Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
landscapes or combinations of landscape elements
are culture-specific, suggesting that perhaps some
preferences may be learned or acquired.
how these learned values change with time. This
is being done through the analysis of art, the media
and historic documents, and other historic
evidence that provides semiotic or symbolic
connections between landscape and perception
(Cosgrove 1990).
The practical dilemma that policy makers face
is that although analysis of literary accounts of
landscapes has shown that cultural landscape
values have changed fundamentally over time in
some cultures, the contemporary population
normally shows a strong preference for the
status
quo
and will resist any major landscape change.
However, little applied research has yet addressed
the issue of contemporary perceptions and
evaluations of landscape change, and post-
modern geography has not yet got to the stage
whereby its theoretical approach can be
translated into practice. Nevertheless, research
that rests on postmodern approaches to theory
does have potential relevance to policy making
in that it acknowledges complexity, contradiction
and difference. This is essential in a world that
increasingly tries to accommodate cultural
diversity in many areas of social and
environmental policy.
Landscape evaluation research into the
social, cultural and heritage values of
landscapes
The outcome of the quantitative research into the
visual evaluation of landscape shifted the nature of
the research question in a subtle way. Researchers
now focused on questions such as 'why and for what
are landscapes valued?' and 'who values them?'
Social geographers have been responsible for
developing and adapting different techniques to
explore these issues. The social, cultural and
heritage values of landscape have been
investigated using qualitative methods adapted
from sociology, anthropology and cultural studies.
This type of research has addressed very broad
issues, including:
1
What are the social, cultural and heritage
values that make a landscape significant to an
individual, to a social group and to a nation?
2
What features of the landscape denote these
values and meanings?
3
Do different social and cultural groups value
landscapes for different things and in different
ways?
Landscape evaluation research into the
monetary value of landscape
The policy makers' question, 'is the landscape
worth what it costs to manage it?' is to them a
most urgent and relevant one. It is a completely
different policy question to that of the visual,
cultural or social value of landscape. To some it is
an unresearchable question. Monetary 'worth' and
non-monetary 'value' are two completely
different concepts. Nevertheless, environmental
economists have applied techniques such as
contingent valuation (CVT) to landscape in order
to give policy makers a direct answer (Price 1994),
but without appearing to analyse the question into
its researchable components, and without
following other researchers' methodological
efforts of clearly identifying what it is about a
landscape that people are ascribing a (monetary)
value to.
4
How are these values expressed?
The values of contemporary cultures have been
explored using ethnographic methods and the
analysis and interpretation of narrative. This
includes the analysis of all forms of documentary,
written, spoken, visual and other recorded
evidence. This type of research is preoccupied not
only with the meanings that people and cultures
attach to and read into landscapes (Harrison
et al
.
1986) but also with the importance of these
meanings to people's social and cultural identity.
These values are not measurable in the same way
as visual preferences.
Approaching the issue from a very different
standpoint, post-modern geographers are
grappling with the issue of how landscapes acquire
particular social, cultural or aesthetic values, and
