RESEARCH General Home & Garden

LAND MANAGEMENT
Clash of values at crux of debate over landscape aesthetics

Melissa Mitchell, Arts Editor
(217) 333-5491; melissa@uiuc.edu

9/1/02

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Scenic landscapes – the type most people reportedly enjoy most – are increasingly falling out of fashion in some quarters. And that view may be out of focus, according to Russ Parsons, a professor of landscape architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

"Beautiful landscapes are under attack, and they have been for some time," Parsons and University of Arizona professor Terry C. Daniel wrote in a paper published in the journal Landscape and Urban Planning. "Government social scientists, landscape architects and environmental ethicists have all decried the management of public lands for ‘scenic’ aesthetics." Since the 1970s, Parsons notes, opponents of the traditional aesthetic have been pushing to replace it with a model that embraces land-management goals based on "ecological aesthetics." In other words, they’re promoting more biologically diverse landscapes that may not be as visually appealing to humans, but which favor sustainability of the land.

"At the heart of it is a clash of values," Parsons said, calling the all-or-nothing approach advocated by many proponents of the ecological aesthetic "wrong-headed." In their paper, Parsons and Daniel present historical, psychological and even neurobiological arguments to make their case.

One of the problems, the researchers note, springs from the ecological aestheticians’ view that scenic preferences are "superficial sociocultural constructions derived from 17th century landscape painting and aesthetic theory." Widely reported preferences for such landscapes – similar to Olmsted’s design for Central Park, with open spaces, low ground cover, water features and clumps of trees – are perceived by ecological aestheticians as shallow and conducive to passive experiences, leading designers to design landscapes for "the lowest common denominator." In contrast, Parsons said, encounters with highly sustainable settings supposedly are more cerebral than perceptual, resulting in a deeper, richer, more cognitive experience. The problem with that theory, said Parsons, who also is a psychologist, is that it doesn’t reflect current theory in cognitive science, which regards emotion as an integral part of cognition.

Ecological aestheticians also maintain that human behavior is extremely malleable, he said, and therefore, people can easily learn to reshape their landscape preferences. Parsons isn’t so sure, and cites cross-cultural and historical research that suggests a longstanding – possibly evolutionary – preference for savanna-style landscapes.

"Rather than advocating aesthetic ‘re-education’ to advance ecosystem sustainability goals, ecologists and other natural scientists would better serve environmental policy makers by building a scientifically defensible consensus regarding what constitutes ecosystem health," Parsons and Daniel conclude. "Similarly, psychologists and other social scientists would better serve environmental policy makers by building a scientifically defensible understanding of how and why people adopt environmental concerns and engage in ecologically responsible behaviors. We may well find that scenic landscape aesthetics is an ally in this regard, not an obstacle."