A public preference evaluation of landscape quality

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Abstract
Penning-Rowsell E. C. (1982) A public preference evaluation of landscape quality. Reg. Studies 16, 97–112. Results are presented from a survey of attitudes to landscape quality for 540 residents of Dacorum District, Hertfordshire, England. A single semantic differential rating scale is shown to capture the public's apparently firm and rational attitudes to landscape quality. Consensus was high and both ranked evaluations and proferred reasons for evaluations support the rating scale results. The public landscape evaluations are unrelated to respondents' social class and sex but correlated with perceived landscape characteristics and respondents' age and familiarity with local landscapes. Methodological problems include the techniques for averaging results from individuals' responses and the definition and use of landscape character tracts. Comparison with conventional landscape evaluation techniques illuminates their methodological deficiencies and highlights the difficulties of gauging public preferences. Nevertheless surveying public landscape attitudes appears a successful approach to landscape evaluation and provides a mass of detailed information on the potential for improved landscape protection, enhancement and management.