The Effects of People and Man-Induced Conditions on Preferences for Outdoor Recreation Landscapes

Abstract

The essential character of outdoor recreation landscapes is determined by a combination of natural conditions at the site and the artifacts of human activity, including development for recreation. Following methodological procedures of analysis previously developed for the study of natural landscapes, this investigation examined the influence of people and man-induced conditions on preferences for outdoor recreation landscapes. Using color photographs as representations of landscape scenes, the numbers of people and levels of development were systematically varied as components of landscape. Preference scores were assigned to 100 different landscape scenes through a rank-ordering procedure whereby respondents selected their most preferred scenes. Results of study indicate that preference tends to decrease as the levels of people and development increase.