Important places in landscape-investigating the determinants of perceived landscape value in the suburban area of Wroclaw, Poland

Landscape planning studies usually consider landscape values through expert assessments of landscape aesthetic quality. Combining such expert assessments with people's perceptions as derived from citizen-based approaches is advisable, but scientific knowledge gaps exist regarding explanatory variables of perceived landscape values. This study aims to investigate determinants of landscape value as perceived by citizens. The suburban area of Wroclaw, Poland serves as an illustrative case study. Our research design consists of a three-step approach: (i) eliciting citizens' landscape value types using a Public Participatory GIS survey, (ii) formally assessing indicators of landscape aesthetic quality, (iii) comparing physical environmental characteristics and accessibility for both types of areas with spatial-statistical methods. The survey results (n = 468) include 364 important landscape places attributed to environmental, cultural, aesthetic/scenic or personal reasons. Agricultural landscapes were appreciated highest due to associated perceived environmental and aesthetic values. The expert assessment of landscape aesthetic quality was implemented by GIS-based analyses of naturalness, diversity and uniqueness indicators. It's results showed that landscape aesthetic quality is distributed mainly across forested areas and river valleys. In general, elicited value types and landscape aesthetic quality indicators illustrated only weak relationships, with the exception of perceived environmental value and landscape naturalness. We conclude that citizens' perceived landscape values often do not correspond with places identified in expert assessments. Landscape planning and management should therefore consider amending its portfolio of evaluation approaches to better capture values relevant for people.

Automated summary

This study investigates the determinants of landscape value as perceived by citizens and compares it with expert assessments. The survey results show that citizens perceive agricultural landscapes as having the highest value due to their associated environmental and aesthetic qualities. However, there is only a weak relationship between the survey results and expert assessments.