Enhancing visual preference of ecological rehabilitation sites

By D. E. Hands, Robert D. Brown. 2002

181 citations recorded by the source corpus.

A study was undertaken to assess visual preference of ecological rehabilitation of decommissioned industrial lands. Computerized visual simulations were used to illustrate the effects of alternative design treatments at two stages of development: establishment and maturity. Employees who work at the industrial site were used as a subject group and were asked to complete a questionnaire, with a resulting response rate of 65% (n=60). Results indicated that the common perception that rehabilitation sites are ‘messy’ was also a concern in this industrial site. However, increasing the amount and diversity of color, as well as visible indicators of ‘human intent’ for the landscape, increased preference levels, as indicated by rank coefficient analysis and multi-dimensional scaling (MDS). There was no statistically significant difference between preference levels at establishment and at maturity of the landscape. Design implications arising from the results of this study included: (a) a significant increase in visual preference was achieved through the use of ‘vernacular cues to care’ such as the addition of cultural elements like bird boxes and large rocks; (b) clustering and banding of vegetation had no apparent effect on visual preference; (c) sparseness of vegetation was a major reason for negative preference, thus any technique that contributes to the rapid formation of ground cover should increase visual preference; and (d) the amount and diversity of color had a substantial effect on visual preference and should be maximized.

Subfields: Global and Planetary Change, Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/816ded5c1e1000978801937ec2e257890f0df7fa

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Global and Planetary Change

1. M. Tveit
2. G. Fry
3. Å. Ode
4. M. Buchecker

In Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

1. G. Fry
2. M. Tveit
3. Å. Ode
4. M. Buchecker

In Sociology and Political Science

1. G. Fry
2. M. Tveit
3. Å. Ode

Citations in the corpus

• Capturing Landscape Visual Character Using Indicators: Touching Base with Landscape Aesthetic Theory (2008, background): “Degree of contrast (Hands & Brown, 2002 ; Arriaza et al , 2004 )”
• Key concepts in a framework for analysing visual landscape character (2006, background): “Naturalness has been found to enhance landscape preference (see, for example, Hägerhäll et al., 2004; Hands & Brown, 2002).”
• Aesthetic preferences versus ecological objectives in river restorations (2008, background): “They are only weakly related, however, for higher levels of eco-morphological quality (Hands and Brown, 2002; Nassauer, 1993; Williams and Cary, 2002; Gobster and Westphal, 2004).”
• Representing climate change futures: a critique on the use of images for visual communication (2005, unknown): “…for landscape design and preferences (examples include Bell, 2001; Clay & Daniel, 2000; Daniel & Meitner, 2001; Gimblett, Daniel, Cherry, & Meitner, 2001; Hands & Brown, 2002; Kaltenborn & Bjerke, 2002; Lange, 1994; Misgav, 2000; Orland, 1994; Pullar & Tidey, 2001; Purcell, Peron, & Berto, 2001).”