Visual Landscape Research Articles

Assessing the visual landscape of Istanbul Bosphorus: Exploring the role of vegetation and built environment characteristics

Istanbul Bosphorus is one of the most important protected landscapes of Türkiye with its dramatic topography, natural landscape, and historical and cultural heritage embedded within this natural setting. However, studies focusing on the visual landscape assessment (VLA) of Bosphorus are limited. The main goal was to evaluate the VLA of Bosphorus and to understand the users' perception of this multi-layered landscape via utilizing VLA based on the evaluation of 45 photographs taken from the sea. For this goal, the study investigates the environmental texture proportion (ETP: vegetation, built environment, sea, and sky) and RGB values of the photographs using parameters such as naturalness, beautiful scenery, disturbance, excitement, safety, and livability in 5-Likert’s scale. Findings demonstrated that photographs with more vegetation than built environment, with those containing 10 % or more vegetation receiving higher overall scores. Vegetation showed a high positive correlation with naturalness, beautiful scenery, excitement, safety, and livability. Moreover, disturbance was positively correlated with the built environment, and negatively correlated with vegetation. Namely, the most problematic ETP type for VLA was the built environment in Bosphorus. The study further identified built environment characteristics as a critical environmental component, with historical and mansion-type buildings scoring higher than other building types. Another important finding was that certain user features, such as gender, influenced perceptions of beautiful scenery (9 p-value), excitement (10), safety (11), and livability (21), while usage frequency affected perceptions of excitement (14) and safety (13). In other words, men gave higher scores to photographs compared to women, and users who regularly utilized the study area rated the photographs more favorably than those who used it less frequently. In conclusion, the study found that user characteristics of gender and usage frequency were influential factors, and vegetation (10 % and above) was the most paramount element for preferences when considering the visual landscape of the Bosphorus in Istanbul.

How to Enhancing Urban Space Renewal Through Visual Landscape Perception? An Approach From Street View Image Recognition

How to Enhancing Urban Space Renewal Through Visual Landscape Perception? An Approach From Street View Image Recognition

The Journey of Women in Disney Movies and Their Impact on Shaping Social Perceptions

Disney movies have long fascinated audiences with their fantastical narratives, lively characters, and imaginative landscapes. However, the representation of women in Disney movies was always through a patriarchal lens. This research investigates the portrayal of women characters in contemporary Disney movies Moana (2016) and Mulan (2020) and analyses how they differ from the traditional portrayal of women in Disney movies using the theoretical framework of postmodern feminism and patriarchy. The paper analyses how travel empowers these women and what significant changes it brings about in the development of their characters. The paper also explores the psyche of these women characters and how their journey inspires young adults, especially today’s women. The paper serves as a lens into society and the influence of media and other popular culture in the perceptions formed about women and how they are supposed to be.

Elaborating and performing optimization approaches for web-based 3D spatial analysis of 3D city models

ABSTRACT Three-dimensional (3D) geographic information systems (GIS) are vital for urban planning and architectural design, enabling detailed visualization and analysis of urban landscapes. However, the growing size of 3D city data and the transition to web environments cause performance challenges for real-time applications. This study addresses the need for optimizing 3D spatial analyses for the web using Quadtree data structures and multiprocessing tools. Optimization scenarios based on data size and hardware configurations are evaluated, and the best hosting plans for GIS applications on cloud services are also considered.

The visual landscape of rock art in Qeydu Valley in Teymare in the Central Iranian Plateau

Qeydu Valley is a part of the Teymare region, which contains one the largest clusters of rock art in the central Iranian Plateau. Analyzing about 495 panels in more than 100 sites, this paper is intended to provide an insight into the landscape of rock art in Qeydu Valley. The paper explores the intersection of rock art positioning, movement patterns, and visual landscape in the study area. Total and cumulative viewshed, cost distance, and least-cost path analysis have been used to reconstruct the visibility dimension of the rock art locations in movement across the region. The total and cumulative viewshed analysis suggest that the panels showing a hunting theme benefit from a higher degree of visibility compared to the other petroglyphs.

Perceived Soundscape Experiences and Human Emotions in Urban Green Spaces: Application of Russell’s Circumplex Model of Affect

Humans perceive their surrounding environments largely through their experiences of sight and hearing. The perceived environmental information then brings on neurophysiological changes, so as to influence human emotions. These mutually influenced relations have been widely utilized by many environmental psychologists to explore potential avenues for improving human emotions through design interventions. However, to date, no efficient and accurate way has been established to describe these relationships. Inspired by Russell’s model of emotion, this study aims to develop an efficient process that uses coordinate mapping and can intuitively describe the impact of visual-aural perceptive attributes on human emotions. Taking typical urban green spaces (UGSs) in Chengdu as examples, this study first measured the visual and aural characteristics of study sites perceived by people and their emotional responses. The study then established the use of emotional status on a coordinate axis, allowing each visual-aural attribute corresponding to each emotional response to be projected onto the coordinates. Results suggested that the dataset composed of 279 evaluations could be classified into three distinct types of visual-aural settings and the distribution of emotions is evidently varied in different settings. It was found that aesthetic and order of visual aspects as well as eventful and harmonious soundscape in environments are more likely to make people feel pleasure, while openness and layering of the visual landscape can easily arouse people’s positive status. The research outcome broadens the practical path of soundscape research, centring on human emotions, experiences and feelings, such as the pleasantness and arousal raised in Russell’s theory of emotion. The study also makes an empirical contribution to the design of UGSs based on multi-sensory perception and serves the purpose of improving people’s environmental experiences.

Evaluating human perception of building exteriors using street view imagery

Building appearances profoundly shape the urban visual landscape, influencing city images and the quality of urban life. Traditional methods for evaluating the perceptual and aesthetic qualities of building facades are often limited in scope. Despite recent studies that have sought to understand human perception of urban streetscapes, our grasp of how individuals perceive building exteriors on a broader scale and the subsequent impact on holistic street experiences, remains largely unexplored. In this study, we integrate a traditional survey-based evaluation framework with machine learning techniques to analyse human perception of over 250,000 building images from Singapore, San Francisco, and Amsterdam. Specifically, deep learning models trained on crowdsourced ratings of 1200 building images across six perceptual attributes — complex, original, ordered, pleasing, boring, and style — achieve over 72% accuracy. This novel approach enables adaptive and comparative analyses of building appearances across regions, revealing spatial patterns in the perception of architectural exteriors and their relationships with functions, age, and location. Moreover, by applying propensity score matching to match images based on their features, we mark one of the first efforts to investigate the perceptual impacts of buildings on streetscape perceptions. The results show that streetscapes with higher levels of complex, pleasing, and historical ambience from buildings elicit more positive perceptions, whereas modern and monotonous exteriors often evoke holistic feelings of being “boring” and “depressing”. These findings offer architects and city planners valuable insights into public sentiment towards city-level building exteriors and their influence on urban identity and perception.

A cidade transparente, a imagem múltipla

This brief essay explores the connection between photography and urban perception, using multiple exposure to generate an altered view of the landscape, creating imaginary landscapes. According to Calvino, cities can succeed others without knowing each other, reflecting on the complexity of the city. For their part, Jay and Gombrich highlight that vision goes beyond the eyes, influenced by memory and knowledge, and Spirn describes the landscape as complex and multifaceted. The transparent images of the “transparent city” question perceived barriers, where Proust and Bachelard highlight photography's ability to reveal new perspectives, expanding the interpretation of the city.

Nano-punk and Nanotechnology Genre in Literature: A Scientific and Cultural Analysis of Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age

Technology and society have been interconnected since the dawn of civilization. Literature has always served as an active medium to represent the interaction between these two fields. Fiction often utilizes technology as a backdrop for exploring societal conflicts. Science fiction, in particular, frequently depicts the complex interactions between technology and civilization. Nanopunk emerges as a significant genre within the realm of fiction, wherein the potential advantages and drawbacks of nanotechnology are explored within the imaginative landscapes of nanopunk narratives. This subgenre, a derivative of cyberpunk or biopunk, highlights forms of nanotechnology referred to as nano or nanites. Literature assumes a crucial role in depicting the nuances of nanopunk reality. In 1995, Neal Stephenson published his seminal science fiction novel, "The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer." This novel delves into the intricate relationship between literature and technology within a dystopian future heavily influenced by molecular nanotechnology. Through its narrative, the novel raises pertinent questions regarding power dynamics and the sociological impacts of technological integration in a futuristic setting. This paper seeks to analyze the implications of these emerging technologies as portrayed through fiction and their potential effects on contemporary society and future generations. It concludes that literature, culture, and fiction will continue to wield significant influence in shaping societal perceptions and attitudes towards the future of nanotechnology.

Using automated design appraisal to model building-specific devaluation risk due to land-use change

Uncertainty of spillover effects – including property devaluation - from proposed land-use change elicits opposition to local development. This hinders cities’ ability to implement land-use policy aimed at housing affordability and environmental sustainability. The uncertainty arises from the limitation of current methods to quantify both the physical exposure and financial sensitivity to changes in urban environmental characteristics and amenities. Hence, this paper introduces an integrated approach to quantify the direct and indirect effects of a proposed urban development, using parametric modeling, building performance simulation and automated design appraisal (ADA). ADA, a novel aspect of this study, predicts the market price of a generated building design concept within a local urban context. To demonstrate its practical utility, this paper examines property value at risk due to nearby development associated with changes to visual landscape quality. The results shed light on the importance and spatial variability of the price-amenity gradient, identifying properties that are financially at risk to the visual impacts of local development. Beyond building-specific risk modeling for the development planning stage, this work serves as a blueprint for architectural design optimization procedures, in which economic performance is evaluated based on learned preferences derived from financial market data.

Tourism’s Impact on Visual Landscape: Residents’ Perceptions from a Traditional Chinese Village

Tourism’s Impact on Visual Landscape: Residents’ Perceptions from a Traditional Chinese Village

Combined Effects of the Visual–Acoustic Environment on Public Response in Urban Forests

Urban forests are increasingly recognized as vital components of urban ecosystems, offering a plethora of physiological and psychological benefits to residents. However, the existing research has often focused on single dimensions of either visual or auditory experiences, overlooking the combined impact of audio–visual environments on public health and well-being. This study addresses this gap by examining the effects of composite audio–visual settings within three distinct types of urban forests in Fuzhou, China: mountain, mountain–water, and waterfront forests. Through field surveys and quantitative analysis at 24 sample sites, we assessed visual landscape elements, soundscapes, physiological indicators (e.g., heart rate, skin conductance), and psychological responses (e.g., spiritual vitality, stress relief, emotional arousal, attention recovery) among 77 participants. Our findings reveal that different forest types exert varying influences on visitors’ physiology and psychology, with waterfront forests generally promoting relaxation and mountain–water forests inducing a higher degree of tension. Specific audio–visual elements, such as plant, water scenes, and natural sounds, positively affect psychological restoration, whereas urban noise is associated with increased physiological stress indicators. In conclusion, the integrated effects of audio–visual landscapes significantly shape the multisensory experiences of the public in urban forests, underscoring the importance of optimal design that incorporates natural elements to create restorative environments beneficial to the health and well-being of urban residents. These insights not only contribute to the scientific understanding of urban forest impact but also inform the design and management of urban green spaces for enhanced public health outcomes.

Bibliometric Analysis of Nanostructured Anodes for Electro-Oxidative Wastewater Treatment

Last decade, a growing emphasis on developing sustainable and environmentally friendly technologies for electro-oxidative wastewater treatment has catalyzed innovation and spurred research efforts worldwide. Researchers may explore the use of renewable energy sources to drive electrochemical processes, as well as the development of eco-friendly electrode materials for wastewater treatments. The integration of nanostructured anodes into the electrolytic system for wastewater treatment has led to significant advancements in the removal of pollutants via electro-oxidation. Despite the great number of research articles related to the development and use of nanostructured anodes for electro-oxidative wastewater treatment, to our knowledge, no bibliometric analysis has been published in this domain. Therefore, this work presents a bibliometric study of publications on the designated theme, retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection database, which were published over the last decade. The visual and network analysis of co-authorship among authors, organizations, countries, co-citation of authors, citation of documents and sources, as well as the co-occurrence of author keywords was performed using two compatible pieces of scientometric software, namely VOSviewer (version 1.6.18) and CiteSpace (version 6.2.R4). From 2013 to 2023, there has been a gradual increase in the number of publications regarding the development and use of nanostructured anodes for electro-oxidative wastewater treatment. It suggests a steady advancement in this field. The People’s Republic of China emerges as the most productive country, and it is a leader in international collaborations. Also, the United States of America, South Korea, and European Union countries have significant impacts on the research in this domain. The development and application of nanostructured materials for urea electro-oxidation is a main and prospective research theme. This bibliometric analysis allowed for the visualization of the present landscape and upcoming trends in this research field, thereby facilitating future collaborative research endeavors and knowledge exchange.

Exploring the Impact of Campus Landscape Visual Elements Combination on Short-Term Stress Relief among College Students: A Case from China

Although the effect of campus landscape space on stress relief among college students has been confirmed, few existing studies have considered the impact on stress recovery from the perspective of factor combination, and the key visual elements and the most effective combination of visual elements to relieve stress are still unclear. This study attempts to conduct a natural experiment within Chinese campuses, measuring physiological indicators of stress such as heart rate (HR), frequency domain index of heart rate variability (LF/HF), skin conductance level (SCL), skin temperature (SKT), and respiratory rate (RESP) using physiological instruments. It explored the effects of visual elements and their combinations in campus landscape spaces on short-term stress relief among college students through semantic segmentation, multifactorial analysis of variance, and post hoc multiple comparison methods. Research results demonstrate that the presence of water elements in the field of vision can effectively improve the stress relief effects of landscape spaces. Reasonable combinations of natural landscape elements and artificial landscape elements in the design can also effectively promote stress relief among students. Building facade area and sky area, water area and sky area, and plant species and pavement area are three combinations of factors with the strongest interactive effects. “Natural water scenery” and “exquisite artificial” are two campus landscape design patterns most conducive to short-term stress relief.

Unraveling the relationship between coastal landscapes and sentiments: An integrated approach based on social media data and interpretable machine learning methods

AbstractCoastal landscapes exert a significant impact on the human sentimental perceptions and physical and mental well‐being of people. However, little is known about explicitly linking between the landscape characteristics and people's sentimental preferences expressed in social media data. The main objective of this study was to explore the nonlinear and interaction effects of key factors that influenced sentiments in the coastal areas of Hong Kong, considering both subjective landscape preferences and objective landscape patterns. We quantified users' sentiment polarity based on the crowdsourcing textual data of Flickr. To study users' subjective landscape preferences, we computed various visual landscape objects' proportion in images. Meanwhile, eight user clusters and nine image clusters were detected by the identified visual object labels. We quantified objective landscape patterns considering the land use pattens and the availability of public service facilities. Finally, we utilized an interpretable classification model to analyze the factors that may affect sentiments and their interplay interactions. We found that ecotourism‐related clusters exhibited the most positive sentiment. The proportion of floor and sky pixels in images exhibits the highest global relative importance when predicting sentiments. This study extends a new insight on the relationship between landscape characteristics and sentiments from both subjective and objective perspectives based on social media data and interpretable machine learning methods. This research may help decision‐makers in designing landscapes that aptly satisfy to the needs of the public and promote sustainable management of the coastal environment.

Understanding the Energy Landscape of Intrinsically Disordered Protein Ensembles.

A substantial portion of various organisms' proteomes comprises intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) that lack a defined three-dimensional structure. These IDPs exhibit a diverse array of conformations, displaying remarkable spatiotemporal heterogeneity and exceptional conformational flexibility. Characterizing the structure or structural ensemble of IDPs presents significant conceptual and methodological challenges owing to the absence of a well-defined native structure. While databases such as the Protein Ensemble Database (PED) provide IDP ensembles obtained through a combination of experimental data and molecular modeling, the absence of reaction coordinates poses challenges in comprehensively understanding pertinent aspects of the system. In this study, we leverage the energy landscape visualization method (JCTC, 6482, 2019) to scrutinize four IDP ensembles sourced from PED. ELViM, a methodology that circumvents the need for a priori reaction coordinates, aids in analyzing the ensembles. The specific IDP ensembles investigated are as follows: two fragments of nucleoporin (NUL: 884-993 and NUS: 1313-1390), yeast sic 1 N-terminal (1-90), and the N-terminal SH3 domain of Drk (1-59). Utilizing ELViM enables the comprehensive validation of ensembles, facilitating the detection of potential inconsistencies in the sampling process. Additionally, it allows for identifying and characterizing the most prevalent conformations within an ensemble. Moreover, ELViM facilitates the comparative analysis of ensembles obtained under diverse conditions, thereby providing a powerful tool for investigating the functional mechanisms of IDPs.

Conceptualization and Potential of Agritourism in Extremadura (Spain) from the Perspective of Tourism Demand

The current literature considers agritourism as a valid option for promoting the development of rural areas. This would be achieved by increasing agricultural incomes. However, numerous scientific studies have revealed the difficulty in reaching a consensus on the very concept of agritourism. In addition, the definition of agritourism is rarely related to the opinion of the demand. For this reason, this research aimed to understand the idea that tourists have about this variety. To this end, more than 500 surveys were carried out, from which the tourists’ conception of agritourism and the activities it entails were deduced. Other questions were also analyzed to determine whether the conception varies between those who have already performed this type of activity and those who have not yet had the opportunity to do so. From this, we can deduct the interest that visitors have in agritourism products, evidencing their potential. This interest is deduced through the visualization of different landscapes and activities of interest to tourists. Under these four central points, the aim was to understand the aims of agritourism in Extremadura (Spain). At the methodological level, a combination of descriptive statistics and spatial statistics was used, highlighting the use of cluster analysis. The results show a significant lack of knowledge of the meaning of agritourism, especially among those who have never practiced it, and of the activities associated with it. At the same time, the selection of landscapes preferred by tourists makes it possible to establish areas with potential for the development of these activities. Likewise, knowing which activities are of interest to tourists also helps to generate complementary activities and to better target the design of agrotourism products.

The Imagined Geography of Mount Everest

The Imagined Geography of Mount Everest

Synesthetic Identities

Synesthetic identities is part of a research study that looks at the landscape as a living organism, mutable and connected to a complex ecosystem of physical and immaterial elements. Starting with well-established theoretical principles, the paper describes an experiment conducted in 2021 using brain-computer interfaces to demonstrate how the visual landscape is not immutable, identical for everyone, and static in time. Instead, it strictly depends on the relationship established with the viewer and the interpolation of a series of variables - sound, colour, and light - that influence perception. The outcome demonstrates how it is necessary to rethink visual landscapes by looking at them as plural, mutable systems, constantly reconfigured by the relationship with the human body, thus opening up new design possibilities in the field of visual design.

El Whispering Clouds, Echoing Mountains: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Gonzalo Ariza’s Lyrical Landscapes

This essay reevaluates the art of Gonzalo Ariza, a twentieth-century Colombian painter renowned for landscapes that merge Eastern and Western traditions. Challenging simplistic categorizations of his oeuvre as an “appropriated Japanese style,” my research argues that Ariza’s vision of landscape transformed into a contemplative attitude towards local Andean highlands after his return from Japan in 1938. It contextualizes the challenges Ariza faced when drawing inspiration from East Asian art amidst mid-twentieth-century modernist currents and political circumstances, shedding light on the critical narratives that marginalized his work and unraveling the complexities of Colombian modernism within a global art discourse. Building upon Warburg's concept of dynamograms to describe “pathos formula” in landscapes, this study argues that Ariza’s work transcends cultural boundaries, which links both traditions through the subtle emotions evoked by cloud-shrouded mountains, eliciting a universal appreciation for nature’s mystical splendor. Through cross-cultural comparison and an ecocritical lens, my essay delves into the interplay of transcultural exchange, nationalist identity, andrepresentations of nature in Ariza’s artworks, revealing his nostalgic proto-environmental consciousness. In doing so, it raises raising questions about the transformative power of landscape art to reflect and influence societal values and perspectives on nature within contemporary dialogues on environmental stewardship and the negotiation of cultural identity through art.