2006/07/01 by M. Tveit, Mari Sundli Tveit, Å. Ode +2 · 2 citations
Environmental Science · #Land Use and Ecosystem Services #Urban Green Space and Health #Urban Heat Island Mitigation
paper · doi:10.1080/01426390600783269
openalex publication_date 2006/07/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
A transparent and theory-based scheme for analysing visual character is presented. Based on a literature review, nine key visual concepts are identified: stewardship, coherence, disturbance, historicity, visual scale, imageability, complexity, naturalness and ephemera. The nine visual concepts are presented in a framework of four levels of abstraction, described through the concepts' visual dimensions, landscape attributes contributing to the concepts and potential visual indicators suggested for mapping and quantifying the concepts. Each of these concepts focuses on different aspects of the landscape important for visual quality, where visual quality is an holistic experience of them all. The visual concepts presented are used to describe different characteristics of visual landscapes, rather than presenting a normative value for visual quality. It is believed that this framework can be important for landscape assessment and the compilation of landscape character.