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After the publication of the Council of Europe Convention on Landscape in 2000 and the importance it gives to perceptual aspects, landscape programmes, projects and actions began to incorporate them in varying degrees of detail to guide their formulation, implementation and/or evaluation.
In most cases, the analysis of perceptions has focused on factors that can be captured through the senses, and especially via sight, such as colours, volumes, composition, textures, the visual field and others. Rarely, studies of sensory perceptions are included, whether positive or negative, such as tactile perceptions produced by the wind or the sun on the skin; auditory perceptions, like birdsong or the sound of motor vehicles; olfactory perceptions, such as the smell of flowers or landfills; or taste, like the flavour of products associated with geographical contexts as different as the meadow, coastal, countryside or other types of landscapes. A Google Scholar search for academic papers related to sensory perceptions of landscapes shows how those related to visuals account for 83% of the total, compared to 13.6% for auditory ones, 4.6% for tactile ones, 2% for olfactory ones and 0.5% for those involving taste.
However, while other sensory stimuli let us capture external images and sensations that affect how we appreciate landscapes, our experiences, memories, living conditions, knowledge, age, origin, gender, etc. are part of the range of factors that make up the perception of the landscape and have more to do with feelings and emotions than with the senses. This is why those who inhabit a place accumulate throughout their lives more experiences that will substantially affect how they interpret and value the landscape in which they perform their daily activities, compared to those who only visit it occasionally. For instance, the perceptions of women more active in the domestic sphere will not be the same as those of their male relatives more active in public and/or productive spaces. The perceptions of those who work in the tertiary sector are likely to be substantially different from those of those who work in the primary sector, and so on.
When landscape quality objectives are defined, the Convention indicates that these perceptions must be taken into account, since they are closely related to people’s legitimate aspirations. Participatory processes and approaches to the projected image of landscapes (in art, on the Internet, in advertising campaigns and elsewhere) are tools to explore them, requiring the mediation and methodological support of specialised staff.
Through the Seville Declaration on the Integration of the Social Dimension in the Research and Management of Cultural Landscape, many people from administrative, academic, associative and professional spheres have shown their support for the considerations laid out. Though they are oriented towards cultural landscapes, they are not exclusive and can be considered extensible to the rest of the territory. [+]
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