Landscape Valuation of Environmental Amenities throughout the Application of Direct and Indirect Methods

Luís Loures, Ana Loures, José Nunes and Thomas Panagopoulos ()
Additional contact information
Luís Loures: Centre for Spatial and Organizational Dynamics (CIEO), Ed. 8 Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal
Ana Loures: Instituto Politécnico de Portalegre (IPP), Praça do Mun. Apartado 84, 7301-901 Portalegre, Portugal
José Nunes: Instituto Politécnico de Portalegre (IPP), Praça do Mun. Apartado 84, 7301-901 Portalegre, Portugal

Sustainability, 2015, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-17

Abstract: Landscape design, construction and management should no longer be the result of superficial approaches based exclusively on designers’ and planners’ ideas. This research starts with the assumption that the aesthetic component constitutes an essential attribute for better understanding and evaluating landscapes. This study analyzes the aesthetic quality and economic valuation of the Lower Guadiana river landscape, through the application of direct and indirect landscape evaluation methods. In order to gauge not only experts’ opinion, it is supported by the application of public participation techniques about the opinion and perceptions of the site visitors/users. The present research considered the analysis of six landscape subunits regarding landscape quality, fragility and visual absorption capacity. The obtained results showed that there are significant differences between the perceptions of the general public and experts’ analysis. Touristic Complexes and Golf Courses had high visual quality, while Agricultural and Production Areas had high visual fragility. Moreover, the performed analysis made clear that the combined use of landscape assessment methods is suited to this type of study, since it enables quantifying the value of existence, management and maintenance of a particular environmental assets and/or services.

Keywords: aesthetic analysis; lower guadiana; riverscape; public participation; economic valuation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/7/1/794/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/7/1/794/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:7:y:2015:i:1:p:794-810:d:44575

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().