Contemporary attitudes to landscape and implications for policy: a research agenda

Abstract

This paper aims to discuss the potential contribution of research on public perceptions and preferences and to identify possible topics for future research. A general criticism of much landscape research is that for all its apparent sophistication and scientific rigour, it adds little to present knowledge and its contribution to practice is slight. This failing stems from two causes: a lack of integrating theory which would enable individual studies to make incremental contributions to a body of knowledge; and a lack of clarity in defining the objectives of the research. This paper attempts to synthesize a selection of pertinent studies according to the three broad themes with the aim of suggesting new lines of enquiry to assist environmental agencies in fulfilling their policy goals.