Karen Foley
Head of Landscape Architecture,
UCD
Landscape Perception
Karen Foley
Irish Landscape Institute/University College Dublin
Landscape perception
• Landscape – inherent dualities
– Role of landscape profession in LCA and where that fits in within
the overall process
• Landscape aesthetics
• LCA Methodology and landscape aesthetics
– Scoping
– Desk study
– Field work
– Description and classification
– Identification of vulnerabilities
• Landscape preference memories and associations
– Biological and socially determined preference
• The importance of stakeholders engagement
Landscape
Different meanings embedded in the term landscape
• This dichotomy of “material” and “mental” aspects of landscape
illustrate the duality inherent in the concept of landscape.
• Landscape as synthesis of habitat and history (Aalen 1997)
• Landscape as Cultural Heritage (see Faro Convention)
Landscape
Landscape at the Interface
• Landscape studies are at
the interface between the
humanities and the natural
sciences
• Challenge in the
combination of these and
other knowledge cultures
Palang, H., and Fry, G, 2003, Landscape interfaces
Landscape
Landscape at the heart of LCA
/>Landscape icon from the countryside agency
Landscape
Landscape and the aesthetic
• word „aesthesis‟
– a sensation and a perception
– Contemporary meaning: perception by means of the
senses.
– Implicit in the use of the term aesthetic experience is the
shift from physical to mental, that the aesthetic experience
begins with physical stimulation of the senses, e.g. the
physiological mechanisms of sight, and ends in moods,
emotions and meanings.
– (Collinson 1992).
Landscape aesthetics
LCA – the methodology
Aesthetic
experience begins
with physical
stimulation of the
senses
In terms of
landscape this is
primarily sight
Landscape aesthetics
The visual
• Developing the language to describe our surrounding
• Experience
– Key source books
– Simon Bell‟s „Elements of Visual Design in the Landscape‟
Table shows the
structural/systematic way
to analyse a landscape
Landscape aesthetics
The methodology – LCA
• Mapping and the use of
documentary analysis
followed by field work
Stages:
Scoping
Desk study
Field Survey
Description and
classification
www.landscapecharacter.org.uk/
Landscape and LCA
The desk study
• Working alongside the other professionals
– Gathering the maps
• Geology/geomorphology/ecology
– Historic data
– Use of photographs
Landscape and LCA
Tools to use – aerial photographs
Landscape and LCA
Photographs; aerial and oblique
Drumlin images courtesy of Mitchell and Associates
Landscape and LCA
Field Survey: ground truthing and addition of new material
Landscape and LCA
Use of Field Survey
forms
From desk survey use
of maps to locate key
surveying points
Landscape and LCA
Key components of a field survey form
• a written description of the character observed at particular points;
• an annotated sketch;
• a checklist of landscape elements and their significance;
• a checklist of aesthetic and perceptual factors;
Landscape and LCA
Field survey forms
a written description of
the character observed
at particular points or in
certain
areas;
Landscape and LCA
Use of an annotated sketch,
(or photograph)
(Use of short
videos)
Landscape and LCA
Analysis inherent in sketching
Landscape and LCA
a checklist of visual
elements and their
significance;
Landscape and LCA
Landscape and LCA
Field survey forms and gathering information on the perceptual
a checklist of
aesthetic and
perceptual factors;
Landscape and LCA
Image courtesy of BSM/Fingal CC
Landscape and LCA
Classification
and
description
(generic) landscape character types and (unique)
landscape character areas
Landscape and LCA
Landscape Character Types (LCTs) – landscapes of the same
type will have broadly similar patterns of geology, landform, soils,
vegetation, land use, settlement and field pattern, e.g. Drumlins/
Lakes.
Landscape Character Areas (LCAs) - are the unique individual
geographical areas in which landscape types occur. They share
characteristics with other areas of the same type but have their
own particular identity, e.g. The Burren.
Co Clare: landscape character types (generic)
Landscape and LCA