Analysis of Leopold's Quantitative Comparisons of Landscape Esthetics

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Abstract
Luna B. Leopold, in 1969, published a system for the ‘quantitative comparison of landscape esthetics’. This system includes several unique features, including the use of ‘uniqueness ratios’ and distinctive graphical procedures for deriving ‘river character’ and ‘valley character’. This analysis of the system was motivated by problems of comprehension and interpretation of the results experienced by students. An examination of Leopold's checklist of landscape factors reveals that the system for rating each factor is inconsistent. Inconsistency is justified as not introducing bias and personal preferences into the analysis. The use of ‘uniqueness ratios’ appears to have been required in order to accommodate the inconsistent scaling of factors to numerical analysis. The addition of uniqueness ratios produces difficulties of comprehension and interpretation. The graphical procedures use a small amount of information and complex graphical techniques to produce scales of ‘river character’ and ‘valley character’. Analysis of the system suggested that consistent rating of environmental factors, and the addition of factor scalings, might have produced comparable results more effectively.

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