Dinara Mountain massif is recognized as an area of exceptional value, which led to its recent protection as a nature park, the second largest one in Croatia. The protected area includes the territory ...of two counties with four cities and nine municipalities, five of which are included with over 50% of the territory. The paper explains how landscape planning methods establish potential spatial conflicts and propose a compromise between landscape conservation and spatial development. The basic method was the identification and analysis of the landscape value models in 3 categories: natural, visual-experiential, and cultural-historical values. The creation of the models is preceded by a detailed analysis of all environmental components and the collection and creation of spatial data with the help of GIS tools. By overlapping the basic models, a cumulative model of the overall landscape values of the space is produced, which clearly shows which parts of the landscape have a higher value, regarding the protection requirements. The final value model is overlapped with the planned interventions and a clear overview of the vulnerability and possible conflict zones in the area is obtained. The paper describes the impact of individual interventions on the landscape qualities that need to be preserved and suggests guidelines for spatial plan corrections for the purpose of minimal impact on existing values, thus helping to prevent unwanted changes.
The utilization of urban green space (UGS) in a city contributes to people’s mental and physical health. Information on the perceptions and attitudes of people from landscape evaluation and ...preference studies serves as an important scientific basis for the planning and management of UGS. This study used eye tracking and an online questionnaire to investigate the association between the proportions of different landscape elements and people’s evaluation of UGS attractiveness. Experiments were conducted by using photographs taken in Shanghai with varying green appearance percentages (GPs) and different types of landscape elements (trees, water, artificial hardscapes, etc.). The results showed that the influence of GP on landscape attractiveness was greater when its level was below 45 % than when above 48 %. Landscape elements, including trees, pedestrians and visually dominant elements (overpasses, sign boards, seats and other elements that may attract an observer’s attention), affected participants’ evaluations. People who paid more attention to trees and pedestrians than visually dominant elements were more likely to give a higher evaluation. The reflection of greenery on a water surface enhanced residents’ perception to GP. Hardscape divided the attraction of the vegetation and lowered the evaluation of the landscape. This study demonstrates a meaningful attempt to use eye tracking in combination with online questionnaires for urban green space. The confined data sources are useful to reveal human’s perception of landscapes, and a clearer understanding of residents’ preference to landscape elements can be obtained in the decision making of UGS planning and management.
The environmental quality and subjective environmental evaluations in urban open spaces are essential. In this study, the effects of building, green, and water landscapes, which are typical visual ...landscapes, on the subjective environmental evaluations (including thermal sensation and comfort, and overall comfort) in different seasons were analyzed by conducting questionnaire surveys and field measurements in a severely cold city. It was found that the visual landscapes significantly affected subjective environmental evaluations in winter and summer, but there were no effects in the transitional season. In summer, compared with the building and green landscape, the thermal sensation vote in the water landscape was the lowest at 0.4, and the differences were 0.3∼1.0. However, the thermal comfort vote in the water landscape was found to be 0.6 times higher. In winter, the thermal sensation and comfort votes in the water landscape were the lowest, the average evaluation under different UTCI was –2.2, and the results were similar for the overall comfort evaluation. In addition, the subjects believed that green and water landscapes improved thermal comfort and had more significant effects on improving the environmental temperature in the three seasons. Additionally, visual landscape evaluations significantly affect subjective environmental evaluations in summer than in the winter and transitional season; the higher the visual landscape evaluation, the better the thermal and overall comfort.
•The most suitable scene for the human brain is a VGI of 60% to 80% with a three-layer vegetation structure.•A VGI of 60% can be used as a VGI grading indicator.•Residential landscape has the most ...significant effect on weakening delta and theta.•The two-layer vegetation structure with a VGI above 80% can have the greatest instantaneous weakening effect.
Visible Green Index (VGI) reflects the degree of greening from human vision to affect human health and well-being that has gradually become a new type of urban green space index. But few studies show how human reacts to VGI under different vegetation structures. This study designed and conducted an experiment to evaluate human’s response to scenes which were panoramic pictures of residential green spaces and projected by Virtual Reality. Participants (n = 97) were asked to do deep breath training and then they immersed in the VR experience of three groups scenes with different VGI and vegetation structure for five minutes, during which we collected Electroencephalography data, which indicated that the most suitable scene for human brain is a VGI of 60% to 80% with a three-layer vegetation structure by multiple comparisons. But the two-layer vegetation structure with a VGI above 80% can have the greatest instantaneous weakening effect. Besides, residential landscape is most significant in reducing brain waves of delta and theta, and we propose that a VGI of “60%” can be used as a VGI grading indicator.
The study provides a certain theoretical basis for the landscape planning of residential areas, which is helpful to improve the theory of VGI and promote its establishment as a new type of urban green spaces indicator. Our findings also further verify the relationship between landscape and human health.
The purpose is to extract the objects and elements to be evaluated from the landscape photographs taken by the residents and show the difference between the greening evaluation and the green coverage ...rate. The greens evaluated are as follows. First, in places with a high green coverage rate, there are many trees in public space. Second, in urban areas with a low green coverage rate, it is within a close distance to see and touch hedges and flower beds. From the above, it was shown that there are many preferred greens regardless of the green coverage rate.
•A comprehensive landscape evaluation system was constructed under the earthquake’s effects.•The indicators of natural landscape evaluation before and after earthquake were determined.•Evaluate the ...visual impact of geological hazard points on people.•Slope gradient, slope aspect, relative distance, and vegetation coverage are important factors in landscape visual evaluation.
The Jiuzhaigou earthquake caused severe damage to its natural landscape. The seismic-induced changes in landscapes represent a complex and diverse process. In order to creatively assess the extent of earthquake-induced landscape destruction and study the focal points of landscape restoration, this study proposes a comprehensive framework system that integrates multiple indicators and methods to evaluate the impact of earthquakes on the Jiuzhaigou scenic area. In comparison to previous single-method studies, our framework system offers a more holistic explanation and predictive capacity regarding the trends and characteristics of post-earthquake landscape changes. Within this approach, we amalgamate Grey Statistical Technique (GST), Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP), Delphi Technique, and Geographic Information System (GIS). By selecting 24 landscape evaluation indicators, we establish five levels of landscape assessment, ranging from broad to fine-grained. Areas with higher visibility sensitivity are categorized as high visual sensitivity regions, indicating the need for focused restoration efforts. Based on the degree of landscape visual sensitivity, we introduce four visual sensitivity evaluation factors: slope gradient, slope aspect, relative distance, and vegetation coverage. The result demonstrates that the overall landscape grade of Jiuzhaigou decreased by 15% after the earthquake; the aesthetic indicator of the landscape within geological hazard experienced the greatest decline, decreasing by 73.3%, while the landscape's resilience indicator showed relatively minor changes. Notably, regions with high visual sensitivity exhibit a distinctive “Y”-shaped distribution pattern, with 56.8% of environmental hazard points possessing the highest visual sensitivity. The study also underscores the concentrated presence of geological hazard points and high visual sensitivity between the Nuorilang Waterfall and the scenic area entrance, necessitating prioritized restoration efforts in this zone. This research innovatively provides a method for assessing the damage caused by earthquakes to natural landscapes, and it holds significant guiding implications for relevant national decision-making bodies in policy formulation and implementation.
Modeling the perception and evaluation of landscapes from the human perspective is a desirable goal for several scientific domains and applications. Human vision is the dominant sense, and human eyes ...are the sensors for apperceiving the environmental stimuli of our surroundings. Therefore, exploring the experimental recording and measurement of the visual landscape can reveal crucial aspects about human visual perception responses while viewing the natural or man-made landscapes. Landscape evaluation (or assessment) is another dimension that refers mainly to preferences of the visual landscape, involving human cognition as well, in ways that are often unpredictable. Yet, landscape can be approached by both egocentric (i.e., human view) and exocentric (i.e., bird’s eye view) perspectives. The overarching approach of this review article lies in systematically presenting the different ways for modeling and quantifying the two ‘modalities’ of human perception and evaluation, under the two geometric perspectives, suggesting integrative approaches on these two ‘diverging’ dualities. To this end, several pertinent traditions/approaches, sensor-based experimental methods and techniques (e.g., eye tracking, fMRI, and EEG), and metrics are adduced and described. Essentially, this review article acts as a ‘guide-map’ for the delineation of the different activities related to landscape experience and/or management and to the valid or potentially suitable types of stimuli, sensors techniques, and metrics for each activity. Throughout our work, two main research directions are identified: (1) one that attempts to transfer the visual landscape experience/management from the one perspective to the other (and vice versa); (2) another one that aims to anticipate the visual perception of different landscapes and establish connections between perceptual processes and landscape preferences. As it appears, the research in the field is rapidly growing. In our opinion, it can be greatly advanced and enriched using integrative, interdisciplinary approaches in order to better understand the concepts and the mechanisms by which the visual landscape, as a complex set of stimuli, influences visual perception, potentially leading to more elaborate outcomes such as the anticipation of landscape preferences. As an effect, such approaches can support a rigorous, evidence-based, and socially just framework towards landscape management, protection, and decision making, based on a wide spectrum of well-suited and advanced sensor-based technologies.
Questions: Multiple potential natural vegetation (MPNV) is a framework for the probabilistic and multilayer representation of potential vegetation in an area. How can an MPNV model be implemented and ...synthesized for the full range of vegetation types across a large spatial domain such as a country? What additional ecological and practical information can be gained compared to traditional potential natural vegetation (PNV) estimates? Location: Hungary. Methods: MPNV was estimated by modelling the occurrence probabilities of individual vegetation types using gradient boosting models (GBM). Vegetation data from the Hungarian Actual Habitat Database (MÉTA) and information on the abiotic background (climatic data, soil characteristics, hydrology) were used as inputs to the models. To facilitate MPNV interpretation a new technique for model synthesis (re-scaling) enabling comprehensive visual presentation (synthetic maps) was developed which allows for a comparative view of the potential distribution of individual vegetation types. Results: The main result of MPNV modelling is a series of raw and re-scaled probability maps of individual vegetation types for Hungary. Raw probabilities best suit within-type analyses, while re-scaled estimations can also be compared across vegetation types. The latter create a synthetic overview of a location's PNV as a ranked list of vegetation types, and make the comparison of actual and potential landscape composition possible. For example, a representation of forest vs grasslands in MPNV revealed a high level of overlap of the potential range of the two formations in Hungary. Conclusion: The MPNV approach allows viewing the potential vegetation composition of locations in far more detail than the PNV approach. Re-scaling the probabilities estimated by the models allows easy access to the results by making potential presence of vegetation types with different data structure comparable for queries and synthetic maps. The wide range of applications identified for MPNV (conservation and restoration prioritization, landscape evaluation) suggests that the PNV concept with the extension towards vegetation distributions is useful both for research and application.
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