Mari Sundli Tveit

Indicators of perceived naturalness as drivers of landscape preference

The concept of naturalness is one of the more studied concepts in landscape preference research and describes how close a landscape is to a perceived natural state. In this study we explored the relationship between landscape preference and three landscape indicators of naturalness (level of succession, number of woodland patches and shape index of edges). We used computer-generated visualisations of a hypothetical landscape containing pasture and broadleaved woodland. In the landscape simulations we altered the values of the naturalness indicators between the levels of low, medium and high, creating 27 different visualisations. The survey was distributed as an on-line survey in seven different languages and obtained 703 respondents. The study showed a strong relationship with preference for both the level of succession and number of woodland patches, and a weaker relationship with shape index of edges. The two demographic factors which were shown to contribute most to the formation of preference were gender and having a landscape related profession. The results suggest that the selected indicators are more important drivers of preference than demographic factors.

Capturing Landscape Visual Character Using Indicators: Touching Base with Landscape Aesthetic Theory

Abstract This paper presents one way that landscape visual character can be captured using indicators derived from nine theory-based concepts related to landscape perception. The paper aims to establish links between landscape aesthetic theory and visual indicators, thus exploring what landscape indicators are really indicating. The steps from abstract visual concepts to measurable visual indicators are described, and links are made to theories of landscape preferences and perception. The focus of the paper is on the application of indicators, including a presentation of the possible data sources of the presented indicators. The paper includes a discussion on the selection of appropriate landscape indicators through a suggested filtering process. The relationships between the concepts and the ability of visual indicators to capture changes in landscape character and other issues related to interpretation are discussed.

Indicators of visual scale as predictors of landscape preference; a comparison between groups.

Landscape change alters the visual scale of agricultural landscapes, as production units get larger and strips of taller vegetation are removed between smaller units. Visual scale, defined as the perceptual units reflecting the experience of landscape rooms, visibility and openness, is considered a key factor shaping landscape preference. The visual expression of landscapes affects people in many ways; aesthetic appreciation, health and well being. In order to understand how landscape changes alter the visual scale of landscapes, and hence its effect on human beings, it is important to establish efficient and practical ways of measuring visual scale and its relation to landscape preferences. This paper presents an empirical test of the ability to predict landscape preference of two photo-based indicators of visual scale; percentage open land in the view and size of landscape rooms. A preference survey was conducted with two groups of respondents; a student group from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB) and a public group. The student group was chosen to represent future landscape professionals. Photos of landscapes varying in the expression of visual scale were shown to survey respondents, who were asked to give scores according to how much they liked the landscapes. Both indicators were found to be predictors of preference for the student group, but not for the public group. The results demonstrate that student preferences do not reflect the landscape preferences of the wider public. The different appreciation of visual scale in the landscape of future landscape professionals and the public implies that experts wanting to reflect preferences of the wider public should be cautious when evaluating the visual impact of landscape change.

Promoting Youth’s Physical Activity through Park Design: Linking Theory and Practice in a Public Health Perspective

Abstract Young people are increasingly prone to physical inactivity, which may have severe negative effects on their health in adulthood. The aim of this literature review was to identify components and characteristics of parks that have an effect on youth physical activity, and to discuss how these findings can be applied in park design. The results show that access to green space is the most frequently reported predictor of park use among youth. The review identified a range of characteristics and components of urban green spaces important to youth physical activity. These include sports fields/facilities for movement, walkways and paths, shadow and shelter, trees, water elements, maintenance, renovation, form and size, openness, naturalness and safety. The study identifies some shortcomings in the currently available literature on the topic. Studies investigating the importance of specific park components and characteristics are few, and youth is an understudied age group.

Capturing the intangible and tangible aspects of heritage: personal versus official perspectives in cultural heritage management.

Abstract In discussions on how to handle local heritage values, local values or insider-ness are often seen as synonymous with intangible aspects of heritage. At the same time, expert knowledge is usually associated with material objects, whereby experts have had the power to define what to preserve. In this study of three Norwegian towns, complementary and interdisciplinary methods have been used to address the relationship between personal and official perspectives on cultural heritage values and their tangible and intangible aspects. Results from interviews asking people to describe places they value in the area in which they live have been compared with results from a study of the official heritage plans in three selected towns. The study shows that a gap has unintentionally been constructed in the understanding of cultural heritage. To bridge the gap additional methods for documentation of cultural heritage and their contexts have to be developed. Experiments with various forms of active user participation are one way to introduce new additional approaches and thereby create local engagement and awareness of the role cultural heritage can play.

Alternative perspectives? The implementation of public participation in local heritage planning

Recently, increased attention has been paid to the importance of everyday landscapes in the Western world, and a stronger political will to involve local participation in planning processes has emerged. The authors discuss the implementation of the political will to engage the Norwegian public in local heritage planning and whether or not this new role can have a mobilising effect on heritage protection. In Norway, cultural heritage managers have established methods for identifying valuable heritage assets in cultural historic landscapes. As increased responsibility for cultural heritage management is given to municipalities, more municipalities are making their own heritage plans to improve local heritage management. The article investigates how cultural heritage management in everyday landscapes is taking place, how heritage plans are developed, how local knowledge is involved, and what assets local residents appreciate in their environment, based on an in-depth study of two medium-sized Norwegian regional towns. The results show that local stakeholders were often invited to participate in planning processes, but that their contributions were largely kept out of official plans at the final stage. Further, the study revealed that memories and personal histories related to heritage appreciations are important elements in building identity, both at a personal level and at a local level.

Between Development and Protection: Different Discourses in Urban Planning

Abstract This article identifies topical storylines centred on the future use of a Norwegian urban forest. All stakeholders accept a ‘protection storyline’ where species, artefacts and places deemed as unique and valuable shall be spared from development. The tension is, however, between a reductionist approach where the remaining forest can be exploited and a comprehensive approach where the quality of the forest as a whole supersedes the unique qualities it hosts. Supporters of the reductionist approach enforce their argument by drawing on the enhanced attention to health effects of near recreation and accessibility. Over time, this understanding of accessibility as topical value for outdoor recreation may in the future give weight to a more reductionist approach to management of the recreational areas.

Safeguarding Cultural Heritage in the Urban Fringe: The Role of Legibility

Abstract This paper discusses the condition and legibility of prehistoric grave mounds and their landscape context and assesses legibility for experts and lay people by combining archaeological landscape analysis and visual historicity landscape analysis. The paper compares, on the one hand, the heritage object with inherited meanings, and on the other, how it is perceived and understood. The results reveal that legibility in archaeological terms and in visual terms sometimes overlap, but sometimes diverge. Divergences occur when visual legibility of a grave mound is high but where the prehistoric context and legibility are changed. In situations where the context of the mound is preserved and legibility of the mound is high in visual terms, the two overlap. At the fringe, the monuments were mostly both non-visible and had a changed context. Accepting that the prehistoric context has changed, within landscape planning and heritage management, recognising cultural heritage as features in the present-day landscape can be one way forward in urban fringe areas.