OPEN ACCESS
It is increasingly recognized that growing demands for diverse, multifunctional and quality recreation landscapes have placed a high pressure on the natural resources and its management. This fact coupled with the current common way of perceiving landscape as something separate from us, with several functions for society and individuals – in spite of something that changes automatically according to cultural, economic and social changes, enhances the necessity for developing new approaches and methodologies that effectively apply sustainable principles to landscape monitoring, planning and management. For this reason, adequate information about the existing landscape and about the nature of places that it is desirable to make cannot be the result of superficial approaches based exclusively on designers and planners’ ideas. Even if planning and monitoring programs frequently use remote sensing data and focus only on changes in land cover and land use in relation to values such as biodiversity, land capability and recreation, they often neglect landscape aesthetics, cultural heritage and public will. To show that it is possible to combine all these factors in a specific approach, this paper presents a specific study of the estuarine landscape of the Arade River in Algarve, Portugal, based on a methodology that incorporates SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis and aesthetic, cultural, biophysical and social factors in landscape assessment.
landscape aesthetics, landscape quality assessment, SWOT analysis
[1] Al-Kodmany, K., Using web-based technologies and geographic information systems in community planning. J. Urban Technol., 7, pp. 1–30, 2002.
[2] Bishop, I. & Hulse, D., Prediction of scenic beauty using mapped data and geographic information systems. Landscape and Urban Planning, 30, pp. 59–70, 1994.
[3] Buckley, D., Ulbricht, C. & Berry, J., The virtual forest: advanced 3-D visualization techniques for forest management and research. ESRI 1998 User Conference, San Diego, California, 1998.
[4] Crawford, D., Using remotely sensed data in landscape visual quality assessment. Landscape and Urban Planning, 30, pp. 71–81, 1994.
[5] Daniel, T., Aesthetic preference and ecological sustainability. Forests and Landscapes: Linking Ecology, Sustainability and Aesthetics, eds S.R.J. Sheppard & H.W. Harshaw, CABI Publishing: Oxford, pp. 15–30, 2001.
[6] Malczewski, J., GIS-based land-use suitability analysis: a critical overview. Prog. Plan., 62, pp. 3–65, 2004.
[7] Orland, B., Visualisation techniques for incorporation in forest planning geographic information systems. Landscape and Urban Planning, 30, pp. 83–97, 1994.
[8] Panagopoulos, T., The role of geographic information systems in visual landscape management and visual impact assessment. Proc. Int. Conf. Forest Research: A Challenge for an Integrated European Approach, ed. K. Radoglou, 27 September, Thessaloniki, Greece, pp. 79–82, 2001.
[9] Panagopoulos, T. & Hatzistathis, A., Early growth of Pinus nigra and Robinia pseudacacia stands: contributions to soil genesis and landscape improvements on lignite spoils in Ptolemaida. Landscape and Urban Planning, 32, pp. 19–29, 1995.
[10] Parsons, R., Tassinary, L., Ulrich, R., Hebl, M. & Grossman-Alexander, M., The view from the road: implications for stress recovery and immunization. J. Environ. Psychol., 18, pp. 113–140, 1998.
[11] Lothian, A., Landscape and the philosophy of aesthetics: is landscape quality inherent in the landscape or in the eye of the beholder? Landscape and Urban Planning, 44, pp. 177–198, 1999.
[12] Galofaro, L., Artscapes – Art as an Approach to Contemporary Landscape, Editorial Gustavo Gili: Barcelona, 2003.
[13] Langhorst, J., Rising from ruins: post-industrial sites between abandonment and engagement. Edinburgh, Scotland, 2004.
[14] Garcia, L., Hernandez, J. & Ayuga, F., Analysis of the materials and exterior texture of agroindustrial buildings: a photo-analytical approach to landscape integration. Landscape and Urban Planning, 74, pp. 110–124, 2006.
[15] Burley, J., Prospect. Landscape Architecture, 79(5), pp. 120–129, 1989.
[16] Loures, L., Horta, D., Santos, A. & Panagopoulos, T., Strategies to reclaim derelict industrial areas. WSEAS Transactions on Environment and Development, 2(5), pp. 599–604, 2006.
[17] Corner, J., Ecology and landscapes as agents of creativity. Ecological Design and Planning, eds G.F. Thompson & F.R. Steiner, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.: New York, pp. 82–83, 1996.
[18] Loures, L. & Panagopoulos, T., Sustainable reclamation of industrial areas in urban landscapes. Sustainable Development and Planning III, eds A. Kungolas, C.A. Brebbia, & E. Beriatos, WIT Press: Southampton, 2007.
[19] Santos, A., Horta, D., Loures, L. & Panagopoulos, T., Biophysical, cultural and aesthetics contributions in landscape reclamation. WSEAS Transactions on Environment and Development, 2(6), pp. 904–908, 2006.
[20] Abreu, A., Caracterização do Sistema Biofísico com Vista ao Ordenamento do Território, PhD Thesis, University of Évora, Évora, Portugal, 1989.
[21] Daniel, T., Whither scenic beauty. Visual landscape quality assessment in the 21st century. Landscape and Urban Planning, 54, pp. 267–281, 2001.
[22] Canter, L., Environmental Impact Assessment, McGraw-Hill International Editions: Singapore, 1996.
[23] Panagopoulos, T. & Vargues, P., Visual impact assessment of a golf course in a Mediterranean forest landscape. Patterns and Processes in Forest Landscapes, September 26–29, Bari, Italy, pp. 279–285, 2006.
[24] Martins, J., Estudo histórico-monográfi co da freguesia de Ferragudo do concelho de Lagoa, Algarve em Foco Editora: Faro, 1990.
[25] Loures, L., & Panagopoulos, T., Recovering derelict industrial landscapes in Portugal: past interventions and future perspectives. Proceedings of the Int. Conf. on Energy, Envir., Ecosystems and Sustainable Development, July 24–26, Agios Nikolaos, Crete Island, Greece, pp. 116–121, 2007.
[26] Colardelle, M., Les acteurs de la constituition du patrimoine: travailleurs, amateurs, professionnels. Actes des entretiens du patrimoine [Patrimoine et passions identitaires], Fayard: Paris, pp. 123–135, 1998.
[27] Davallon, J., Micoud, A. & Tardy, C., Vers une évolution de la notion de patrimoine? L’esprit des lieux – le patrimoine et la cité, eds Daniel J. Grange & Dominique Poulot, Presses Universitaires de Grenoble: France, 1997.
[28] Ashworth, G.J., From history to heritage – from heritage to identity. In search of concepts and models. Building a New Heritage. Tourism, Culture and Identity in the New Europe, eds Greg Ashworth & P. Larkham, Routledge: London and New York, pp. 13–30, 1994.
[29] Fortuna, C., Destradicionalização e imagem da cidade – o caso de Évora. Cidade, Cultura e Globalização, ed. C. Fortuna, Celta: Oeiras, pp. 231–257, 1997.
[30] Peixoto, P., Imagens e Usos do Património Urbano no Contexto da lobalização, Tese de mestrado em sociologia, Faculdade de Economia da Universidade de Coimbra, 1997.
[31] US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, The visual management system (Chapter 1). National Forest Landscape Management, Vol. 2, USDA Handbook 462, USDA: Washington, DC, 1974.
[32] Hatzistathis, A. & Ispikoudis, I., Nature Protection and Landscape Architecture, Giahudi-Giapuli: Thessaloniki, 1992 (in Greek).
[33] Lyle, J.T., Design for Human Ecosystem, Van Nostrand Reinhold Comp., Ltd.: New York, 1985.