Environmental Engineering Reference
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ing of the place, with regard to seasonal and historical changes, and different ac-
tivities (“taskscape”) does not unfold to the landscape architect and the resident in
the same way.
20.6 Conclusions and Recommendations
Visual simulations receive a high status in environmental planning; however, ex-
pectations are revealed to be unrealistic. As shown in this article, an ordinary per-
ception of the target environment and changes within it cannot be achieved by the
manipulation of images. A better or even full understanding of prospected changes
- which is a declared goal of practitioners - and consequently informed evaluation
and decision-making turns out to be a fallacy. Phenomenological approaches show
that it is our own bodily movement and successive discovery of things in the land-
scape that will form our perception of the environment, which unfolds historical
traces and certain tasks, depending on the individual's personal needs and experi-
ences. Further, the flow of perception is not restricted to sight, but employs all our
bodily senses, including smell and taste, touch and hearing. As the notion of flow
indicates, perception is governed by temporality and not an instant moment of
time, condensed in a picture. In addition, the environment is always viewed from
somewhere, knowing that things can be explored successively. On the contrary
phenomenologists argue that aerial views or maps do not offer a view from some-
where, but a view from nowhere,.
In the licensing of nuclear facilities in Finland, visually manipulated aerial
views are employed rather often during environmental impact assessments. Only
in the latest environmental impact assessment report of one developer have a cou-
ple of simulated views from the ground been introduced. However, the use of im-
ages and visual simulations of power plants is not reflected upon by involved ac-
tors. On the contrary, we can assume a strong demand for visual material by
decision makers and the public, and we can sense why so little attention is drawn
to quality control of current practices.
The analysis of Finnish nuclear power projects has further shown that visually
manipulated images of landscapes have metaphorical character, and that they aim
to presenting beauty rather than reality. International research provides evidence
that although biases in project simulation have been identified by many scholars,
their reflection is seldom part of practical training. Ethics and guidelines are called
for (see Sheppard 2001), but technologies tend to develop faster than these can be
elaborated.
From a phenomenological viewpoint we can argue that the goals of visual as-
sessments cannot be achieved. Finnish residents will not be able to imagine the
projected changes and impacts on their livelihoods by looking at simulated nuclear
power plants on paper. Ever more sophisticated technologies may not depict im-
pacts on movement in the vicinity of the power plant, changes in the sound (e.g.
construction noise, absence of birds) and smell (released e.g. by chemical sub-
stances during construction), touch (e.g. sensing the fragile sea ice during winter)
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