LECTURE 17 Landscape, Scenery and Environmental Values The term landscape commonly refers to the appearance of land, including its shape, texture, and colors. It also reflects the way in which these various components combine to create specific patterns and pictures that are distinctive to particular localities. The landscape is not a purely visual phenomenon; it relies heavily on other influences for its character. These include the underlying geology and soils, the topography, archaeology, landscape history, land use, land management, ecology, architecture and cultural associations, all of which can influence the ways in which landscape is experienced and valued. The landscape is not simply a rural phenomenon. It encompasses the whole of our external environment, whether within villages, towns, cities or in the countryside. The patterns and textures of buildings, streets, open spaces and trees, and their interrelationships within the built environment are an equally important part of our wider landscape concept. Whether urban or rural, landscape is important because it is: an essential part of our natural resource base; a reservoir of archaeological and historical evidence; an environment for plants and animals; a resource which evokes sensual, cultural and spiritual responses; an important part of our quality of life. It must first be understood that landscape impacts and visual impacts are separate, but related. Landscape impacts are changes in the fabric, character and quality of the landscape as a result of development. Hence landscape impact is concerned with: direct impacts upon specific landscape elements; more effects upon the overall pattern of elements that gives rise to landscape character and regional/local distinctiveness; impacts upon acknowledged special interests or values such as designated landscapes, conservation sites and cultural associations. Visual impacts are a subset of landscape impacts. They relate solely to changes in available views of the landscape, and the effects of those changes on people. Hence visual impact assessment is concerned with: the reactions of viewers who may be affected; the direct impacts of the development upon views of the landscape through intrusion or obstruction; the overall impact on visual amenity, which can range from degradation through to enhancement. Landscape and visual impacts do not necessarily coincide. Landscape impacts can occur in the absence of visual impacts, for instance where a development is wholly screened from available-views, but nonetheless results in a loss of landscape elements, and landscape character within the site boundary. Landscape and visual impacts can arise from a variety of sources. The significance of a landscape and visual impact is a function of the sensitivity of the affected landscape and visual receptors and the magnitude of change that they will experience. Over time, and in all cultures, landscapes have accumulated characteristics that must be dealt with for any development (example, Feng shui woodlands) Motloch (1991) made a classification of how landscapes are perceived: As nature -- unspoiled, deserving of conservation. As habitat -- supportive of man, animals, vegetation. As artifact -- to be subdued, conquered by man. As system -- holistic, human-nature as one. As problem -- all is in disarray, needs solving. As wealth -- a commodity to be owned, sold, used. As ideology -- holds ideals, cultural meaning. As history -- cumulative record of man’s use. As place -- visual and spatial geography. As esthetic -- intrinsic beauty, visual value. Landscape and visual impact assessment is an important component of landscape planning in which the best environmental fit is sought. Landscape impacts relate to changes in the fabric, character and quality of the landscape, whilst visual impacts relate to the appearance of these changes. From an airplane, land almost always appears as a mosaic. Mosaic patterns are found at all spatial scales, from submicroscopic to the planet and universe. Landscape and scenery Land mosaics are at the ‘human scale’, measured in kilometers to hundreds, even thousands, of kilometers. Thus, landscapes, regions, and continents are three scales of land mosaics. Landscape and scenery What causes a mosaic? A closed system with no energy input tends toward randomness. Such lack of organization results in a fairly homogeneous mess throughout, and this is expected according to the second law of thermodynamics. Without energy input, a system becomes more disorganized. But the land is always spatially heterogeneous (an uneven, non-random distribution of objects), that is, it always has structure. Natural disturbance, including fire, tornado, and pest explosions, creates heterogeneity. And human activity, creates patches, corridors, boundaries, and mosaic pattern. Various biological processes commonly modify or enhance the patterns. But spatial heterogeneity occurs in to flavors. A gradient or series of gradients has gradual variation over space in the objects present. Thus a gradient has no boundaries, no patches and no corridors, but is still heterogeneous. Specifically, three mechanisms create the pattern. Substrate heterogeneity, such as hills, wet spots, and different soil types, causes vegetation patchiness. Like all living systems, the landscape exhibits structure, function and change. Since a mosaic at any scale may be composed of patches, corridors, and matrix, they are the basic spatial elements of any pattern on land. Landscapes may be of natural or human origin, and thus apply to the spatial pattern of different ecosystems, community types, successional stages, or land uses. In landscapes, there is an illustrated change and relationship between space and time. Most short-duration changes affect a small area, and most long-term changes affect a large area. This generalized space-time principle is also observed for many biological responses and other ecological attributes. Landscape and scenery Maps have a scale; but here we use the terms fine-scale and broad or coarse scale. The space-time principle implies that phenomena at broad scales are more persistent or stable than those at fine scales. Hierarchy theory and cybernetics are the two major approaches in evaluating predictions of scale. Hierarchy theory refers to how a system of discrete functional elements or units linked at two or more scales operates. The landscape system is a nested hierarchy with each level containing the levels below it. Therefore, to understand the stability of a particular element, a minimum of 3 linkages must be known. The element is linked to the: (1) encompassing element at the next higher level; (2) nearby elements at the same scale; and (3) component elements at the next lower level. In the clustered tradition of scientific specialization, most ecologists think of the world narrowly, as a system of natural environments beleaguered by human activity. Today, less than 10% of the land surface remains in a mostly unchanged state, and only 4% has been set a side in natural reserves.