Landscape Perception Research Articles

The Impact of the Process of Academic Education on Differences in Landscape Perception between the Students of Environmental Engineering and Civil Engineering

As technical and technological progress takes place, there is dissonance between teaching good engineering and technological techniques and respect for the landscape. Engineering students are educated to act as initiators and performers of activities that change space. The purpose of this study is to answer question regarding how the engineering students recognize problems related to shaping the landscape. In the years 2012–2015, surveys were conducted in a group of 274 students of the University in their final year of environmental engineering and civil engineering studies, in order to find the main characteristics related to the problem. Students tended to assess the landscape in a manner determined by their education in natural science—emphasizing the division between the well-shaped natural landscape and the malformed anthropogenic one. There were differences between the groups of students—civil engineering students noticed the qualities of architectural objects and shaped greenery in their perception of the landscape in urban areas more often than the environmental engineering students did. There were no differences in the perception of the landscape in rural areas. The harmonious landscape was described as rural, modern, undeveloped and common. The landscape regarded as degraded was built-up and common. There were no changes in the perception of the landscape resulting from the educational profile among the environmental engineering students. The time has come to change methods of teaching the students of engineering and technical sciences about the landscape. This should result in an improvement in their perception of landscape phenomena.

Noise As a Factor of Green Areas Soundscape Creation

The research subject presented in the paper is acoustic perception, the perception of a sound landscape by a human. The paper aim was formulated - knowing the sources of noise based on the subjective assessment of recipients allows for sustainable management of green areas (city parks). The need to shape a harmonious landscape may contribute to finding a new function and attractive form for the studied areas. Research carried out for selected city parks in Bydgoszcz (Poland) concerns the registration of responses of people assessing the sound landscape (subjective approach). Completed studies allow ”translating” subjective assessments into meaningful values using fuzzy cognitive maps. The scenarios completed show the possibility of using tools supporting the decision-making process in urban planning of city parks in relation to existing acoustic conditions.
 Keywords: Noise, Soundscape, Green areas, Urban planning, Environment

Historical Landscape Monitoring Through Residents’ Perceptions for Tourism: The World Heritage Porto City

ABSTRACT The objective of this work is to examine residents’ perceptions of the urban landscape in the historic city of Porto. It considers two different groups of residents (business owners and other residents) and reflects on how their perceptions could influence local policies. Empirical research has been conducted using a visual attention perspective. This research replicates a project carried out in Spain. For this paper, 600 survey questionnaires were completed. The analysis includes residents’ perception of several dimensions, such as directional signs, outdoor advertising, establishment outdoor furniture, urban furniture and green, state of pedestrian areas, conservation of buildings and monuments, automobile transportation, car traffic, the flow of visitors, and overcrowding sites. The paper provides a useful diagnosis for the debate on the processes of urban landscape monitoring, planning and management for tourism. The study findings inform a set of recommendations on safeguard of the historical urban landscape.

Multidimensional analysis of landscape dynamics in a Central African forest‐savannah mosaic

AbstractMost landscape cover assessments for conservation programmes rely largely on remote sensing analyses. These analyses, however, neglect how people inhabiting protected zones perceive and structure land cover. Using socio‐ecological systems (SES) analysis in a forest‐savannah mosaic on the Congo Basin forest edge (Democratic Republic of Congo), we investigated how human practices, landscape perceptions and land use patterns affected forest cover. We conducted remote sensing analysis using a Sentinel‐2 satellite image and 187 GPS landmarks, producing a land cover map with 11 classes. Our results yielded an 81.85% correspondence with additional 164 GPS landmarks, a robust score in tropical areas. We conducted 40 individual interviews, eighteen focus group discussion workshops and nine months of participant observation of human practices to identify 19 land units and elaborate a granular SES system structuring the landscape. Integrating local knowledge and practices with general ecological and agronomic processes, we developed a landscape dynamics model revealing progressive forest colonisation of savannahs. Our methods demonstrate that a forest‐edge landscape cover evaluation through remote sensing and local knowledge can contribute to finer‐grained assessment of land cover and ecosystem services. This assessment can assist conservation efforts by considering local populations' practices on and perceptions of landscape change.

Agricultural Heritage Systems and Landscape Perception among Tourists. The Case of Lamole, Chianti (Italy)

The Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) program, promoted by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), recognizes the multifunctional role of agricultural heritage systems. Traditional terraced landscapes represent important touristic destinations, and Chianti is one of the most well-known areas of Italy for rural tourism. The high-quality landscape of Lamole, consisting of forests and terraced agricultural areas, is included in the Italian National Register of Historical Rural Landscapes thanks to local farmers who recently restored the traditional landscape, considering it important both for tourism and product quality. The main aim of this research was to investigate, using anonymous questionnaires, whether tourists are aware of the characteristics of the Lamole landscape in comparison with other parts of Chianti. Results show that tourists clearly express their preference for the traditional landscape, which is comprised of a mosaic of agricultural patches with dry-stone terraces and forests, and that the level of landscape diversification is similar to 180 years ago. As tourism is a major resource, public institutions should support farmers in preserving the traditional landscape, investing in paths and information, as requested by tourists. The methodology has proved to be useful for addressing local planning, and to help farmers to achieve sustainable development in well-known touristic rural areas.

The perception of the Semmering landscape between 1850 and 1880

Semmering is a region covering the eastern foothills of the Austrian Alps, approximately 70 km south of Vienna. When in the mid-nineteenth century, railways were built from Vienna heading to all pa...

Analysis of the relationship between cross-cultural perceptions of landscapes and cultural ecosystem services in Genheyuan region, Northeast China

A major challenge today and in the future is to maintain or enhance the beneficial contributions of landscapes to the quality of life of people. Neglecting cultural ecosystem services (CES) in landscape planning can lead to loss of unique cultural landscapes and undermine the well-being of local communities. Despite a rapidly increasing body of literature on CES, little is known about the relationship between socio-cultural values and the non-material benefits of landscapes. To help fill this gap, we assessed the perceptions of people from different ethnic groups about the cultural ecosystem services of local landscapes. We took the Genheyuan National Wetland Park and the adjacent forest areas, a typical mountain forest-wetland ecosystem, as our case area. By combining surveys (250 semi-structured interviews and 26 local stakeholders in Focus Group Discussion) with structural equation modelling (SEM), we gained insights into the importance of landscapes to CES provision from the perspective of stakeholder diversity. Surprisingly, wetlands are perceived as playing more important roles than other landscape types in providing diverse CES, with a 1.25 times higher CES Diversity Index (CDI) than that of forests. Among all demographic factors, ethnicity is most significant in determining people’s perceptions, reflecting the spiritual cognition, manners, and customs of the ethnic groups. The perceptions of CES provided by landscapes are likely to increase if landscape characteristics are attached more to functions in order to meet fundamental human needs.

Using Virtual Reality to Assess Landscape: A Comparative Study Between On-Site Survey and Virtual Reality of Aesthetic Preference and Landscape Cognition

In recent years, research on landscape perception has been generally overoptimistic about the use of virtual reality (VR); however, few have questioned the validity of VR. It is necessary to examine whether on-site stimulation can be substituted by VR. The purpose of this study was to assess the degree of agreement between on-site survey and VR for landscape perception. The sample included 11 representative landscapes from Tsuchiura city and Tsukuba city, Japan. On-site survey data was collected for 17 items related to aesthetic preference and landscape cognition. The same scenes were produced by VR and same survey data as on-site was collected. The agreement of both the overall mean of all landscapes and the ratings of all individuals in each landscape confirmed the high level of concordance of most cognitive attributes between the two stimuli. The findings support immersive VR as a reliable tool for assessing landscape cognition.

Role of Multicultural Identity in Landscape Perception and Methodological Possibilities of Its Interdisciplinary Analysis

The paper presents the overview and comparative analysis of landscape cross-cultural and sub-cultural perception research methodologies in order to develop hypothetical methodological framework of interdisciplinary evaluation of cultural differences in landscape perception. The landscape research methods used for the analysis of impact of socio-cultural factors on landscape perception can be classified as mix of psychophysical and cognitive approach and are mostly based on the statistical analysis of the results of sociological research. Drawing the research closer to the relational concept, we propose the hypothetical methodological scheme of interdisciplinary evaluation of cultural differences in landscape perception that integrates landscape research with the knowledge of cultural studies, quantitative sociology (statistical analysis of the results of sociological research: factor analysis, component analysis, correlations, etc.), environmental psychology (cognitive mapping, Landscape Image Sketching Technique, landscape and environmental preferences, way finding, eye-tracking, etc.), and geography (geomatic) (geographic information systems, remote sensing).

Use of mixed methods in road landscape perception studies: an example from Latvia

We see, use and interact with different type of landscape every day. One of the important types is the road landscape we encounter during travel, whether a business trip, vacation or just on the way to and from home. Such landscapes can often help to introduce us to new regions or invite us to explore the surrounding areas because we partly experience the world around us from the road. Road landscapes combine important aspects of road and transport infrastructure as well as the quality of life of local people, traffic safety and tourism development. Road landscape development concerns both landowners and road users, each of whom might have different interests and understanding about possible landscape development and its consequences. Therefore, it is important to plan, discuss, present, and evaluate the future developments of any road landscape. The subject of road landscape has been little studied in Latvia. There are no recommendations on road landscape evaluation. Here we present a methodology for assessing perceptions of road landscapes. We aim to introduce several methods in combination that can be used in road landscape assessment, in order to show possible future developments of the road corridor and its surroundings and to test how potential changes might be perceived by road users. A combination of a case study approach, a scenario method, the use of 3D animations and of a web-based questionnaire survey are presented and discussed in the paper.

FRAGMENTATION AND DEGRADATION OF THE URBAN LANDSCAPE IN HERGLA, TUNISIA

This research proposes to identify the factors of the urban landscapes degradation in Hergla’s city (Tunisia) according on the citizen participation. It is based on the survey method which is developed around two axes: the citizen perception of urban landscapes and the factors of their degradation. According to the responses obtained, "the sea" represents the particular value of the landscapes identified as "quality" in Hergla. Citizens don’t appreciate landscapes of urban sprawl which makes the city lose its identity. Moreover, the lack of citizen participation in the urban actions and the non-observance of the urban regulations are the most cited factors of the landscape degradation. These results highlight the importance of involving the citizens in the planning process for a sustainable territory.

Perceptual buffer zone: a potential of going beyond the definition of broader preservation areas

PurposeThe integrity of heritage and landscape hinges on protection and restoration policies. Such policies are implemented through the determination of buffer zones that most of them are mainly based on the self-absorbed view, which isolates cultural sites from the community, instead of the more inclusive perception-based view. This study used perceptions as a base in identifying buffer zones in Anahita Temple, in comparison with previous study.Design/methodology/approachAccordingly, two parallel and qualitative methods were implemented. First, the site inventory approach was used to determine physical buffer zone, and then historical and temporal perceptions were used to determine a perception-based one. In addition, integrated buffer zone was defined based on two approaches. Finally, the participatory importance and performance analysis were proposed in order to conservation strategies formulation.FindingsThe results indicated that a physical buffer zone isolates the historical site from its landscape, thereby presenting challenges. By contrast, constructing a perception-based one not only maintains the integrity of the landscape but also creates correspondence between the landscape and people's mental map of the site.Practical implicationsMaintaining the site's integrity is expected to encourage participation from the local community and fuel more effective conservation efforts but it also introduces challenges given the need to impose new regulations.Originality/valueDespite various studies on role of perception in Historical Landscape, less attention has been paid to the role of perception in definition of heritage buffer zone. Therefore, the main goal is to develop a framework to determine the buffer zone of heritage sites by providing a sample.

Conflicts over wildlife conservation: Learning from the reintroduction of beavers in Scotland

AbstractSpecies reintroductions have become a common conservation tool, but they can be controversial and may generate social conflicts.We examine the social dimension of beaver reintroduction in Scotland to understand the issue, the potential for, and impact of, conflict between groups or individuals with differing views on beavers and reintroductions.Using a literature review and semi‐structured interviews, we studied planned and unplanned beaver reintroductions to three contrasting landscapes in Scotland: in Knapdale, the reintroduction was planned and science‐led, whereas in Tayside and the Highlands, the reintroductions were accidental and/or illegal.Our results highlight the context dependency and complexity of reintroductions. Nationally, the reintroduction of beavers has not become a conflict. At the local scale, we found the Tayside situation to be a conflict with major consequences on the debate at the national scale. While there were no conflicts in the Highlands and Knapdale, the reintroduction remains controversial.The level of conflict depended on the reintroduction process, relationships between stakeholders and their perspectives on their role in nature, their perceptions of landscapes, and the potential issue of lack of control and uncertainty around reintroductions.Based on these findings, the study outlines lessons learned in terms of management, guidelines and implications for future species reintroductions. We argue that to prevent future conflicts over reintroductions, processes must go beyond addressing the effects of reintroduced species on the environment and people's perceptions and acceptance of these species. Reintroduction processes require engagement in effective discussions which involve all actual and potential stakeholders to agree on broad and long‐term conservation plans at the landscape scale.A freePlain Language Summarycan be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

Public participation in defining landscape planning scenarios and landscape quality objectives (LQO): Landscape Guidelines for Galicia (NW Spain) case study

Since the adoption of the European Landscape Convention (ELC) in 2000, greater importance has been given to citizen participation in landscape policies and, specifically, in defining landscape quality objectives (LQO). Although the task of identifying and defining LQO is undertaken by professionals, the ELC provides for a compulsory public consultation. In most cases, no clear relationship between the results of public participation and the resulting definition of LQO and planning scenarios has been found. The objective of the present study is therefore to propose a methodology for designing landscape planning scenarios and defining LQO by the systematic, objective and quantified analysis of the results of a public participation process and taking advantage of the capacity of a Public Participation GIS (PPGIS) to capture public perception of landscape. The results of a picture-based survey and of the assessment of more than two thousand landscape scenes through the PPGIS allowed us to calculate indices of satisfaction and of the level of intervention required for each landscape type and area. From the values of these indices, four types of landscape planning scenarios were identified (protection, planning and management focused on protection and on planning), and the LQO for each landscape type and area were determined according to the resulting scenario. Application of the proposed methodology to the Landscape Guidelines for Galicia revealed information about the public perception of each landscape type and the preferred measures for landscape improvement involving protection, management and planning.

Sensing Landscape as a Media Object

Array-based remote sensing has been influencing knowledge practices across many fields, from geology, military planning, and archaeology to landscape architecture and artistic research. These uses have been made possible by declassified image-data and the proliferation of sensing technologies, enabling myriad interpretations of a single landscape. Following a series of remotely-sensed landscape visualizations created via training and conversation with archaeologists, in this article I reflect on using satellite remote sensing for analyzing the impact of militarization on archaeological landscapes in Afghanistan. The article surveys techniques of image generation using exploratory practices that reveal how obscurity is overcome in the process of image interpretation and visualization. In doing so, it tackles the liminality of digital, image-like worlds where mediated perceptions of landscapes aid the creation of evidence for sites that are physically inaccessible to fieldwork. The entanglement of aesthetics and objective knowledge marks this foray into a landscape of data that is composed of digital, virtual, and computable surfaces with imaginations of territory, topography, and terrain that have a materiality of their own, despite being intangible.

Urbanization diverges residents’ landscape preferences but towards a more natural landscape: case to complement landsenses ecology from the lens of landscape perception

ABSTRACTAnalysis of the evolutionary process and the driving forces of the meliorization model (MM) for sustainable land use is the focus of landsenses ecology. Among different landsenses, the relationships between landscape preference changes and land-use dynamics have not been fully explored. Taking Fujian Province as an example, we investigated landscape preference changes during urbanization, which represents the most prominent driver and key process of land-use dynamics in China. Mix-marching data from a survey questionnaire of 2044 residents at different urbanization levels were used to reveal landscape preference changes during urbanization. The findings demonstrated that urbanization, rather than naturalness, was a better predictor of a person’s preferences for natural landscapes. The more urbanized the area that a person resides in, the more they prefer natural landscapes. Furthermore, the younger the population, the higher the preference for natural landscapes is. Teenagers always prefer landscapes with high naturalness regardless of the level of urbanization of where they live. Older people had a lower preference for natural landscapes. There was also greater variation with respect preference for different levels of urbanization: Males less preferred natural landscape compared with females. This study presents potential development patterns of landscape preferences during urbanization considering demographic differences, which may expand our understanding of the dynamic development of the MM.

From online texts to Landscape Character Assessment: Collecting and analysing first-person landscape perception computationally

Inspired by the narrative nature of Landscape Character Assessment (LCA), we present a complete workflow to (i) build a collection of almost 7000 online texts capturing first-person perception of the Lake District National Park in England, and (ii) analyse these for sight, sound and smell perception. We extract and classify more than 28,000 descriptions referring to sight, almost 1500 to sound and 78 to smell experiences using text analysis. The resulting descriptions can be explored for the whole Lake District revealing for example, how traffic noise intrudes on experiences in the mountains close to transportation axes. Linking descriptions to LCA areas allow us to compare properties of different regions in terms of scenicness or tranquillity at a macro-level by identifying, for example, LCA areas dominated by descriptions of tranquillity or anthropogenic sounds. At a micro-level, we can zoom in to individual descriptions and landscape elements to understand how particular places are experienced in context. Local experts gave positive feedback about the utility of such information as a monitoring tool complementary to existing approaches. Our method has potential for use both in allowing comparison over time and identifying emerging themes discussed in online texts. It provides a scalable way of collecting multiple perspectives from written text, however, more work is required to understand by whom, and why, these contributions are authored.

Contentious eye-catchers: Perceptions of landscapes changed by solar power plants in Slovenia

While renewable energy sources enjoy high public support, projects are rarely implemented without opposition. The term energy landscapes indicates that landscape change is amongst the most frequent issues. This study researched lay people’s perceptions of landscapes changed by solar power plants. The first objective was to discover how likely solar power plants are to be noticed in the landscape. The second objective was to determine the associations observers make when spotting a solar power plant. The data was collected by participatory photography and focus groups. Participants visited six solar power plants. The results show that they are highly noticeable and contentious objects. Participants who understood the landscape as a rural idyll disapproved of solar power plants, while for those who perceived the landscape through a utilitarian narrative, the (mis)fit of the solar power plant depended on its relation to the surrounding landscape structure. Landscape degradation was contrasted with low-carbon energy and developmental benefits. The results provide evidence on the interdependence of visual and non-visual factors and suggest improvements in planning and design of solar power plants. While the method gives a rich in-depth insight into landscape perception, it is also context dependent and needs further research to obtain more generalisable results.

Morphostructural Analysis of Lithuanian National and Regional Parks in the Aspect of the Landscape Geography: 1. Methodology

The article deals with Lithuanian efforts in the field of protected areas landscape cognition and contributing to the planning system optimization. The summarizing of the state of the problem is presented with special accent to the experience the Estonia, Slovenia and Catalonia as potentially most similar and perspective for Lithuania. The methodology and the algorithm of the morphological study of landscape structure morphological research of Lithuanian National and Regional Parks in 2018-2019 are presented. Distinct landscape units have been designated as landscape environs and landscape sites and have been designated the highest local levels of its cognition. Special attention is paid for territorial differentiation of the landscape morphological structure, main visual aspects of landscape perception, enhancing the awareness of national and regional parks landscape and contributing to the optimization of spatial planning processes.

Research on landscape planning of rural eco-tourism area based on network text analysis——Take the Longji Terrace Scenic Spot as an example

At present, with the development of rural tourism in full swing, the protection and renewal of rural eco-tourism landscape has become an important part of rural landscape planning and construction in the new era. From the perspective of tourists’ perception, this paper takes Longji Terrace Scenic Spot in Guilin, Guangxi as an example, and uses ROST CM6 software analyzes tourists’ landscape perception and characteristics from high-frequency vocabulary, semantic network and other aspects. Based on this, it finds out the existing problems in the current landscape planning of rural eco-tourism area, and puts forward planning suggestions. The purpose is to provide reference for the rational planning and allocation of rural tourism landscape, to improve the quality of life of rural residents, and to promote the construction of beautiful villages. The results show that: (1) high-frequency words indicate that tourists focus on human landscape and natural landscape; (2) the semantic network matrix takes “landscape”, “Jiulong Wuhu”, “Longji Terrace”, “Jinkeng Dazhai” as the core; (3) tourists’ perception of the landscape of Longji Terrace Scenic Spot focuses on terrace scenery, ethnic customs and specialties, mountain climbing ways and other aspects; (4) tourists’ emotional evaluation of Longji Terrace Scenic Spot is mainly positive emotion, and relatively less negative emotion.