Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 6.15
Spatial patterns of urban area extension (represented in light purple)
participative planning. In the BioScene project Soliva and Hunziker
(2009)
coupled
ideal type narratives with computer-aided photo-editing for participatory landscape
planning. In Australia, Bishop et al.
(2008)
propose agent-based modelling to
explore the decision-making process, in a virtual decision environment.
In SLE it is possible to visualize an additional GIS layer: for example, in the
urban pressure scenario, we computed 3D views with an abstract indicator repre-
senting probable urban expansion area (light purple colour in Fig. 6.
15
). Indeed, the
introduction of new large structures such as a city represents visual intrusions which
may reduce visual quality. This quality decrease is related to the level of modifica-
tion such as contrast in size, shape, colour and texture between the structure and the
pre-existing landscape. The magnitude of the impact can be considered to depend
on the extent of the area affected (Rivas et al.
1997)
and indicators of magnitude
can be for example the total area from which the new structure can be seen, as in
Fig. 6.
15
. It is also interesting to use GIS maps to display non-visual information
such as wildlife migration corridors, water flow and remoteness.
There has been much discussion concerning the ethics of using landscape
visualization, and several different issues can be raised. One of them concerns the
relation between ecology or ecosystem quality and aesthetics: Gobster et al.
(2007)
argue for instance that future landscape patterns, human experiences, and actions
can be devised to create landscapes that are ecologically beneficial and simultaneously
elicit aesthetic pleasure. However, the aesthetics of a virtual landscape can be
influenced by the degree of realism of the visualization tools (Lange
2001
; Daniel
2001
; MacFarlane et al.
2005)
, and it is necessary to define what is the sufficient
realism for environmental decision making (Appleton and Lovett
2003)
. In addition,
using virtual imagery can lead to a strong bias due to the selection or highlighting
of particular aspects in order to persuade the public on particular environmental
