LANDSCAPE MISCELLANY

Miscellany is a collection of items in the one place and here a range of issues relevant to landscapes are covererd.

Topics covered:
1. Pricing landscape: the influence of landscape quality on house prices
2. Health and restorative benefits of viewing nature
3. Aboriginal view of the Australian landscape
4. World Class landscapes

1. PRICING LANDSCAPE: THE INFLUENCE OF LANDSCAPE QUALITY ON HOUSE PRICES

Real estate values provide an excellent surrogate for valuing landscape quality in monetary terms. Many studies have shown that house prices benefit from a view of a landscape.

Between 1973 and 2009 there were 21 papers covering 37 studies that have quantified the influence of landscape views on house values. Most of the studies examined the influence of water views on house prices, using the sea or lakes as the landscape and assessed the presence or absence of a view.

The contribution of the view to house values ranged from 2% to 90% with a modal average of 8% and a mean of 17.4%. Thus a property worth, say $200,000, will be worth $234,800 if it has a good view. Multiply this by the hundreds, or in some areas, thousands of properties which enjoy the view, and its worth runs into millions of dollars. Based on an average house value of say $200,000, the value of the view for 1000 homes will be $34.8 million. The amount reflects the laws of supply and demand; in locations with abundant views but little housing demand, the contribution may be slight but reverses where the demand increases with little supply.

The contribution of a view did not correlate with the house value, the same contribution occurred for houses of low and high values.

The value of a view varied inversely with distance from the view, declining quite rapidly over the first few kilometres before levelling out so that even distant views provide some added value to house prices.

Source: Benson et al, 1998
Percentage increase to house values based on distance of view

The contribution of the view generally increased over time, presumably reflecting continuing demand but contracting supply of suitable land.

While most of the studies were in western nations (US, New Zealand and Holland), five studieswere in the east (Singapore, Hong Kong and Guangzhou)and found similar results, ranging from 2% to 15% value adding.

In addition to these studies of house values, a study in Switzerland examined the profit derived from two hotels in and near Zurich that offered views over the lake and Alps compared with views without these. It found for one hotel an annual difference of US$0.45 m and for the other US$1.74 m. In present value terms, these added $4.3 m and $16.3 m to their property value.

While not a perfect surrogate of the value of landscape quality, these studies demonstrate that house prices can benefit very significantly from a view of an attractive landscape.

A brief review of these studies is available by clicking here.

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2. HEALTH AND RESTORATIVE BENEFITS OF VIEWING NATURE

Natural scenery employs the mind without fatigue and yet exercises it; tranquilizes it and yet enlivens it; and thus, through the influence of the mind over the body, gives the effect of refreshing rest and reinvigoration to the whole system. Frederick Olmstead, 1865.

The quote, one of many about the healing benefits of nature, contends that nature heals and enriches the mind and body. Whether this is so has been the subject of much research over recent years and the universal conclusion has been that viewing and experiencing nature provides substantial emotional and physiological benefits. Comparing scenes of nature with scenes of urban areas, our preferences for nature are twice that of urban scenes while the restorative benefits that come from nature are at least three times that of urban exposure.

The research has used a range of psychological and physiological measures to evaluate the changes from exposure to nature and urban environments. Two theoretical approaches underlie the research: Roger Ulrich’s psycho-evolutionary theory in which positive emotional and physiological effects of experiences with nature have survival benefits; and Stephen and Rachel Kaplan’s Attention Restoration Theory in which the restorative exposure to nature helps the individual overcome directed attention fatigue.

Ulrich, et al, (1991) tested various physiological measures including blood pressure (pulse transit time) of participants who watched a stressful video (on workplace accidents) and then viewed one of six videos of urban or natural settings. Viewing natural scenes resulted in significantly increased positive affect scores compared with either the pedestrian mall or traffic. The graph shows the results on blood pressure and indicates that viewing nature lowers blood pressure.

Source: Ulrcih, et al, 1991
Changes in blood pressure (pulse transit time) during stress and recovery

To assess the physiological effect of viewing videos of nature and urban environments, Laumann, et al (2003) tested the heart beat interval prior to and during (1) a mentally tiring exercise, (2) an attention-demanding task, (3) viewing a video either of nature or an urban environment, and (4) following the video while again doing the attention-demanding task. Those who viewed the nature video had much lower heart rate than those who watched an urban video. The authors stated that the “findings suggest that the nature video had a relaxing effect on autonomic functions”.

Source: Laumann, et al, 2003. Note: Longer IBI = lower heart rate
Cardiac inter-beat interval (IBI) in nature and urban groups

The following table summarises 21 studies of the preferences for nature scenes over urban scenes for their psychological and physiological benefits and indicates the percentage increase of preference for the nature scene over the urban scene. The studies included measures of affect, vitality and restoration, and the use of photos, posters, views from windows, and walks. They include physiological measures such as heart beat and pulse, brain alpha waves, and taking analgesics, all of which can provide direct evidence of the calming effect of nature. The overall mean is 174% (SD 61%) improvement which means that the preference for nature is nearly double that for urban scenes.

Preference for nature scenes over urban scenes

Based on Attention Restoration Theory, several studies measured the restorative effect of urban and nature scenes using its four components: being away, fascination, extent or coherence, and compatibility. Restoration in natural environments from “being away” is over three times that of urban environments, followed by “compatibility” (i.e. of the environment with one’s purposes) and fascination at over twice the urban environment.

Restorative effect of urban and nature scenes

Note: PRS = Perceived Restorativeness Scale; FU = Favourite sites % cf unpleasant sites; EEG = electrocephalography, EMG = electromyography. Korpela et al studies compared favourite & unpleasant places. Felsten compared no view with views of murals of land and water.

As well as testing the theories through viewing or walking in urban and natural areas, studies also examined the effects of varying window views on patients and students and the effect of posters and murals in offices. In public housing areas, studies examined the effect of trees and grass in the surrounds on levels of aggression and violence in the units and crime in the area. A study in Holland found the amount of green space in the area positively affected perceived health of the individual.

Attached is a 50 page summary of the 33 studies examined together with a summary of the theory, and a synthesis and conclusions. The tables of research findings are also provided. Click here

3. ABORIGINAL VIEW OF THE AUSTRALIAN LANDSCAPE

Pre-historic View of Landscape

Prior to the written word and art, cave paintings provided the dominant medium by which the early people on earth could permanently record and reflect on their environment. Although we now take it for granted, it was a staggering conceptual advance to represent the world by the image of a small picture.

However if we hope to find from this, early indications of human delight in the landscape, these hopes are soon dashed. Among the thousands of pre-historic cave paintings in Europe, Africa, the Middle East or the Americas, none portrayed scenery or the background or vegetation present. Rather the galleries of the caves display pictures of animals of all descriptions: horses, wild oxen, goats, chamois, reindeer, ibexes, bison, mammoths, lions, bears, rhinoceroses, birds as well as human figures. A few are suggestive of ruffled water with deer swimming but overall “no deliberate effort to indicate vegetation, a horizon, or any kind of landscape was ever made.”

References:
Beltran, A. 1982. Rock Art of the Spanish Levant. Cambridge  University Press, Cambridge.
Burenhult, G., 2003. People of the Past, The epic story of human origins and development, Weldon Owen, San Francisco.
Laming, A., 1959. Lascaux Paintings and Engravings. Penguin Books.
Ruspoli, M., 1987. The Cave of Lascaux. The final photographic record. Thames & Hudson, London.

Aboriginal View of the Australian Landscape

Living in Australia for around 50,000 years, the Australian Aborigines developed strategies which enabled them to live, survive and thrive in an often-hostile environment. A key strategy was their creation of sophisticated mythology and symbolism in the Dream time through which they viewed surrounding landscape. The Dream time, the Dreaming, or alcheringa, was a “sacred, heroic time long ago when man and nature came to be as they are” (Stanner) . While described as an Age of Heroes, it is incorrect to view it as a Golden Age or Garden of Eden. The world as seen by the Aborigines was “vibrant with supernatural or mythic beings and their agents or intermediaries” (Berndt et al) .

Inland Australia, with its unpredictable and highly variable rainfall resulting in “its whimsical bounty and famine,...explains the richness of Aboriginal ceremonial and mythological life, the rigidity of their social controls and their intimate knowledge and attachment to their land.” (Mulvaney). Similarly, Tindale believed that the “creation mythology apparently embodied empirical wisdom, gained from trial and error, intended to ensure survival; it endowed tribal territories with an organic relationship with their owners.” (Mulvaney) Western concepts such as wealth and poverty were alien to the Aborigine “whose preoccupations are much more with the intangible world of religion and law.” (Flood).

Aboriginal rock art is the oldest recorded in the world and has the distinction of continuity with the present population. Although the land was of critical importance to their survival, Aboriginal art as expressed in cave paintings and by more transient forms such as bark paintings never depicted the landscape as it is seen but rather in symbolic form.  There are over 100,000-recorded painting sites across Australia- probably only a tiny fragment of the original number, but none depicted landscapes. Rather they show humans, birds, bird tracks, reptiles, fish, the sun, as well as symbolic and geometric designs including angular patterns, zig zags, concentric squares and circles, line grooves. Waterholes might be shown as concentric circles and various shapes represent foliage, trees, watercourses, burnt-out country and so on.

"Aboriginal people have profound spiritual linkages with the land. The land is of prime importance as the source of nurture, both physically and spiritually. The land is dense with meaning – with song and story and with living spiritual representatives manifested as features of that countryside. Most Aboriginal art is a statement concerning land: not just any piece of land but specific stretches of land substantiated through identified mythological associations." (MIller).

Arid areas may “appear empty and inhospitable to those who do not know them, but to the Aboriginal groups who inhabit those areas, the lands created by their ancestors and infused with the powers, are places rich in spiritual meaning and physical sustenance. Across this landscape spreads a web of ancestral paths travelled by the supernatural beings on their epic journeys of creation in the Dreaming, linking the topography firmly to the social order of the people.” (Miller).

Painting the landscape and the life within it had great symbolic significance and the artist was compelled to conform to traditional styles and designs that were relevant to his group. The aesthetic quality, and the beauty of a painting, related to how well the artist reflected the cultural style and his familiarity with design – “Beauty was epitomized in conforming to or within a particular local art style.” (Berndt et al).

. Berndt R.M and C.H. Berndt with J.E. Stanton, 1982, Aboriginal Australian Art. Methuen, Sydney.
. Flood, J., 1997. Rock Art of the Dreamtime Images of Ancient Australia. Angus and Robertson, Sydney.
. Miller, R., 2003. Memory through Aboriginal Art, Flinders University Art Museum.
. Mulvaney, D.J., 1975. The Prehistory of Australia, Penguin Books, P. 60, quoting Strehlow.
. Stanner, W.E.H., 1979. White Man Got No Dreaming Essays 1938 – 1973. ANU Press, Canberra.

4. WORLD CLASS LANDSCAPES

World class landscapes are those landscapes considered to be of significance at the global scale. While such landscapes will obviously be significant nationally, to be of world significance demands something more, the perfection of those qualities that we humans regard as beautiful.

In order to identify scenes of world class landscapes a range of inventories were examined where landscapes have been accorded global significance. Such inventories are at both the world scale and individual nation scale, the former obviously being the more useful. However it is evident when reviewing these inventories that no standard exists by which world class landscapes may be assessed, rather they rely on the judgement of the nominating body. Indeed it is apparent that no survey has been undertaken at the world level solely to determine landscapes of world significance. Rather, most assessments have been from a broader perspective – world heritage and wonders of the world.

The following global inventories have been reviewed:

• World Heritage sites under the World Heritage Convention
• 24 inventories of the Wonders of the World

Inventories also exist of particular features including volcanoes, waterfalls and caves but those of world significance are likely to have found their way onto one of these inventories.

The Table summarises the top rated wonders of the World based on the number of times they are listed by either the World Heritage Convention or by the 24 inventories of World Wonders.

Top rated Wonders of the World

Click here for a brief (11 page) summary of the derivation of the list of World Class landscapes followed by photographs of these 54 sites (3.4 MB).