Variation in landscape perception and preference: experiences from case studies in rural and urban landscapes observed by different groups of respondents

Landscape is like air: it is everywhere, yet we are not always conscious of it. Landscape is an abstract concept. During the last decades, landscape research and policy have undergone considerable changes in focus and content and methodology, and so have the meanings appended to landscape. (Inter-)national policy tends to emphasize the importance of landscape perception by the public. Furthermore, landscape is not confined to the sublime landscape. In the definition of landscape in the European Landscape Convention (Florence, 2000), a range of landscapes is involved, also including the everyday surroundings where people dwell, work, live. Hence, landscape is a very relative concept with shifting meanings according to the perspectives of looking at it. In this dissertation, an extended body of empirical material for landscape experience assessment is brought together. This entails diversified respondents’ samples, including target groups that are less easy to reach, and a selection of landscapes, focusing on the everyday surroundings of people. This empirical evidence provides essential material to meet several research goals, related to factors that cause variation in landscape experience research. Analyses are reported on in five peer-reviewed papers, which are compiled in PART 8 of this dissertation. An introduction to the case studies as regards concepts, theory, policy, and methodology is added in the first parts of the dissertation (PARTS 1-5). Findings are discussed in the light of international research results in PART 6. Some concluding chapters are incorporated in PART 7.