A transparent and theory-based scheme for analysing visual character is presented. Based on a literature review, nine key visual concepts are identified: stewardship, coherence, disturbance, histor...

Key concepts in a framework for analysing visual landscape character

Cognition and Environment: Functioning in an Uncertain World.

The impact of blue space on human health and well-being - Salutogenetic health effects of inland surface waters: a review.

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.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/01426390701773854

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

In this chapter we consider how experiences of nature can affect human health and well-being. We first address the matter of ‘what has been’; that is, we sketch the development of theory and research concerned with health benefits of natural environments, from ancient times to the current situation. This shows the current research to be a recent expression of a number of long-running, intertwined, social and cultural processes. We then discuss ‘where we are now’; that is, we overview current theories and related research concerning processes through which nature experience might provide health benefits. These processes concern environmental preferences, psychological restoration, and learning and personal development. Finally, we consider ‘where we are going’; that is, we consider some additional directions for research and we identify some issues that research will have to address in the foreseeable future.

http://www.agnesvandenberg.nl/coste39.pdf

Health benefits of nature experience: Psychological, social and cultural processes

Fractal dimension of landscape silhouette outlines as a predictor of landscape preference

Fractals have experienced considerable success in quantifying the complex structure exhibited by many natural patterns and have captured the imagination of scientists and artists alike. With ever widening appeal, they have been referred to both as "fingerprints of nature" and "the new aesthetics." Our research has shown that the drip patterns of the American abstract painter Jackson Pollock are fractal. In this paper, we consider the implications of this discovery. We first present an overview of our research from the past five years to establish a context for our current investigations of human response to fractals. We discuss results showing that fractal images generated by mathematical, natural and human processes possess a shared aesthetic quality based on visual complexity. In particular, participants in visual perception tests display a preference for fractals with mid-range fractal dimensions. We also present recent preliminary work based on skin conductance measurements that indicate that these mid-range fractals also affect the observer's physiological condition and discuss future directions based on these results.

Perceptual and physiological responses to the visual complexity of fractal patterns.

Perceived naturalness has been identified as one of the most important predictors of landscape preference (see, for example, Kaplan & Kaplan, 1989). Yet the physical attributes identified are still fuzzy. Naturalness is commonly associated with how dominant vegetation is in a scene or the extent of human-induced change. However, recent research has shown that such conceptions of naturalness cannot account for all of the data (Purcell et al., 1994, Purcell & Lamb, 1998). The purpose of this paper is to discuss the possible use of fractal geometry as a tool for defining and measuring naturalness. Fractals are often viewed as a new geometry because they are fundamentally different from traditional so-called Euclidean geomtries, such as circle and squares, developed by mankind. Mathematical description of forms found in nature played an important role in the development of fractal geometry (Mandelbrot, 1983) and a large body of subsequent work has since shown that a wide range of natural phenomena are fractal (see, for example, Barnsley et al., 1988; Barnsley, 1993). The term fractal is used to describe fractured shapes, which have the characteristic of being self-similar. This means that the same pattern will appear again and again when a fractal object is viewed at increasingly fine magnifications. This special quality of scale invariance can be identified and quantified by a parameter called the fractal dimension, D. This paper reports preliminary data examining correlations between the fractal dimension, D, and rated naturalness of landscape scenes. Recent work by the author and colleagues has similarly shown a possible connection between landscape preference and the fractal dimension (Hagerhall et al., submitted manuscript). Studies have indicated that mid range D values may be the most preferred (Aks & Sprott, 1996; Taylor, 2001). Preliminary work by Taylor and colleagues has also shown that fractal scenes with mid range D values may have a particularly good damping effect on stress levels (Taylor et al, manuscript) The collective findings give rise to the hypothesis that the fractal dimension could provide part of the explanation to the well-documented connection between environmental preference and naturalness. However, empirical data on connections between fractal properties and perceptual and physiological responses are still scarce which means that any conclusions must be treated with considerable caution at this stage. From the point of landscape perception and landscape architecture and design the fractal dimension is particularly interesting since it is a perceived dimension and a parameter that can be used directly in design work. Furthermore, the fractal dimension could be applied also to built environments (Bovill, 1996; Taylor, 2001), which provides possibilities to expand the idea of naturalness and the positive effect of natural forms and natural qualities to mixed or completely built environments.

Caroline M.P. Hagerhall

Papers

Fractal dimension of landscape silhouette outlines as a predictor of landscape preference

Perceptual and physiological responses to the visual complexity of fractal patterns.

Fractal Dimension as a Tool for Defining and Measuring Naturalness

Fractal Patterns and Attention Restoration-Evaluations of Real and Artificial Landscape Silhouettes