic value lack a set of effective evaluation systems. In the identification of aesthetic value, there is subjectivity and difficulty in quantifying the methodology suggested by the IUCN in the operation manual, and it is difficult to compare in different NWH sites. This study focused on establishing a universal system to map and assess the aesthetic value of karst NWH sites. The research focused on three dimensions: naturalness, diversity, and uniqueness. The final combination of the three is achieved by geographic information system (GIS)-based spatial map overlay analysis with multisource data. To verify the rationality of the model, the aesthetic value of a case study in the Huangguoshu Scenic Area in China at the WH nominated site was evaluated. The results revealed that the areas with low, relatively low, medium, relatively high, and high values accounted for 12.2%, 20.2%, 32.4%, 21.4% and 13.8%, respectively. The distribution of aesthetic value is basically consistent with the boundary division of the NWH site, and high scores are mostly distributed in areas with high protection levels. Moreover, the impacts of naturalness, uniqueness and diversity on aesthetic value in the research area are in decreasing order. Furthermore, the research analyses the aesthetic characteristics and causes at different levels. The research area combines the quintessential nature of karst, hills and water, caves, fenglin and historic villages; it unifies sturdiness, peculiarity, precipitousness, and peace. Among the 7 nominated NWH sites, the Huangguoshu Waterfall has the highest aesthetic value, while those of Tiantaishan Ancient Temple and Getuhe are relatively low. The rationality of the evaluation system for extracting areas with high aesthetic value was demonstrated. This study compensates for the limitation of the inability of existing studies to quantify the aesthetic value. This approach fills a previous gap in the research on the aesthetic value of WH and can provide a useful reference for better protection and management decisions.

Landscape Aesthetic Value of Waterfront Green Space Based on Space-Psychology-Behavior Dimension: A Case Study along Qiantang River (Hangzhou Section).

As an important part of urban green infrastructure, the landscape effect of the urban waterfront green space varies, and sometimes, the green space with an excellent landscape aesthetic value fails to serve the needs of most citizens. This seriously affects the construction of a green ecological civilization and the implementation of the concept of "common prosperity" in China. Based on multi-source data, this study took the Qiantang River Basin as an example, selected 12 representative waterfront green spaces along the river as the research objects, and used qualitative and quantitative analysis methods to determine the landscape aesthetic value of the research area from the different dimensions of space, psychology, and physiology. We examined the relationship between each dimension so as to objectively and comprehensively reflect the landscape value characteristics of the waterfront green space in the study area and provide a reasonable theoretical framework and practical development path for future urban waterfront green space landscape design. We obtained the following results: (1) The results of the spatial dimension research indicated that the spatial value index of the waterfront green space in the study area was three-dimensional space > vertical space > horizontal space, and the overall spatial value was low; Qianjiang Ecological Park obtained the highest value (0.5473), and Urban Balcony Park obtained the lowest value (0.4619). (2) The results of the psychological dimension indicated that people's perceptions of the waterfront green space in the study area were relatively weak, mainly focusing on visual perception, but the waterfront green space with a relative emotional value greater than one accounted for 75%, and the overall recognition of the landscape was high. (3) The results of the behavioral dimension showed that the overall heat of the waterfront green space in the study area was insufficient (1.3719-7.1583), which was mainly concentrated in low-heat levels, and the population density was unevenly distributed (0.0014-0.0663), which was mainly concentrated in the medium-density level. The main purpose of users was to visit, and they stayed an average of 1.5 h. (4) The results of the coupling coordination analysis of the spatial-psychological-behavioral dimensions showed that the landscape value of the waterfront green space in the study area presented a form of 'high coupling degree and low coordination degree'.

Evaluation of natural landscape aesthetic value and its spatial differentiation in Tibet from the perspective of ecosystem services

Evaluation of natural landscape aesthetic value and its spatial differentiation in Tibet from the perspective of ecosystem services

The Aesthetic Value of World Heritage Karst: A Literature Review and Implication for Huangguoshu Scenic Area Outstanding Universal Value

With the development of aesthetic value research, more and more disciplines, institutions, and researchers have joined in, taking the research development in a quantitative direction. At present, karst is not only a popular type of “world natural heritage site”, but also a hotspot in the research of landscape aesthetics. However, no comprehensive literature review covers the aesthetic value of World Heritage karst sites. To fill this gap, the study systematically reviewed 190 articles retrieved from the Web of Science, the China Knowledge Resource Integrated, and Google Scholar databases. First, the study conducted a quantitative analysis of the annual number, content, countries, and themes of published literature. Secondly, the study summarized the landscape evaluation, aesthetic value, and protection of World Heritage karst sites and related theories and put forward the key scientific issues to be solved, as well as the direction of future research.

Decline in the alpine landscape aesthetic value in a national park under climate change

Alpine landscapes are projected to be degraded under climate change, which would threaten their benefits to society. Previous studies, however, have been limited to aesthetic change, and it remains unclear how much the aesthetic change would affect human welfare. To address this issue and gain insights into climate change adaptation policies, we conducted a choice experiment survey using digitally manipulated images based on climate change scenarios and natural scientific knowledge in a mountainous national park in Japan. We uncovered that park visitors appreciate the alpine landscapes that include snow patches on mountains and some types of alpine flowers by analyzing the data from 445 respondents. Conversely, both the invasion of alpine vegetation by dwarf bamboo and the disappearance of snow patches due to climate change substantially deteriorated the perceived aesthetic benefits from alpine landscapes. The economic loss caused by climate-induced landscape degradation was estimated at more than 100 USD per visitor, at maximum; the disappearance of snow patches and invasion by dwarf bamboo reduced the benefits by approximately 13 USD and 101 USD, respectively. Our findings suggest that sustaining the aesthetic value of alpine landscapes in national parks via climate change adaptation has potentially significant economic benefits. By supposing that the mountain national park attracts 70,000 visitors in summer, climate change would cause as a minimum of eight million USD economic loss at the park without appropriate measures annually. Our findings highlight the importance of climate change measures by considering climate change impacts on social benefits associated with alpine landscapes.

지오태그 이미지를 활용한 북한산국립공원의 경관미 평가 및 맵핑

The purpose of this study is to present a method to assess the landscape aesthetic value of Bukhansan National Park using geotagged images that have been shared on social media sites. The method presented in this study consisted mainly of collecting geotagged image data, identifying landscape images, and analyzing the cumulative visibility by applying a target probability index. Ramblr is an application that supports outdoor activities with many users in Korea, from which a total of 110,954 geotagged images for Bukhansan National Park were collected and used to assess the landscape aesthetics. The collected geotagged images were interpreted using the Google Vision API, and were subsequently were divided into 11 landscape image types and 9 non-landscape image types through cluster analysis. As a result of analyzing the landscape types of Bukhansan National Park based on the extracted landscape images, landscape types related to topographical characteristics, such as peaks and mountain ranges, accounted for the largest portion, and forest landscapes, foliage landscapes, and waterscapes were also commonly found as major landscape types. In the derived landscape aesthetic value map, the higher the elevation and slope, the higher the overall landscape aesthetic value, according to the proportion and characteristics of these major landscape types. However, high landscape aesthetic values were also confirmed in some areas of lowlands with gentle slopes. In addition, the Bukhansan area was evaluated to have higher landscape aesthetics than the Dobongsan area. Despite the high elevation and slope, the Dobongsan area had a relatively low landscape aesthetic value. This shows that the aesthetic value of the landscape is strongly related not only to the physical environment but also to the recreational activities of visitors who are viewing the scenery. In this way, the landscape aesthetics assessment using the cumulative visibility of geotagged images is expected to be useful for planning and managing the landscape of Bukhansan National Park in the future, through allowing the geographical understanding of the landscape values based on people

Designing Walking Pathways for a Tourist Resort with the Theory of Six Value Aggregation Paths

The study examines the possibility of applying the selected components of the theory of six value aggregation paths in designing walking pathways. Based on spatial data collected using a landscape assessment method on the aesthetic values of the landscape of the place under analysis, a model was developed of the network of links of the landscape aesthetic value using a minimum increase in this value. The authors designed scenarios for the optimal routes of walking pathways. The conducted study leads to the conclusion that the minimum value increase path may create a good basis for designing walking pathways. Not only is this manifested in the varied route of the pathway, but also in it being designed in such a way that the landscape’s aesthetic value increases beyond an assumed level of aesthetic value. In addition, the use of hexagonal basic fields enables the design of various route lengths and the optimization of time by adapting the model to a specific group of recipients.

Remote sensing depicts riparian vegetation responses to water stress in a humid Atlantic region

Riparian areas in the Cantabrian Atlantic ecoregion (northwest Portugal) play a key role in soil formation and conservation, regulation of nutrient and water cycle, creation of landscape aesthetic value and the preservation of biodiversity. The maintenance of their ecological integrity is crucial given the ever increase in multiple anthropogenic (water demand and agriculture) and climatic pressures (droughts and extreme events). We developed a transferable remote sensing approach, taking advantage of the latest freely available technologies (Sentinel-2 and Copernicus Land products), to detect intra-annual and inter-annual changes in riparian vegetation productivity at the river basin scale related to water stress. This study has used the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) to investigate riparian vegetation productivity dynamics on three different vegetation types (coniferous, broadleaved and grassland) over the past 5 years (2015–2019). Our results indicated that inter-annual seasonality differed between drier (2017) and wetter (2016) years. We found that intra-annual dynamics of NDVI were influenced by the longitudinal river zonation. Our model ranked first (r2m = 0.73) showed that the productivity of riparian vegetation during the dry season was positively influenced by annual rainfall and by the type of riparian vegetation. The emergent long lags between climatic variation and riparian plant productivity provides opportunities to forecast early warnings of climatically-driven impacts. In addition, the different average productivity levels among vegetation types should be considered when assessing climatic impacts on riparian vegetation. Future applications of Sentinel 2 products could seek to distinguish riparian areas that are likely to be more vulnerable to changes in the annual water balance from those that are more resistant under longer-term changes in climate.

Environmental modeling of landscape aesthetic value in natural urban parks using artificial neural network technique

An accurate assessment of the landscapes in a region requires having sufficient information of the influential factors as well as the type, manner, and the impact rate of each of them on the user’s perception of the landscape quality. The purpose of this study is modeling landscape aesthetic quality of urban parks using an artificial neural network to predict the value of landscape aesthetic and prioritizing the influential variables of the model. To evaluate the landscape aesthetic quality in the urban park, a combination of user perspective and artificial neural network modeling approach has been used. The aesthetic quality of 100 urban park landscapes was quantified based on citizens' perception. Totally, 15 landscape attributes were recorded as influential variables on visual quality of landscape. According to the results, the multi-layer perceptron model with structure of 15-8-1 (15 input variables, 8 neurons in the hidden layer, and one output variable) and the maximum value of coefficient of determination (R2) in three data sets, namely training, validation, and test which are 0.97, 0.88 and 0.90, present the best performance of structure optimization. Accordingly, land slope, flowers and bushes, buildings, and hard surfaces ratio with a model sensitivity coefficient of 0.56, 0.24, 0.07, and 0.07, respectively, show the maximum effect on the landscape aesthetic quality in urban parks. The developed multi-layer perceptron model in MATLAB software is known as a decision support system in designing the structure of urban parks and also provides possibility of predicting the landscape aesthetic value in new parks.

Landscape aesthetics: Spatial modelling and mapping using social media images and machine learning

Abstract Cultural ecosystem services such as aesthetic value are highly context-specific and often present difficulties in their assessment. Here we present a case study in the northern English Protected Area of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Utilising publicly available images, paired-comparison surveys, probability modelling, machine-learning based text annotations, natural language processing and regression analysis, we developed a spatial model to predict and map landscape aesthetics across the whole site. The predictive model found eighteen significant variables, including the positive role of rural areas, mountainous landforms and vegetation for aesthetic value. Finally, we demonstrate the potential of our approach to varying size datasets and partial paired-comparison matrices, finding a very good agreement with only 20% of paired comparisons. This study demonstrates the use of freely available data and mostly open source tools to ascertain landscape aesthetic value in a large Protected Area.

A novel approach of mapping landscape aesthetic value and its validation with rural tourism data

Landscape aesthetic research that emerged from the second half of the 20th century has become increasingly appreciated and popular in the last few decades. There are two main reasons for this. On the one hand, it was recognized the role of landscape aesthetics in land use and environmental planning, management and conservation. On the other hand, its definition among Cultural Ecosystem Services has made it clear that landscape aesthetics has significant impact on human well-being and there is a need to examine it in the concept of Ecosystem Services and, in particular, Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES). The mapping of landscape aesthetics is mostly based on the exclusive evaluation of objective, biophysical landscape factors. The aim of the research was to create the landscape aesthetic map of Hungary with a novel method based on human perception. For this, a questionnaire survey and a GIS approach were used. In order to better understand the role of factors influencing the aesthetic value of the landscape, value maps separately for land cover and elevation that are decisive for the landscape experience were prepared. To validate the results of the maps, and contribute a better understanding of the interrelationship between CES, a certain tourism product was chosen, and the connection between landscape aesthetics and the offer of rural tourism was examined in Hungary and in the Danube Bend priority tourism development area. Our findings show that there is a difference in the results of the objective (GIS-based) and subjective (questionnaire-based) assessment of landscape aesthetic value with the more important role of elevation in the latter. According to our tourism product-based analysis, which represents a niche approach in its kind, landscape values are higher in the areas with rural accommodation. At the same time, based on the results of the Danube Bend region, it can also be concluded that elevation and land cover together are crucial factors in landscapes considered to be the most valuable in aesthetic terms. The most direct practical application of our research is to orientate further tourism development of the new Danube Bend area designated in 2017.

Planning and Orientation Analysis of Urban Environmental Landscape Aesthetic Value

Landscape is people’s evaluation of the environment which is better and more meaningful to visit. Therefore, a landscape must have a good environment. Landscape exists in nature as well as in cities. Every corner of a city can be a landscape. Its connection with the city and the citizens is inseparable. However, due to the acceleration of urbanization, there are still many problems in the urban environment. To solve these problems perfectly, we should work from the aesthetic value and planning orientation of the landscape. Therefore, this paper discusses and analyzes the problems of urban environment and how to use the aesthetic value and orientation to construct urban environmental landscape.

Evaluation for landscape aesthetic value of the Natural World Heritage Site

The landscape aesthetic value (LAV) is one essential component of outstanding universal value (OUV) for a Natural World Heritage Site (NWHS). In the identification of LAV, there is the subjectivity of methodology suggested by IUCN in the operation manual, and the expert-led evaluation is insufficient for reflecting all observers' opinions. This study focuses on establishing a universal system combining the subjectivity and objectivity, the experts' and the public's opinions to evaluate the LAV of an NWHS. We used the NWHS criteria, the ecological environment, and the viewing experience as established indicators; nine metrics were applied as corresponding layers respectively to map and give a final spatial evaluation based on the ArcGIS overlay analysis with their comprehensive weights from 3 groups of decision makers. In order to verify the rationality of our model, the LAV of a case study in Bayanbulak of NWHS Xinjiang Tianshan has been evaluated. It is demonstrated that central region of Bayanbulak with unique landscape that taking rivers, lakes, and swamps as base interlacing with wetland meadows has particularly high LAV; it basically shows a concentric circle-like distribution feature that LAV decreases from inside to outside and is consistent with practical protection status. This study responds to the UNESCO's request to monitor and evaluate the OUV of the NWHS; we believe results can provide a useful reference for the planning and decision-making of relevant scenic spots.

Eco Drainage System for Surface Runoff Reduction in Indonesia

Sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) or eco-drainage system has been implemented in developed countries. The aims of the construction of the system are: to minimize surface runoff by capturing and temporarily retain it, to improve the quality of surface runoff, to infiltrate stormwater, to increase evapotranspiration, and to enhance landscape aesthetic value. Learning from the success of the implementation of SUDS in developed countries, the paper presents a model of eco-drainage system for residential area in Indonesia, which consists of rainwater harvesting system (RWHS) and retention ponds. A simulation of stormwater and surface runoff utilization is also presented. At 14,602.26 m2 bare land in Mojokerto Regency, East Java, which is transformed into residential area, the model of eco-drainage system could reduce surface runoff volume almost by 70%. It is recommended to adjust the dimension of rainwater storage tank and retention ponds in order to reduce more surface runoff volume.

Determination and Quantification of the Landscape Aesthetic Value in Central Part of Isfahan Province

Determination and Quantification of the Landscape Aesthetic Value in Central Part of Isfahan Province

Beautiful agricultural landscapes promote cultural ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation

Agriculture, during its millenarian history, had contributed to shape impressive cultural landscapes; however, in recent decades, many of these have been lost or degraded because of widespread intensification or abandonment. Low-intensive agricultural landscapes are of utmost importance for biodiversity conservation and the delivery of cultural ecosystem services.We worked in a cultural landscape shaped by viticulture (in Trentino, Italy), which recently underwent a widespread intensification. We explicitly quantified two cultural services (aesthetic and cultural heritage values), and the biodiversity (bird species richness) associated with this landscape at 24 sampling sites. We then related these variables with the territory density of an indicator/flagship bird species, the common redstart. Finally, we assessed redstart ecological requirements at the territory scale. We aimed to define an appealing strategy combining biodiversity conservation and ecosystem service delivery in the cultural landscapes.Redstart density was positively related with avian species richness and landscape aesthetic value, the latter being related with the cultural heritage value. Redstart occurrence was positively associated with hedge and tree rows, dry-stone walls, marginal habitats, and the compositional diversity of the land-cover.We concluded that managing the agricultural landscape to maintain aesthetic and heritage values, which primarily means conserving and enhancing its key ‘traditional’ traits, would favour an indicator/flagship species and likely the wider bird diversity. It will also promote the heritage and recreational value of the landscape itself, underlining the importance of the synergistic integration of multiple conservation targets into a combined strategy.

Exploring Psychological and Aesthetic Approaches of Bio-Retention Facilities in the Urban Open Space

Over the last decades, a number of bio-retention facilities have been installed in urban areas for flood control and green amenity purposes. As urban amenity facilities for citizens, bio-retentions have a lot potential; however, the literature on bio-retentions focused mostly on physiochemical aspects like water quality and runoffs. Hence, this paper aims to explore psychological aspects of bio-retentions such as perceptions and landscape aesthetic value for visitors. In order to achieve this purpose, the study employed on-site interviews and questionnaires in the chosen three case studies as research methodology. For the 3 different locations of bio-retention facilities, interviews and questionnaires were carried out. The surveys of 100 bio-retention users were conducted, investigating their general perceptions and landscape aesthetics of the bio-retention facilities. The paper found that only 34% of the interviewees recognised bio-detention facilities, illustrating that most visitors were not aware of such facilities and were unable to distinguish the differences between bio-retention and conventional gardens. On the other hand, the majority of interviewees strongly supported the concept and function of bio-retentions, especially those who recognised the differences in planting species with conventional urban open spaces. Such main findings also encourage further studies of seeking quantitative values by conducting a correlation analysis between the functions and aesthetics of bio-retention facilities.

Tourism Track Management of Cibeureum Waterfall as a Provider of Landscape Beautification Service at Gunung Gede Pangrango National Park

Landscape beautification service is one of landscape services that provided by Cibeureum Waterfall tourism track. One way to keep the quality of landscape beautification service is to make a management plan. The SBE analysis shows that the wide and measured images of the landscape were giving a significant impact for landscape aesthetic quality value. From SD analysis, the result demonstrated that modification or addition of the hardscape type would give impacts to landscape aesthetic characteristics. All the results of landscape quality and landscape characteristics evaluation were considered for the management plan recommendation.

Trade-offs between maintenance of ecosystem services and socio-economic development in rural mountainous communities in southern Spain: A dynamic simulation approach

Mountainous rural communities have traditionally managed their land extensively, resulting in land uses that provide important ecosystem services for both rural and urban areas. Over recent decades, these communities have undergone drastic changes in economic structure, population size and land use. Our understanding of the exact mechanisms that drive these changes is limited, and there is also a lack of integrative approaches to enable decision makers to steer rural development towards a more sustainable path. In this study, we build a dynamic simulation model to calculate the trade-offs between the provisions of two ecosystem services – landscape aesthetic value and water supply for human use – and the economic development associated with different land use changes. The study area for the simulation comprises two rural communities located in southern Spain. Our results show trade-offs between economic development and the provision of the selected ecosystem services in the selected study area. Land use intensification results in economic development but is not enough to prevent population loss and has a negative impact on both the water supply and on aesthetic services. We conclude that more proactive management policies are needed to mitigate a loss in ecosystem services. Simulation models like ours may facilitate the choice of these policies, as they could test the result of land use planning policies contributing therefore, to a more integrative and sustainable management of rural communities.

The perception of abandoned farmland by local people and experts: Landscape value and perspectives on future land use

Abandonment of agricultural land is a common feature of areas undergoing a range of urbanisation and marginalisation processes across Europe and beyond. This is also the case in Latvia, particularly in the period since 1990, when after regaining independence from the Soviet Union land was restored to its previous owners or their descendants. Many of these people have moved to cities and lack the interest in or the necessary capital for starting farming enterprises. As a result, large areas of land were abandoned, leading to spontaneous afforestation and with associated changes in landscape structure, ecological function and aesthetic value. While there has been an increase in research interest in the processes associated with abandoned farmland, there are still very few studies on people's perception of such areas. The aim of this study was to extend previous research on the ecological aspects of the afforestation processes by assessing the opinions of rural residents and of land use experts about recent landscape change and potential solutions for the re-use of abandoned agricultural land. The results confirmed earlier research showing that in general attitudes towards abandoned agriculture land are rather negative, it being mainly associated with insufficient use and desolation, while very few respondents perceive it positively for its naturalness. Nevertheless, when asked to evaluate four different forest colonisation patterns, respondents expressed a preference for a mosaic pattern as being better for the appearance of the landscape as well as for biodiversity.