Download Free Measuring Landscape Esthetics Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online Measuring Landscape Esthetics and write the review.

We all love to view beautiful landscapes! Global tourism relies on them. But did you know that such landscapes are also essential for our health and restoration from stress? Moreover, that the value of views is factored into the price of house blocks - a lovely view can add thousands to the value of a block of land. And did you know that scientists researching landscapes believe that we like beautiful landscapes because they benefit us by aiding our survival as a species? For millennia, people have loved beauty, whether in landscapes, in flowers and trees, or in human-made objects such as paintings and sculpture. For much of human history, beauty was believed to be a physical attribute of the object being viewed - beauty was as physical as rocks, water and trees. It was as late as the 18th century before philosophers and later psychologists came to understand that what we regard as beauty lies behind our eyes, in our mind's interpretation of what our eyes see - beauty exists merely in the mind that comprehends it - according to the Scottish philosopher, David Hume. Planners, geographers and environmentalists have tried for decades to measure beauty in the landscape, often by documenting its land forms, trees and vegetation, land uses and other attributes in the hope that its beauty would emerge from the analysis. It never did. The reason is that they were measuring the wrong thing. Instead of measuring what lay before their eyes, they needed to measure what lay behind their eyes, their perception of the landscape. They needed to measure people's preferences, their likes and dislikes, deriving understanding of what people regard as beautiful. The author of this book, Dr Andrew Lothian, has developed a method for doing this and has applied it in many studies over 20 years, both In Australia and in England. His Community Preferences Method is simple and robust. It provides an accurate measure of the community's landscape preferences and of the likely visual impact of proposed developments. This profusely illustrated book traces human interest in scenic beauty and places its measurement on a scientific footing. The book, comprising nearly 500 pages, draws from over 1300 landscape research papers and contains over 800 photographs, figures, graphs, maps and tables spread over its 23 chapters. The Science of Scenery provides a rigorous examination of how we view scenic beauty, what it is, why we like it, and how it may be measured and mapped. The book is unique as no other book traces the development of the Western view of landscape beauty in all its dimensions, comprehensively bringing together the findings of relevant research, and detailing how it may be measured and mapped. With its wealth of historical and cultural information the book will appeal to the well-read layperson as well as providing a valuable resource to landscape managers, planners, psychologists, geographers, environmentalists and landscape designers. The Science of Scenery is available only through Amazon.com as a print-on-demand publication.
A practical, single-source guide to successful strategies for landscape architecture research As the scope of landscape architecture expands to engage with other disciplines, and streams of information directing this field continue to grow and diversify, it becomes increasingly important for landscape architects to be able to implement a range of effective research strategies when seeking, creating, and validating knowledge. Landscape Architecture Research offers a framework for advancing better design thinking solutions by supplying readers with a system of inquiry tactics that open up a wider range of research possibilities. With a logical and innovative approach that favors legitimacy of knowledge based on collective, grounded practices, rather than strict adherence to protocols drawn only from scientific models, this comprehensive, illustrated guide produces a sound argument for establishing a new paradigm for legitimizing research quality. Landscape Architecture Research presents: Case studies that show how the range of presented research strategies have been successfully used in practice New perspective on the relationship between theory, research, practice, and critique, a relationship that is specific to landscape architecture Detailed coverage of the ways that new knowledge is produced through research activities and practical innovations in landscape architecture The first and only book on this topic of growing importance in landscape architecture, Landscape Architecture Research keeps professionals and students in step with the latest developments in landscape architecture, and delivers a dynamic and flexible game plan for verifying the integrity of their work.
"This conference brought together scientists and managers from federal, state, and local agencies, along with private-sector interests, to examine key concepts involving sustainable ecological systems, and ways in which to apply these concepts to ecosystem management. Session topics were: ecological consequences of land and water use changes, biology of rare and declining species and habitats, conservation biology and restoration ecology, developing and applying ecological theory to management of ecological systems and forest health, and sustainable ecosystems to respond to human needs. A plenary session established the philosophical and historical contexts for ecosystem management."--Title page verso.
The theme of the present volume concerns people' s response to the natural environment, considered at scales varying from that of a house hold plant to that of vast wilderness areas. Our decision to focus on this particular segment of the physical environment was prompted in part by the intrinsic interest in this subject on the part of a diverse group of sodal scientists and professionals-and of laypersons, for that matter and in part by the relative neglect of this topic in standard treatments of the environment-behavior field. It also serves to bring out once again the interdisdplinary nature of that field, and we are pleased to have been able to inc1ude representatives from geography, sodology, soda! ecology, and natural recreation among our contributors. We believe that this volume will serve a useful purpose in helping to integrate the find ings and concepts in this presently somewhat fragmented field, scat tered as they are over a very diverse array of publications representing a similarly varied group of spedalties. It is hoped that the result will be to stimulate future development of this area and to add a measure of in creased coherence to it. Volume 7 of our series will be devoted to the theme of elderly people and the environment, with M. Powell Lawton joining us as guest co-editor. The titles of the papers comprising Volume 7 are shown on page v. Irwin Altman J oachim F. Wohlwill ix Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Recent advances in information and communication technologies have enhanced the standards of metropolitan planning and development. These innovations have led to new opportunities in this evolving profession. Emerging Issues, Challenges, and Opportunities in Urban E-Planning brings together the efficiency of web-based tools and digital technologies with the practice of spatial planning. Focusing on the utilization of geographic information systems, computer-assisted design, visualization concepts, and database management systems, this book is a pivotal reference source for planners, policymakers, researchers, and graduate students interested in how recent technological advancements are enhancing the traditional practices in urban planning.