IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecoser/v26y2017ipbp451-464.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Quantifying visual landscape quality in rural Wales: A GIS-enabled method for extensive monitoring of a valued cultural ecosystem service

Author

Listed:
  • Swetnam, R.D.
  • Harrison-Curran, S.K.
  • Smith, G.R.

Abstract

Landscape views and the enjoyment people derive from them, represent an important cultural ecosystem service (CES) as recognised in frameworks such as the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) and TEEB (2010). We present a method to evaluate the quality of the landscape view, created for the assessment and monitoring of Welsh rural landscapes. This consists of: (i) a Visual Quality Index (VQI) and (ii) a viewshed model to calculate a Zone of Visual Influence (ZVI). From existing literature, we selected 19 landscape components commonly found to influence landscape quality ratings. Using vegetation surveys and GIS datasets each component was measured and assigned a numeric value based either on presence or quantity and/or extent for 150, 1km2 survey sites across Wales. Totalling these values, then scaling and weighting them provided an index for each site between 0 and 1 (VQI). Each site was then evaluated for a range of potential users (pedestrians, cyclists, car-users) to calculate a modelled viewshed (ZVI). By combining the VQI and the ZVI, we capture two elements: firstly the intrinsic landscape quality (its aesthetics) and secondly, how much of the landscape can be seen by the public in order to enjoy the view.

Suggested Citation

  • Swetnam, R.D. & Harrison-Curran, S.K. & Smith, G.R., 2017. "Quantifying visual landscape quality in rural Wales: A GIS-enabled method for extensive monitoring of a valued cultural ecosystem service," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 26(PB), pages 451-464.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoser:v:26:y:2017:i:pb:p:451-464
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2016.11.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212041616304533
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecoser.2016.11.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fletcher, Ruth & Baulcomb, Corinne & Hall, Clare & Hussain, Salman, 2014. "Revealing marine cultural ecosystem services in the Black Sea," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(PA), pages 151-161.
    2. Marcus John Collier, 2013. "Field Boundary Stone Walls as Exemplars of 'Novel' Ecosystems," Landscape Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(1), pages 141-150, February.
    3. Chiesura, Anna & de Groot, Rudolf, 2003. "Critical natural capital: a socio-cultural perspective," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(2-3), pages 219-231, March.
    4. Gómez-Baggethun, Erik & de Groot, Rudolf & Lomas, Pedro L. & Montes, Carlos, 2010. "The history of ecosystem services in economic theory and practice: From early notions to markets and payment schemes," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(6), pages 1209-1218, April.
    5. Tengberg, Anna & Fredholm, Susanne & Eliasson, Ingegard & Knez, Igor & Saltzman, Katarina & Wetterberg, Ola, 2012. "Cultural ecosystem services provided by landscapes: Assessment of heritage values and identity," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 2(C), pages 14-26.
    6. Orly Rechtman, 2013. "Visual Perception of Agricultural Cultivated Landscapes: Key Components as Predictors for Landscape Preferences," Landscape Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(3), pages 273-294, June.
    7. Laurence S. Moss, 2003. "Editor's Introduction," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(2), pages 315-318, April.
    8. Editors, 2003. "Editor's Introduction," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 645-648, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Crouzat, Emilie & De Frutos, Angel & Grescho, Volker & Carver, Steve & Büermann, Andrea & Carvalho-Santos, Claudia & Kraemer, Roland & Mayor, Sarah & Pöpperl, Franziska & Rossi, Christian & Schröte, 2022. "Potential supply and actual use of cultural ecosystem services in mountain protected areas and their surroundings," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    2. Marina García-Llorente & Antonio J. Castro & Cristina Quintas-Soriano & Elisa Oteros-Rozas & Irene Iniesta-Arandia & José A. González & David García del Amo & Marta Hernández-Arroyo & Izaskun Casado-A, 2020. "Local Perceptions of Ecosystem Services Across Multiple Ecosystem Types in Spain," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-20, September.
    3. Shulong Dong & Jiangming Ma & Yanhua Mo & Hao Yang, 2022. "GIS-Based Watershed Unit Forest Landscape Visual Quality Assessment in Yangshuo Section of Lijiang River Basin, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-28, November.
    4. Bin Wen & Jon Bryan Burley, 2020. "Expert Opinion Dimensions of Rural Landscape Quality in Xiangxi, Hunan, China: Principal Component Analysis and Factor Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-18, February.
    5. Xiaodong Xu & Jingping Liu & Ning Xu & Wei Wang & Hui Yang, 2018. "Quantitative Study on the Evolution Trend and Driving Factors of Typical Rural Spatial Morphology in Southern Jiangsu Province, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-20, July.
    6. Vieira, Felipe A.S. & Bragagnolo, Chiara & Correia, Ricardo A. & Malhado, Ana C.M. & Ladle, Richard J., 2018. "A salience index for integrating multiple user perspectives in cultural ecosystem service assessments," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 32(PB), pages 182-192.
    7. Federico Benjamín Galacho-Jiménez & Pablo Quesada-Molina & David Carruana-Herrera & Sergio Reyes-Corredera, 2022. "Application of the Analysis Time Series and Multispectral Images for the Estimation of the Conditions of the Vegetation Covers of the Natural Areas of Southern Spain," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-33, December.
    8. Karasov, Oleksandr & Heremans, Stien & Külvik, Mart & Domnich, Artem & Burdun, Iuliia & Kull, Ain & Helm, Aveliina & Uuemaa, Evelyn, 2022. "Beyond land cover: How integrated remote sensing and social media data analysis facilitates assessment of cultural ecosystem services," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Swetnam, Ruth D. & Tweed, Fiona S., 2018. "A tale of two landscapes: Transferring landscape quality metrics from Wales to Iceland," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 565-576.
    2. Teman, Elly, 2008. "The social construction of surrogacy research: An anthropological critique of the psychosocial scholarship on surrogate motherhood," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(7), pages 1104-1112, October.
    3. Espinosa, Cristina, 2013. "The riddle of leaving the oil in the soil—Ecuador's Yasuní-ITT project from a discourse perspective," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 27-36.
    4. Fernández-García, Purificación & López-Bellido, Luis & Muñoz-Romero, Verónica & López-Bellido, Rafael J., 2013. "Chickpea water use efficiency as affected by tillage in rainfed Mediterranean conditions," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 194-199.
    5. Williams, Christopher & van Triest, Sander, 2009. "The impact of corporate and national cultures on decentralization in multinational corporations," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 156-167, April.
    6. Nicholas Kyriazis & Emmanouil Economou, 2015. "Macroculture, sports and democracy in classical Greece," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 431-455, December.
    7. Dalton, Christina Marsh & Warren, Patrick L., 2016. "Cost versus control: Understanding ownership through outsourcing in hospitals," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 1-15.
    8. Immaculée Mukashema & Etienne Mullet, 2013. "Unconditional Forgiveness, Reconciliation Sentiment, and Mental Health Among Victims of Genocide in Rwanda," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 113(1), pages 121-132, August.
    9. Annim, Samuel Kobina & Mariwah, Simon & Sebu, Joshua, 2012. "Spatial inequality and household poverty in Ghana," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 487-505.
    10. Hezri, Adnan A. & Dovers, Stephen R., 2006. "Sustainability indicators, policy and governance: Issues for ecological economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 86-99, November.
    11. G. Lumpkin & Todd Moss & David Gras & Shoko Kato & Alejandro Amezcua, 2013. "Entrepreneurial processes in social contexts: how are they different, if at all?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 761-783, April.
    12. Jamasb, Tooraj & Pollitt, Michael, 2008. "Liberalisation and R&D in network industries: The case of the electricity industry," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(6-7), pages 995-1008, July.
    13. Erikson, Robert, 2006. "Social class assignment and mortality in Sweden," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(9), pages 2151-2160, May.
    14. Hoehn, John P., 2006. "Methods to address selection effects in the meta regression and transfer of ecosystem values," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 389-398, December.
    15. Saorín-Iborra, M. Carmen, 2008. "Time pressure in acquisition negotiations: Its determinants and effects on parties' negotiation behaviour choice," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 285-309, June.
    16. West, Martin R. & Woessmann, Ludger, 2006. "Which school systems sort weaker students into smaller classes? International evidence," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 944-968, December.
    17. Ferlander, Sara & Mäkinen, Ilkka Henrik, 2009. "Social capital, gender and self-rated health. Evidence from the Moscow Health Survey 2004," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(9), pages 1323-1332, November.
    18. Rulleau, Bénédicte & Dehez, Jeoffrey & Point, Patrick, 2012. "Recreational value, user heterogeneity and site characteristics in contingent valuation," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 195-204.
    19. Stickley, Andrew & Koyanagi, Ai & Roberts, Bayard & Rotman, David & McKee, Martin, 2013. "Criminal victimisation and health: Examining the relation in nine countries of the former Soviet Union," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 76-83.
    20. von Wartburg, Iwan & Teichert, Thorsten & Rost, Katja, 2005. "Inventive progress measured by multi-stage patent citation analysis," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(10), pages 1591-1607, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecoser:v:26:y:2017:i:pb:p:451-464. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/ecosystem-services .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.