Mapping Landscape Values and Conflicts through the Optics of Different User Groups

The paper presents the results of the study on participative mapping of landscape values and conflicts and a subsequent interpretation of the indicated localities from respondents’ point of view. The study focused on younger groups of landscape users—lower-secondary-school students (aged 11–15) and university students (aged 20–25)—in comparison with experts’ points of view. The research presumed that the perception of landscape values and issues are determined by age, level of education and by experience in the field. The study was conducted in the southeastern area of the Czech Republic (49° N, 16° E) via online data collection. Based on the obtained records, we conclude that, in terms of the typology of the valuable and problematic locations, the individual groups of respondents did not differ significantly and the selection of location types was similar across all groups. Lower-secondary-school students rather identified cultural values associated with everyday activities, and the descriptions contained emotional overtones. University students preferred natural values associated with formal values based on general consensus or conflicts associated with society-wide impacts. The experts base served as the benchmark for other groups.

Assessment of Visual Values as a Tool Supporting the Design Decisions of the Cultural Park Protection Plan. The Case of Kazimierz and Stradom in Kraków

Krakow is a city of high landscape values, which has found confirmation in the entry onto the UNESCO heritage list. Its cultural landscape requires protection and clarification within the context of intensive tourist use and a rapid pace of urban spatial development. For preservation protection and restoration of landscape values, the city authorities undertook work on the creation of a Cultural Park in the Stradom and Kazimierz districts, providing a comprehensive, sustainable, and multidisciplinary approach to natural, cultural and visual values of the urban structure. The article presents the application of the method of research on visual values in order to protect individual scenic resources of the historical urban structure. It is one of the analytical studies of a comprehensive protection plan project. This project defines the scope, framework and methods of development and management of a Cultural Park. The task of the visual analysis was to identify, characterize and evaluate the visual resources. It created a visual framework for further development of the historical district while preserving its local spatial identity. The studies resulted in a division into zones according to their nature and intensity of activities as well as outlining protection zones and intervention zones adjusted to individual characteristics of those places. An original method combining achievements of the method of landscape and visual assessment (LVIA) as well as achievements of the Krakow School of Landscape Architecture (KSLA) in terms of cultural landscape assessment was used for the research. The applied method provided guidelines to support sustainable project decisions regarding further development of the district for the preservation of local spatial identity. Its universal character creates possibilities for its application into the plans of other Krakow districts and is intended to be applicable to both urban and rural structures.

Landscape Values as a Driving Force to Increase Nature Conservation. Environmental and Planning Policies as a Possible Integration

Landscape values are addressed by planning tools in several diversified ways. Many European countries have joined the European Landscape Convention which just turned 20 last year. This work aims at investigating its implementations and relationships with general and local planning tools, focusing on two main objectives: the first one concerns the analysis of principles regulating regional strategies, deriving from European dictates and State norms. It has been focused in the Sicily region in Italy, the largest island in the Mediterranean basin. The second objective concerns the in-depth analysis of territories of a fragile nature in which the two terms that characterize the landscape, culture and nature, merge together. This paper consists in gathering information deriving from the various planning levels, proposing a comparison methodology which takes into account physical–environmental and landscape–visual features in some sample cases within protected areas, but in a highly urbanized context. A system and database were created and implemented within the geographic information system, drawing up a comparison between environmental requirements and development strategies.

Prospects Of Tourism Development In Uzbekistan

The article is devoted to the study of cultural landscapes as a heritage phenomenon. The forms of protection of landscape values established by the legislation are considered, the main attention is paid to the zones of protection of cultural heritage objects.

The Impacts in Real Estate of Landscape Values: Evidence from Tuscany (Italy)

Using spatial econometric techniques and local spatial statistics, this study explores the relationships between the real estate values in Tuscany with the individual perception of satisfaction by landscape types. The analysis includes the usual territorial variables such as proximity to urban centres and roads. The landscape values are measured through a sample of respondents who expressed their aesthetic-visual perceptions of different types of land use. Results from a multivariate local Geary highlight that house prices are not spatial independent and that between the variables included in the analysis there is mainly a positive correlation. Specifically, the findings demonstrate a significant spatial dependence in real estate prices. The aesthetic values influence the real estate price throughout more a spatial indirect effect rather than the direct effect. Practically, house prices in specific areas are more influenced by aspects such as proximity to essential services. The results seem to show to live close to highly aesthetic environments not in these environments. The results relating to the distance from the main roads, however, seem counterintuitive. This result probably depends on the evidence that these areas suffer from greater traffic jam or pollution or they are preferred for alternative uses such as for locating industrial plants or big shopping centres rather than residential use. Therefore, these effects decrease house prices.